Skiing with the chaudoirs

We are writing this blog from the 39th floor of our hotel in Hong Kong . It is like living in the clouds at the moment as the mist(smog.?) is quite thick and you can't see the ground from up here . Steve is keeping away from the windows. The view through the see through bathroom is no less comforting!!! There is a curtain divider, however.
This certainly feels like the last leg and with this weather I think we are both ready to come home. The tour this morning was interesting visiting a market and Aberdeen the original fishing village. We had a photo taken on a sanpan with those typical Chinese hats. We keep getting the giggles as the guide sounds like Alan Hayward doing his famous Asian accent!! Yes the visit did finish at 2.30pm!

We flew into Sydney on Steve's birthday , and were very pleased with our hotel in Darling Harbour and the fabulous view ,only interrupted when the monorail "sailed" passed the window !
The city couldn't have been kinder to us and arranged a superb firework display over the harbour for Steves birthday treat ,which we watched from a harbour side restaurant while eating an excellent meal .
We seemed to fit in quite a lot in our days there. We revisited the Rocks and fortunately there was a weekend market on ! Lots of lovely crafts and tempting things to,buy . We then walked passed the circular quay ,and watched the numerous ferries going backwards and forwards and saw the Queen Elizabeth come into dock . After more walking we enjoyed a very interesting Opera House tour ,led by a man who sounded just like Geoffrey Rush . The place is certainly spectacular,and it was interesting to hear all about the history and the politics of the place ; we were also lucky enough to hear Russell Watson rehearsing for his show in the evening .

On Monday we took advantage of the weather and spent a lazy day on the beach at Manley . Two deck chairs and a brolly and we were set for a few hours , watching the surfers and also having a great time in the enormous waves . We were both exhausted as the current was quite strong ,and had to revive ourselves with fish and chips (eaten out of the paper of course) and a pint of beer from the local 4 pines micro brewery . We both caught the sun although we thought we had been careful ,as of course it is much fiercer here .

On our last day it was a stifling 31 degrees ,and there didn't seem to be a breathe of air we did a bit of shopping and revisited the Victoria shopping arcade which we still loved . We then took a leisurely walk through the Botanical Gardens ,watching the large bats that seemed to be flying around in the daytime , and of course the large Ibis that were delving into the rubbish bins . We were glad to get to the Circular Quay again and take our ferry back to DarlIng Harbour ,back to the air conditioned hotel.

So here we are in Hong Kong . A very different city,and temperature (21 degrees)
We had a good tour today but slightly disappointing as when we got to The Peak ,the mist was so sad we could see nothing . The tram ride down was ok but still very limited visibility . We are taking Em's advice and going to the night market soon ,but early to bed as we have to leave the hotel at 4.30 am to catch our flight home.
I am not sure if it is because we are nearing the end of our trip , or that we really haven't got enough time to experience the real Hong Kong ,

We've had a Fabulous time and no major dramas ( so far) .hope you've enjoyed reading about our trip . It has been useful to document what we have done for our benefit .We will bore you with the photos in due course.
Love Jen and Steve
Maybe we wil do SKIING 2 sometime !

Well we reluctantly left Russell after a morning looking at the little church with its amazing tapestry kneelers ,and musket holes in the wall ( I was slightly underrated by that as I assumed they might be big holes like cannon balls !
We then drove south for about 2 hours to Bridget and Dave Hallesworth in Parua bay . They live high up in the hills above Parua Bay ,in a house nestled into the hillside with Olive groves to the aback and side of the house . .It has a red tin roof and an amazing deck ( long enough for a cricket wicket ) along the front edge . We arrived up a very steep ( steeper than Eastfield Road ) drive ,and we're met by two Labrador retrievers Tui ( named after the bird not the beer ) who is black and her sister Tessa who is cream .
Dave and Bridget could not have been more generous hosts and we managed a trip out in the harbour in their motor launch which was exciting if a bit lumpy . Unfortunately the weather as not particularly kind but we did manage a coastal walk the Whangerai Heads ,in a stiff breeze .
on the following day as the forecast was not good we went to a Kaura tree museum which was fascinating . It had lots of rooms set up to show the lives of the early settlers and also the history of the logging of the giant Kaura trees. A museum we would recommend for anyone to visit . Unfortunately on the way back we and an enormous thunderstorm . Dave did a sterling job driving but I have never seen rain like it . so glad to get home safely .
Learnt a lot about Olive growing and harvesting while we were there ,Bridget and Dave harvest their olives in April /May for oil . Having used a local producer to press their crop last year ,they have now bought their own press so hope this year will be as productive as last . They're definitely part of the local community , and obviously enjoying their new life to the full .
oh the frog - I almost forgot ! They have a native green frog in their pond . he really is bright green with gold stripes and you could almost believe he was a bath toy . in fact if he had had a little coronet on his head I might have been tempted to give him a peck on the cheek .
Well that's all for now .Limited aWifi here and running out of time . weare in Sydney now via a night in Auckland ,so more in my next blog
Take care every one

Well here we are at our furthest northern point in North Island . We are staying at Russell ,an old whaling town in the 1800 which has a beautiful waterfront , with wharf and white clapboard houses .It reminds us of the televion series OC which Guy used to watch ,even though it not obviously the same country . We are staying just metres from the beach at the Hananui lodge and from our window and courtyard we can see the wharf where the Pahia to Russell ferries come in and the fishing boats moor. We had intended to take a day trip further north to Cape Reinga and see Ninety mile beach , but when we got here , the place is so appealing we decided that to travel 12 hours in a coach made no sense

However yesterday we did go on a boat trip dolphin watching . We decided to go on one of the small boats ,only 35 people,and it was definitely the right choice . I was so lucky that I was able to swim with a pod of 7 wild bottle nose dolphins . It was truely an amazing experience .Sometimes you are not allowed to swim if the pod have young or are feeding and everything is strictly controlled . Only 18 people are allowed in the water at once ,and you have to get in quickly and swim as hard as you can to get close to them so they will hopefully play . It was stunning to see them swimming just underneath you ( we had masks ,snorkels and fins ) . I came up and one just surfaced about a metre away before diving again . We were told they like you to sing or hum ,however ,what with swimming,coordinating my breathing while snorkelling ,my brain couldn't cope with humming as well . In all we went in 3 times the maximum allowed ,and at the end I was so tired I could hardly drag myself up onto the boat! Steve decided not to swim as he doesn't like snorkelling ,but actually he could have just swum with fins . Anyway we saw more dolphins from the boat .They like to play in the wake so were alongside the boat really close . It is an experience I won't forget in a hurry.
This morning we took the little ferry from the wharf to Pahia ,another small town but much more commercialised than Russell, and this afternoon walked to the beach on the other side of town and spent a few hours swimming and lazing !
We will be very sad to leave tomorrow ,as it has been one of our favourite places but we are looking forward to staying with Bridget and Dave Halsworth in Parua Bay about an hour and a half south .

Well we are definitely heading towards the last stages of our trip . We head to Auckland on the 24 th and fly to Sydney on 25th . We seem to have been away a long time but are still enjoying the sun and temperatures of 24/25 degrees . Bridget tells us rain is on the way . When we stopped at Lake Taupo on our way up here , there was a tremendous thunderstorm , with sheet lightning and thunder echoing all round the lake, quite a spectacle ! We are missing family and friends of course , but have managed to talk to Oli via Skype after some initial reluctance on his part!

I expect our next missive will be from Sydney so catch up then

Since I last wrote we have just arrived in North island via the Interislander ferry , but the less said about that the better. Come back Brittany Ferries all is forgiven.

We have to think hard about where we have been and what we have seen . After leaving Fox Glacier township ( the only town I know named after a mint ! ) We travelled up the coast via Franz Josef , stopped at the little seaside town of Hokitika, which is the greenstone centre of the area ,and had a picnic lunch on the beach , dotted with briliant driftwoodhhh sculptures. Then it was a trip to the the Pancake rocks at Punakaiki, more geography for Steve ,and on to Westport for an uninspiring overnight stop, on our way to Abel Tasman on the North Coast .
South island roads we have discovered are either straight or have hairpin bends to get up and over mountain ranges . The bends are quite steeply cambered and it is tempting to take the racing line ,except you do run the risk of meeting a giant logging truck going the other way ! Also amazing are the roadside verges covered this time of year with wild croscosmia ,red hot pokers, orange lilies ,and it seems outside every house a border of brilliant dark blue agapanthus .

Our last stop in South Island was at Motueki which we used as a base for exploring the Abel Tasman National Park . Most of this can only be reached by water taxi or walking , so we left early on the Sea shuttle which toured the whole amazing coastline and then dropped us off on the way back to do a 6 km bush walk before being picked up again off a beautiful sandy beach . The bush walk was very different, unusual black bark trees that look as though they have been burnt , and giant tree ferns. The smell in the bush was amazing a mixture of that tea tree type smell you get in spas and honey . It was comfortable walking as the weather was not brilliant and had the usual up and downs ,but two hours later we were sitting on the beach ,deciding it was not quite nice enough to swim although we did paddle ,that's a first for us on Valentine's day .
We are now in Wellington ,but only for an overnight stay, as we are heading north to Lake Taupo . We have unfortunately decided we will not have time to do the Coramandel Peninsula,but maybe next time !

Well we have now been away three weeks ,but still have 2 to go so not all bad !
Hope all is well with you all. Do drop us a line if you have time on the usual email address , we like hearing all your news .

Since I last wrote we have been spending time in Wanaka with Tom and Sue Greenwood . They have just moved here from Invercargill into a beautiful house just up from the lake shore . The views from the house are just stunning ,it really was just like looking at a perfect picture postcard. Tom and sue made us so welcome and looked after us so well. We also had the pleasure of their daughter Juliette's company . She works for Skydive Wanaka , and almost persuaded us to have a go !
Tom and Sue took us to visit areas off the beaten track. We have been very active ,walking approx 5 km on each trip , mostly up hill it seemed,I did miss my poles ,but when we got to the top the views were breathtaking .While we were there the temperatures soared to 29 degrees so walking became even more of a challenge
Also got to see some lovely birds including bellbirds and Fantails . the latter are very cute ,and will come quite close . however they do move very quickly so we got lots of photos of bare branches ! Wanaka itself is a lovely little town .Sue and I went for a little shop ,and Sue introduced me to a lady from Southwold who runs a local dress shop and hasn't lost her Suffolk accent at all! It was lovely to see the local kids on the lakeside swimming and jumping in off the jetty after their day at school .Steve did paddle but I gave it a miss!
We were very sad to leave Wanaka but needed to move North .
We had an amazing journey today , firstly along the lake shores with the mountains as a back drop and then through the deeply incised wooded valleys of the Southern Alps and then stunning sea views along the coast .At points during the day we didn't see another car for at least 10 miles and managed to cover about 180 miles very comfortably .
We also reached Fox glacier in time to walk up to the face . it was very cold as we approached the glacier ,but amazing to see the blue ice and the milky waters running from the glacier .We are now comfortably settled in our room after a very nice steak supper which we ate while watching the sun set over The snow capped Mount Cook .- perfect .
We will be heading northwards tomorrow and our goal to get to Abel Tasman but may have to have a stop mid way . we are so frustrated that we can't seem to load any photos on the blog.never mind we will bore you when we get home !
keep warm