Noosa

Arrived in the fantastic Noosa yesterday (Saturday). Looks great in a fab 6 berth villa overlooking pool. Went into packed surf CLub yesterday and watched cricket. No Ozzies interested as they were getting battered then the game took a dramatic turn where the ozzies should win...a huge wave of people swept from theIR seats to watch, only for the final kiwi batsman to hit a winning 6! Silence returned except for one Englishman who recreated his 2005 European cup winning scream as the wave washed out to their seats.
Good news the lifeguards told us that the sunshine beach surf club has a courtesy bus and they`ll pick us up and take us home for free ! Great booze and good food...happy days!

Noosa

Sunshine beach surf club 8am Sunday.

Sunshine beach.

last few days in Christchurch NZ.

Well tomorrow we fly out of New Zealand and arrive at Brisbane. From there we drive to Noosa where we have a villa booked. We are in Noosa for 7 nights and then fly to Singapore for two nights arriving home on 10th March. In these last few days spent in Christchurch we've visited the delightful Akaroa which is on the Banks peninsula about one and a half hours drive away. We also managed to get another game of bowls in and on Monday we went to the ICC cricket world cup match between England and Scotland. We will miss NZ, Tim and Shanti but we hope to return again soon.

Akaroa

Bowls at Redcliffes.

Bohdi waiting to say goodbye.

At ICC cricket world cup match with Jimmy Anderson in background.

Cricket world cup.

Barb, Tim and Shanti at cricket.

Akaroa

Akaroa.

The Coromandel.

Just when it was starting to feel like strawberries and cream every day, New Zealand throws us some chocolates and champagne in the form of The Coromandel peninsula. Whitianga is a great place to use as a base for this area. It has supermarkets, bars, restaurants a nice beach and a harbour. The people are friendly and its lively bars are full of characters. We had a few drinks with two guys called Maurice and Murray who kept giving the patroling police sergeant finger signs and calling him dad even though they were in their 60's. Consequently we were given closer attention from the bobby and his 2 constables. Maurice recounted a number of his life stories most of which couldn't be reproduced here but as he told them he would often stop at certain points and say "Its not about Maurice Muir, Phil, Barb or Murray...its about family". This philosophy was constantly updated at various points where "family" was changed to things such as "quality of life", "hard work". "Enjoyment" and as the evening continued and Maurice consumed more Speights ale his final philosophy was amended to "Its not about Maurice, Phil, Barb or Murray...its about getting pissed". I also have to thank Maurice for telling me what SPEIGHTS stands for...Some People Enjoy It Geoff Hates The Stuff. He was then left speechless when I told him I had  a mate called Geoff Speight!
So all in all we had one of our best weeks here, the appartment was spot on, we had some of the best beaches we'd ever visited within 20 - 30 minutes of Whitianga and we had great pubs and restaurants...we can't wait to return.

More photies from the fantastic Coromandel.

Driving creek railway near Coromandel town.

Driving creek railway.

Driving creek railway.

Whitianga waterfrontwith our appartment in view.

Whitianga harbour.

Posing in the Whitianga harbour area.

The Coromandel...more fantastic beaches.

Opito bay.

Otama beach.

New Chum beach.

The Coromandel ...Cathedral Cove.

Cathedal cove...

...two beaches linked bya huge cave...

...best visited at low tide...

...now our favourite beach in the world.

The Coromandel...Hot water beach.

Hot  water beach. At low tide you dig a hole and lie in the hot water  rising from a hot water spring. That's if you get there early!

The Coromandel photies ...Hahei beach

Hahei

Hahei

Hahei

Four days in The Bay of Islands.

Well we can only thank Capt Mike Bland for these fantastic 4 days sailing around these beautiful bays and islands. He acted as our chauffeur, cook, navigator, waiter, cleaner, entertainment manager and most importantly Health and Safety rep. With that much energy on board it was like sailing with Bruce Forsyth, Sue Pollard and Graham Norton all rolled into one. We really enjoyed our first sail and had many laughs. It was pure delight pulling up into some of the most picturesque of bays and sleeping peacefully  with gentle waves lapping on the side of the boat...great stuff.

Back on solid ground.

Mike takes the sailor boy buisness a little too far!

More Bay of Island pics

Me and Darth Vader in different directions.

Tim with best bunk.

It was actually quite comfortable...even without a pillow!

Bsy of islands sailing pics.

Tim takes control on rough seas.

The crew out walking the islands.

Bay of islands.

One of the bays we set anchor in for the night.

Enjoying a beer at  our own Anchor Inn.

A very naughty boy sent up in the bosuns chair.

Sumner, Christchurch.

Since we took the camper van back we've really been chilling out over in our b&b just outside Sumner. Its a bit of a seaside resort for nearby Christchurch with some good eating and drinking places. Michelle our host has made us feel at home and we've been on a few walks. Yesterday the weather changed dramatically with gale force winds and temps around 16c so we went on a 4 hour walk over the hills to the harbour town of Lyttleton.  Thursday afternoon we went to the nearby bowls club and spent a couple  of hours playing bowls. Today the weather was back to normal...mid 20's and sunshine. So I went surfing with Shanti and Tim on Sumner beach. We love the b&b we're in and spend a lot of time playing with Michelle's adorable dog Bhodi. Resting and preparing for Mondays flight to Auckland and 4 days sailing around the famous Bay of Islands and 8 days at Coromandel.

Me and Tim

Shanti and Tim

Me catching a wave!

Lasr night....Hokitika

We returned to Hokitika for our last night in Gef. The weather was overcast and we got wet walking to the town. Had a great meal in a restaurant close to the beach with the sun beaming through the windows. On returning back to site we got wet again. Now ready for our comfortable b&b back at Christchurch and preparing for our trip to the North island, where we will be sailing in the Bay of Islands for 4 days and then relaxing in a nice luxury appartment in The Coromandel peninsula for 8 days. Really looking forward to that but first we have to get Gef ssfely back to Christchurch.

Lake Brunner

Yesterday we left rainy Westport and drove down the Buller gorge the weather started to pick up and when we got to Lake Brunner it was back to normal hot and sunny conditions. It'd another strange place ...
Absolutely beautiful but very little here...2 pubs (one closed and up for sale), a campsite (also up for sale) and lots of holday homes(also loads of these for sale). Also very few people about?
We have one more night left in Gef , bit undecided but might go back to Hokitika?