New Zealand or Bust

Good day!! Here we are back in Auckland at Janet and Ron's arriving yesterday by about 4:30pm. All hauled out of the car and we were settled in just in time for them to arrive home from work.
Our family visit with Shirley's relatives on Sunday went very well. People began arriving by about 11am and we put out a lunch spread that was very tasty. It was great to meet some of the family members we have heard about all these years, in particular Shirley's nieces and their spouses. By about 4pm people had to begin leaving for thier drive home as everyone was from outside of Hamilton. The rest of the evening was spent with a lively discussion with Gordon and Annette about the similarities and differences between NZ and Canada and also a reflection of what we have come away with as an impression of NZ.
Monday morning saw us pack up the car yet again and head our way to Auckland. Along the way we came across the best Green Stone store along the highway. One good Uturn and we were there. Another quick stop along the way at a rest stop area for lunch and then on into the city. Again, Auckland proves to be a busy, busy place to drive and I was glad when the car stopped and we were here!
I know I said that I would post some more pictures on the site the other evening, but with all the visiting and such time got away on us. Now that we are leaving tomorrow I think that this will serve as our last entry and no more pictures posted.
As we relflect on our journeys over the past 5 weeks the ground that we have covered has been quite impressive. Starting off from here in Auckland we struck out heading north along the west coast and the Tasman Sea all the way up to Cape Rienga stopping and touring all along the way. Each area we passed through provided a new "wow" for us and we could hardly wait to see what this country had in store for us next. Once we hit Cape Rienga we started out southern descent along the east coast and the Pacific Ocean to even more changes in the scenery. Back to Auckland for a day and then we were off still heading south but again to the east coast of the country. Crossing over into King Country we saw the flatter part of NZ and continued through here working our way to Wellington at the southern tip of the North Island. A windy, windy place is Wellington which thankfully changed as we started north up the bottom side again on the east coast. We toured around the Bay of Plenty area and continued up to the Cormondel Penninsula area which was beautiful. Then onto Hamilton and then back to our place here!! We are betting that our odometer reading when we return the rental car tomorrow will be in the 8000 km area. All of that on an average of $2.19 per litre.
So now, all we have to weather is a 13 hour flight to LA with a short layover, then a 3 or 4 hour flight to Calgary with another short layover, then 50 minutes to home. Easy as pie, but not looking forward to all the sitting and waiting that is for sure. It will be wonderful to see our families and share the stories of our journey.
Thanks to everyone who has been following our trip and leaving comments. Good to know that those we care about are keeping up on our doings. With Skype it has been great to see our families faces and hear their voices....it makes the distance seem so small. So with that I will leave this as our last entry and say see you when we get home. Pictures will get edited and organized and then we will take joy in boring you to tears with our commentary. Can't wait!!!!

Love,
C, R, J & S

Well, hello!! Since our last blog we have left Katikati and traveled on to poke around the Coromandel Penninsula and Pauanui to visit with Gordon and Annette at their beach home. It is a beautiful place which is incredibly well planned out for services. There are about 700-800 year round inhabitants and the rest are holiday dwellers. The whole place is about 2500 people I believe is what we were told. At Christmas time it seems the population swells to a whopping 10,000 people!!! The area we were in is in the harbour area so the water is calm. We were able to do some beach walking and poke around a bit, but the weather had decided to be cloudy and rainy. The second day we were there it was a full rain day so a drive around was the best we could do. The properties are very expensive. Sections, which are what we call "lots" away from the water sell for 350k plus depending on the size. Anything looking onto the water shoots up dramatically with alot of them topping over the million mark plus. Now remember, that is just for the section. Then there is the cost of building the house. Yikes!!! A very interesting concept here is the purchase of a "utility" which you can put on a section then park your motor home and such. These little utilities hold toilets etc. which make living in a smaller unit much more pleasant.
On the first day we were there we drove around to the small town just across the harbour. There was the beginings of the Beach Hop which was scheduled to officially begin up the coast on Saturday. This is a wonderfully celebrated weekend now for 10 years which focuses on restored vehicles. There were oldies of every description there....and an endless stream of them just kept coming and coming. We saw everything from the early 1900s to cars which I remember when in high school. Can it be that the cars of my youth are now classics....we won't go there!!! So, we were able to stroll up and down the harbour admiring these wonderfully restored vehicles and take in the flavour of the people participating. Now remember...this was just the first beginings of it. The official first day was on the weekend in a town up the coast and it sounds like it will be a full busy weekend complete with the "oldies" music and a "hop" (dance) on Saturday night. The whole affair would make the Majestics Car Club envious as there were 1500 registered vehicles and owners just for the weekend. It seems to be quite the passion here. We were very pleased to see that there were vehicles restored that were with the steering wheel on the "proper" side of the car. Saturday morning saw us pack up and head out for Hamilton where we will perch until Monday morning.
While with Gordon and Annette we have enjoyed some of the very tastiest meals....Annette professes to only be able to boil water, but we have figured out that she is fibbing. Gordon's nickname is "Gordonbleu" which he lived up to fully with his meal last night here in Hamilton at their home. Roast lamb with roasted potatoes, kumara, peas and baked pumpkin were a wonderful meal. That was topped off with a big Pavlova which Ray was the assistant chef and chief decorator to. Wonderful....and there as none left!!!
Today is the family day which Annette has planned to give people the opportunity to gather and visit with Shirley and John. We have made trays of sandwiches, cheese and crackers, fruit etc. for the event. Shirley and Gordon went through pictures last night and put up a family board for all to view. I think that it will be a wonderful busy afternoon with all the doors thrown open as it is breathless of wind outside and the humidity is very high. Us poor Canadians are feeling the humidity greatly these last couple days of rain.
So, with that I will leave off here. I will see about posting pictures later today but for now there are things to be done. Tomorrow we head off for Auckland again and then we will be heading for the airport on Wednesday. Hard to believe that our time here is coming to an end. Though we are all turning our thoughts to home and family these last few days it will surely be difficult to leave this beautiful country. The Kiwis here are the best. So friendly and welcoming and just as we get used to how they live here and it becomes a small part of us it is time to leave. Guess that means that the plans must be done up for the next trip so we can visit the south island!!
Love to all. Look for pictures posted in the gallery later.

Love
C, R, J & S

Thought it time to get something onto the blog again. Here at Neil and Noeline's it is just a beautiful place. It sits just outside Katikati and is about 3 acre property. There are tamarillos growing in the orchard though the fruit will not be ready for another 5-6 weeks I believe. This is much to Shirley's dismay as they are a favorite of hers. But, not to worry as Noeline has tamarillo jelly which goes wonderfully with Hokey Pokey ice cream for dessert!!! And when you are tired of that, there is Hokey Pokey ice cream with fresh passion fruit and queen anne peaches. All very wonderful and I don't know how we have ever lived without it!!! Noeline has been equally enjoying the presence of a drip coffee machine....the one we have been hauling all over the north island with us for 3+ weeks now!!!
Yesterday we were taken to a former rock quarry of which the name escapes me right now...anyway, this place has been naturalized back into a wonderful park by volunteer gardening groups. Now, remember that I have mentioned that everything in NZ is either curved or goes up and down so know that this place was no different. We went on an upward slope which at every turn uncovered a little garden area that was themed with whatever creative bit the creator chose to use. There was everything from succulent gardens to butterfly gardens and just to make things even better, there were monarch butterflies. What beautiful things they are so we spent quite some time taking pictures of them sitting on flowers and a plant called a "swan plant" which grows about 5 foot plus tall. Apparently if you put them in your garden a female monarch can smell them up to 2km away and will show up to lay their eggs on them. There was a display of monarch eggs at crystallis (sp) stage and we found monarch caterpillars on trees etc. Very cool and very educational. After leaving the quarry Neil and Noeline led us to Tauranga and the wharf where we had the most wonderful fish and chips for lunch. This place was in a fresh fish shop where you could buy your fish for home...and have fresh fish and chips out on the wharf. Wonderful, delish and we had to agree they were the best we had tasted so far. From there we parted with Neil and Noeline and ventured off to Mount Monganui. There was a beach, lots of sand, and ocean waves!!! Off came the shoes and away we went to do some walking and shell hunting. Now you have to see Ray when he is on the beach!!! He is walking, wandering and collecting. Talk about a little boy coming back to the car and emptying out his pockets. We are wondering if we will be allowed to bring the shells and such back with us. Hope so as there are some very nice pieces of this and that which we have found along the way. From here we left to meet up with Shirley's friend, Sheryl, and have a visit and some wine, cheese, fruit etc. Wonderful meeting her and seeing her fabulous house. Back to Katikati where we were arriving just in time for supper. The evening was spent with J & S showing N & N their pictures on disc.
Today we traveled out to take a walk along the Haiku Pathway at the river here in town. This was a millennium project here where they displayed various Haiku poetry along the path. Haiku, just to jog the memory for you, is a specific type of Japanese poetry. Short but profound 3 line verses is about all they are, but very difficult to write. Later in the day we drove out to meet friends of N & N, Pam and John. Pam does some wonderful ceramic/mosaic work and they have a beautiful property to boot! Next door to them is where N & N used to live. This just happened to be on an open house today so we went as "lookieloo's" and snooped around. It was a wonderful place, though it was put together rather oddly for our tastes. Gardens were wonderful....and we must learn how to grow lawns at home as they do here. They are like walking on a thick carpet that just springs back into place when you lift your foot.
So, that about brings you up to date on what we have been up to. Think that tomorrow we will be traveling out for the day to Whakatane. This is where J & S lived before they moved to Canada.
Hope this finds everyone well and busy. Beautiful weather here though it is supposed to rain tomorrow afternoon. Considering we have only had about one day of rain the entire time we have been here....let it happen....we will still enjoy ourselves.
Love to all.....we miss you.

Love
C, R, J & S

• What we have learned here....

Avocados grow on very large trees...this we know because there is a huge one right outside our bedroom window!
Kiwi fruit grow on vines which are supported up on wooden structures about 5 feet off the ground and the fruit hang down underneath. Very hard and very sour and not ready for about another 6 weeks.
Walnuts grow on a big tree, are in a green pod which must break open naturally so you can extract the nut in the shell from it. They are very sweet tasting...way better than what we get at Christmas time in Canada!! There is a big tree right here that we have eaten walnuts off.
Neil also has a Macadamia nut tree. These are also in a green pod which you extract the nut in its shell from. The high tech nut cracker he has to open these is a wonder to behold. A wooden mallet in the shed and a specially built wooden nut holder to use so you don't whack your fingers!!
And that is about it for now!!! Sorry again for no pictures, but the dial up connection is just to slow to transfer just so much data. Will post when we can....or tell you to get over to our place to see them when we get home!!
Love to all.............xoxo

Hi everyone, here we are in Katikati at Neil and Noeline's. That is Shirley's brother and wife. We arrived yesterday at about 4:30pm. Previous to that we had traveled up to Rotorua where we spent a couple nights. Very interesting place with all the thermal activity going on. Saw everything from boiling mud to boiling mineral springs with all sorts of smelly sulpher steam coming off them. Our Motel had mineral spa baths that we took advantage of a couple times. What the motel lacked in up-datedness they made up for with the hot soak in the water.
We took in a tour of a Maori village. They picked us up at our location and took us out to their area. There we had a wonderful show of traditional Maori greetings and a show of their Haka which is something to see. We have it all on video and will gladly share when we get home. Ray was "Chief Ray of many nations" for the duration of the evening so took part in the opening goings on!! Great fun. Then we had a Hungi for supper....delish....and then a nature walk to see more glow worms etc.
On the road yesterday we again saw a great change in the landscape. Into kiwi fruit area now and there is also lots of dairy and such. That is about it for now. Ready to jump out the door and go drive and take a look about.
Talk to you all later, though there will be no picture uploads for a few days and probably not a blog for that long also.
Love to you all,
C, R, J & S

Morning all. We are up and getting ready to carry on today. We arrived here two nights ago...actually we were outside of Wellington in Porirua where we landed unexpectedly on Rex and Rosie Hoskins. We actually were heading for Wellington to get settled and ended up on their doorstep as we used the GPS loaded with their address to head this way. SURPRISE!!!! Rex is an old friend of John's from his younger days of hunting and such. Once we stepped in and got into a cup of tea, the albums came out and the diary with pictures which John kept of all their trips and brought over here for Rex to see....well, the reminicing began. They had great fun remembering, recalling and telling stories. Rosie is a very creative lady!!! She showed up numerous weavings she has done with flax and explained to us how the flax is prepared, coloured etc for weaving. She had little baskets called "ketes" which are the baskets which were used to gather food etc. We ended up spending the night with them. Ray and I got to sleep out in their very beautiful and comfortable motorhome......thankyou....!!!!!! Next day (yesterday) we took a drive and a walk around the estuary where we saw some wonderful landscape....and Canada Geese!!! Silly birds...wonder how they got there and how their feet feel in salt water.
We drove into Wellington and found the Te Papa museum. Time was short and it is such a large place so we did an abreviated version of a go through. Wellington is a very different feeling city. More of a Euopean feel to it and being a port city off the Tasman Sea it is very seaside-ish. The downtown area is very vertical with tall buildings. Quite the skyline. The houses here are built on very vertical side "cliffs" for lack of a better word. They soar straight upwards from the highway and seem to gather in pockets around the hills. I call these hills, but they are not the rolling dhlls that we know at home. They are tall and angular and the depth is incredible. I hope that the pictures we bring home can do them justice!
We left Wellington to come back to Porirua and our motel room for the night. Rex and Rosie met us and we went out to supper. Another short visit and we had to say goodbyes. We actually were quite fortunate to catch them at home when we did. Our original plans would have put us here middle of next week but due to some changes in plan with Shirley's family we ended up coming here first. Good thing because R & R are leaving on a 2-3 month tour of their own tomorrow morning and we would have missed them!!! Ray and I would have been robbed of meeting two such wonderful people.
So the plan today is to head north towards Hastings and Napier. We are aiming at being at Katikati by Wednesday or Thursday so 3 days to laze along. Rotorua is looming closer. This is I think one of the prime destinations we are really waiting to see and that will be one place we will travel out to during the next week and a half. Gas continues to be very expensive though it has settled in at $2.15 liter. Food is till expensive but we have found a few tricks to use that helps us keep a lid on it. We still struggle with ordering coffee here and there as we are the minority drinking "filtered" coffee!!! We really appreciate the coffee maker that we haul around with us for the wonderful cup of normal coffee each morning!
One other thing that I had meant to mention that is very different here. Bare feet all over the place. Downtown, in stores....in cafes.....get this....in grocery stores too!! That is just wrong!!! Actually, I plan on shopping in a grocery store barefoot....and there will be pictures!!!
Things are being packed up so I should either go or get left behind. Love to all. Will upload some pictures next stop I think. Easier to put them in the gallery so look for them there.
Hope all are well. Thanks for your comments and messages. It is nice to hear from home. The Skype we have done with our families has been great. Happy Birthday to Hannah today. We thought of you as soon as we got up. We will be sure Grama and Grampa guy you a GREAT birthday gift!!!

Love to all,
C,R,J & S