Happy Christmas Everybody!

Happy Christmas!

Lots of Love

Connie XXX

We just wanted to wish all our friends and families a very Merry Christmas! As well as showing you the Pohutukawa Tree (otherwise known as the Kiwi Christmas Tree!) So called because it only starts to flower around Christmas Time! There are tons of them everywhere and the deep red flowers are so beautiful and very festive! It's a Christmas Tree that needs no other decorations! The white house with the picket fence is where we are staying for 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year (Tiki Road, Coromandel for anyone who is looking us up on Google Earth!) We are renting the part of the house at the back on the right where the little balcony is!

More news on what we are getting up to here will follow very soon but for now we both wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas!

Lots of Love

Julie XXX

Rangitoto Island - our 3rd Volcano!

Back in Auckland for a few days before heading off to the Coromandel Peninsula for Christmas & New Year. Took a half hour ferry trip over to Rangitoto Island which is a dormant volcano that rose up out of the sea 600 years ago and is the youngest island in the Hauraki Gulf. It also makes it the 3rd volcano we have seen so far on our travels (but there will probably be lots more as New Zealand is full of them and Auckland itself has around 50 of them!) Our first volcano was Mount Etna in Sicily, followed by the Greek island of Santorini which is built on the crater of the volcano itself as you can see on the photo. The actual centre cone of the volcano you can see in the sea behind the super tanned CK! (Her best tan yet, despite my efforts with the talcum powder!) But anyway, getting back to Rangitoto(!) nobody is allowed to live on the island as there aren't any facilities such as mains electricity or water. However there are several little houses, called baches (pronounced 'batches') which have been there for years and the owners are allowed to use them during the daytime but are not supposed to camp there overnight. There used to be over 100 of them at one time but now there are only about 30. We picked out our favourites just in case we missed the return ferry and had to crash there overnight! There are only a few ferries that go to the island each day and it is drummed into you not to lose track of time and miss the return ferry! The last one went at 3.30pm! We took a walk around the west coast of the island which then led up to the summit where we had a fantastic view of Auckland and the surrounding islands. Then yesterday we took the ferry over to Devonport, which is actually on the mainland but quicker to get there by boat as it is only a 10 minute trip! We had a free ticket included when we visited Waiheke Island so thought it would be rude not to use it! Devonport is actually quite a classy suburb (although we still prefer Parnell!) We climbed up Mount Victoria (via Kerr Street!) which is also a volcano albeit an extinct one (taking our volcano count up to 4!) and feasted our eyes on more excellent views of the Hauraki Gulf. Then, all volcanoed out(!) we returned to Parnell and were treated to an excellent music extravaganza by a brilliant Maori Reggae Band. Our toes were certainly a-tapping!!

Paihia - Bay of Islands

We decided to live life "on the edge" this week - well kind of! Went for a sail on the red catamaran that you can see at the jetty. It was a 6 hour trip in total, sailing round some of the islands up here. There was some relaxing to be done (as you can see by CK's photo!) but then it was all hands on deck and we were put to work! This involved lots of rope pulling to haul the sails up and down on several occasions! Lots of fun though and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! We stopped for a BBQ lunch at one of the islands and went ashore to explore and admire the fantastic view from up on the hill. Sailing back to Paihia we were lucky enough to spot a pod of dolphins! As we got nearer to them they came right up to the boat & swam alongside us, occasionally arching up out of the water and then diving back in again! It was just the most perfect end to a fabulous trip! That evening we got ourselves a prime spot on the main street to watch the Paihia Christmas parade! It seemed the whole town turned out for the occasion and, to show you what a small place Paihia is, the girl who had been crewing on our boat that day also turned up as Santa's helper in the parade! There were lots of original homemade floats and we particularly liked Rudolph the red nosed tractor (sorry reindeer!) We did some walking this week too and visited Haruru Falls, passing through mangrove swamps on the way! Took a trip across the peninsula to Russell on the little ferry on the photo. Cute little place although very small! Hard to believe, as we found out recently, that it was originally the capital of New Zealand! And should you require a taxi here in Paihia - well you only need to summon the services of Tuk Tuk, the town's shuttle service! Haven't used it yet as our apartment is only a 5 minute walk away from the main street but am tempted to - just for the experience! (Don't forget - click on any of the photos to see them at full size! JK for the K Team)

Us versus the US!

Today we achieved the impossible (well we think we did!) and successfully applied for a 6 months US Visa! Do you think I had enough evidence collected to convince them I have no intention of staying in the US?!!! And that was just MY evidence - Connie had about the same amount for herself! Our actual "interview" at the consulate lasted about 5 mins, which was about a third of the time that it took on the telephone to actually book the interview in the first place! Anyway, we were told that "everything looked in order" so hopefully we will get some good news on that score before Christmas! So thanks again to all those friends and family who contributed to vouching for our intentions! After the trauma of recent events (US Visa wise!) we decided that we deserved a little treat and that a celebration was in order! So we headed off to the chocolate boutique for one of their specialities that I referred to on yesterday's blog - a chocolate fondue! As you may be able to see from the photo (click to enlarge!) we had a big dish of melted chocolate in the middle, surrounded by big pink and white squashy marshmallows, pieces of banana, 2 cherries, trifle sponges, pretzels, dried apricots and chocolate marshmallow fish - all of which could of course be dipped into the chocolate pot!!! Mmmm! It was SO good! We have already decided to have another one next time we are back in Auckland (in just over a week's time!) We are off to Paihia in the Bay of Islands tomorrow for a week and no wi fi access there so not sure when the next blog will be - but watch this space!

Parnell is THE place to be in Auckland!

• Just thought we would give you a little look at where we are staying here in Parnell, Auckland. It's a lovely, quaint little suburb and only about 25 minutes walk into Auckland itself, the harbour, tower and other attractions in the city. It has a real 'village' atmosphere and we have been able to find everything we need here - from a box of cornflakes right through to getting our emails printed out for the US consulate! There are lots of the traditional wooden buildings with ornate balconies and verandahs like the ones in the photos! Very picturesque and we love it! And yes, we have found a chocolate shop! They offer a HUGE menu consisting of everything chocolatey under the sun! A chocolate lover's dream shop! Having said all that we have been very restrained so far and only been there once! But after our interviews with the consulate tomorrow I am sure we will feel the need for a little treat! I think Connie has her eye on the chocolate fondue (big enough for 2 to share!) that we saw on the menu so I think that will be featuring heavily on tomorrow's itinerary! Mmmmm! The last photo is something we saw walking back from Auckland harbour the other day! No idea what we were being thanked for but we appreciated the sentiment all the same! The Kiwis are such lovely people - very friendly and helpful and SO polite!!!

The K Team go Kiwi!

Think we have both fallen in love with New Zealand already! And we have only been here a few days! The scenery is just fabulous! Very green and hilly and the landscapes we have seen so far remind us very much of the Mediterranean. We keep having to pinch ourselves to believe that we are really here, not to mention being lucky enough to be able to do this trip! Apparently a certain Mr David Beckham arrived in Auckland the same day as us and is still here, but we haven't bumped into him yet! Took a wander down to Auckland Harbour yesterday and found ourselves booking on a Harbour Cruise (that also included a free trip to Devonport Island at another time of your own choice!) It was a leisurely hour & a half trip around the nearby islands and also included a free cup of tea and a muffin! Not bad at all! Took a trip up to the top of the Sky Tower on Friday evening to see the sights from up there, but decided not to do the (so called) exhilarating skyjump from the top of it!!! Thought the pedestrians below could do without the sight of our backsides plummeting at high speed from up above! Then today, with even Connie able to keep her sea legs on the smooth harbour waters, we took to the sea again to visit Waiheke Island! Am sure my photos don't really show it in all its glory but there were the most beautiful views and bays around every corner! It seems to be a place where the very rich head for now as a lot of the properties were in the millions of dollars! We took a bus tour around the island to see how the other half live(!) and then, after a relaxing lunch, took a short walk back to the wharf to catch the ferry back to Auckland! Not a bad way to spend a Sunday really!

Another day, another country - New Zealand!

Greetings from Auckland! We arrived here yesterday with LAN airlines (Chile) which was a fabulous flight despite our fears (never having flown with a Chilean airline before!) It seemed to be a brand new plane - very clean like it had never been used yet, with an individual widescreen TV with large choice of films at no extra charge, delicious lunch of ham & chicken salad, fresh fruit and yoghurt and even proper wine glasses for our celebratory glass of plonk as we crossed the ocean! Haven't really done much yet as been busy trying to get our US Visa sorted for later next year (or at least get an appointment for the required interview to get the Visa!) You would not believe how hard that has been to do (and we still haven't managed to get through to the relevant department yet!) Anyway when we had had enough of banging our heads against the proverbial brick wall for the day, we stopped for a late lunch at the Harbour and, oh yes, another glass of wine (Hardy's Shiraz - for the wine buffs amongst you!) Anyway, watch this space for more news from NZ ... ! (JK for the K Team)