New Zealand

The gardens are weeded, the house is sorted, Bev and Harry have moved in with their motor home to house sit. Time to fly to Auckland. It was good to have a farewell at Taupo Airport. Thanks Bev and Harry for dropping us off. A short bumpy flight in a small plane and we were soon in Auckland. Flying into Auckland was a bit like landing in Wellington as there were gusty winds. Our first accommodation was at the Ibis Budget Hotel. This was well priced and comfortable. The bonus was the attached Bistro, a great place to dine. Janine arrIved early with Joe and Lulu. Shortly afterwards the fire alarms went off we had to quickly go down 6 flights of stairs. It was a fire drill practice, we had grabbed our purses so went and had a drink at the cafe under the Ibis. Janine shouted me a Chai tea one of the best I have had. The rest of the family arrived and we had farewell dinner at the Bistro. This proved a great place to take children as there was a noisy atmosphere, they were all so busy ordering their food, drinking their drinks and eating their meals that they were fully occupied. I was a little spoilt as it was my early birthday celebration. All too soon it was time for lots of cuddles and farewells. Geoff and myself took the shuttle bus to the airport, went on a bit of a ticket tour. We got talking to a couple from Kiwitahi who were farmers and found out that they had Mark Hopegood looking after their farm while they were away. Mark was our part time Marvin farm agency worker when we had the farm. It is a small world. Talked to another couple at the airport who were heading to Switzerland to ride on trains his passion, she was just along for the ride. Our plane left at 11.45 pm.

Rather than struggling to learn to travel blog whilst overseas now is the time to practice. With doing non simultaneous house swaps during the summer we had lots of exciting get aways. We always enjoy heading to the Hawkes Bay. Napier and Clive are only 1 1/2 hours drive from Taupo so great for a short break. Napier is renowned for its art deco. There was an a destructive earthquake in Napier in the 1920's. When the town was rebuilt ii was built in an art deco style. When we head down this way in our motor home we usually stay at Clive. We find Clive is more motor home friendly for freedom camping In a larger motor home. Napier is currently putting in a NZMCA park so this will be somewhere else to stay in the future. There are many cycling trails down this way. You have lots of choices a lot of them are very flat some are on the top of flood banks. So with Cycles and kayaks off we headed.