Around the World in 81 days

October30th.
On our way to Christchurch we managed to squeeze in a fantastic trip to see Yellow- eyed penguins, Sea lions, fur seals and even a Southern Right Whale in the Otago peninsular. We saw the penguins-one of the world's rarest types hopping out of the water and up the beach dodging the hungry and rather bad tempered Sealions . Some of them were only feet away!!. Then off round the coast to see a colony of Fur seals who were surpirisingly active and less slug like than usual. It was while we were watching the seals that a Right whale surfaced only a hundred yards away. It is called the Right whale becase it was the right one to hunt , producing the most oil and not sinking when dead and other grusome facts which made this once great whale almost extinct in New Zealand. On our way home, whilst munching a sweet -we were starving not having had time to eat since breakfast and it was nine at night - I managed to break off part of a back tooth., a problem that needed sorting fairly urgently.
October 31st. We left for Christchurch a tad worried about the news that Quantas had grounded the entire fleet. however we arrived in christchurch to find that our subcontracted flight was not affected and the next day we left New Zealand and arrived on time in OZ.
Novemebr1st.
First thing we noticed about Sydney was the temperature. We shed layers, removing vests putting on sandals and exchanging gloves for a covering of sun screen. It was warm. Breakfree, where we are staying is in China Town on George Street only 15 minutes walk from Darling Harbour, very central in fact.
Most importantly I had to find a dentist. There were plenty in china Town with encouraging names like "No gap Dentist" but they only had appointments at 2.30 (sorry)I ended up in a very hi tech place and my tooth was sorted by 9 am.
Our first day was spent in getting our bearings and to help this we got on a hop on and off bus and explored visually lots of Sydney. We then went for a walk in the Botanic gardens visted the Opera house and called in on the Anglican cathedral and Town Hall (a very impressive Victorian building.)
November 2nd
An early start as we were due to go on a bushwalk and trip to the Blue mountains . We were picked up at 7.30 and greeted with the sad news that a fire the previuos week had destroyed some of the bush where we were due to walk and the trails were still closed. Instead of walking we had a coach trip with a very informative driver. As well as seeing wild wallabys we saw a kookaburra some sulper crested parrots and other exotic birds. After a pleasant lunch we were taken to a wild life park where i scratched a wombats ears, stroked a koala and rescued a crisp packet from a rather stupid Wallaby who had his nose stuck in it. A good day even though different from the one planned.
November3rd
ITs raining- we didn't order that, however, a trip to the ?Australian Museum was on the list so off we went . We learned all about the indiginous flora and fauna and the geology of Australia. The most interesting section was however the Aboriginal section telling of their art, history and culture.
The evening was spent at Teh Opera House watching a sublime performance of Don Giovanni. I am a Philistine -when it come to music - and have never really considered opera other than the odd aria by the "Four Tenors". to see it live was beautiful and i was entranced from beginning to end.
November 4th
A lazy day spent exploring the markets and Malls of Sydney. I was definitely in need of a little retail therapy and enjoyed everything including a smelly but fascinating trip to the fish market where we bought some giant prawns for supper

Friday October 14th
Having said farewell to Rotorua's sights and smells we headed south towards the wine growing areas of New Zealand. A brief overnight stop at in Hawkes Bay took us to the beautiful and surprising town of Napier . Towns are really not the most attractive thing about New Zealand but Napier was completely rebuild in 1923 (following an earth quake) and as a result has some stunning Art Deco buildings and is by far the prettiest town seen yet. It also houses the National Aquarium which we visited. Geoff and I looked carefully at the exhibits and decided what we would eat for supper later on!!
Our B&B was on a hill high above Napier and had the most incredible views over the bay and river estuary. We had little time to stand and stare as we had to leave Napier early in the morning to make our way to Wellington in order to catch the ferry to South Island.
Saturday 15th October
In Wellington we managed to squeeze in a visit to Te Papa which is the National Museum and spend a very interesting few hours browsing through New Zealand art and history. A rather frighting exhibit demonstrated what an earthquake felt like- I am very glad that we are not likely to have one in Worcester.
Our night in Wellington started by us trying to squeeze into a Welsh pub to watch the rugby but after five minutes we felt rather battered and retreated to our room to listen on the radio. "They was robbed!!"- by a half French ref!!!!!
Sunday 16th October
Too early for anything the next day we packed and left the hostel. Geoff was stopped after only fifty yards by a bunch of tough looking Kiwi police(I know -he looks sooo dodgy) They breathalised him but let him go(not just him really) . Good to see some policing going on after so much celebration.
We caught the ferry and had a relaxing 3 hour journey. It is the best ferry journey I have experienced -almost a cruise with lots to see for most of the trip. We landed in Picton headed for a cafe to have brunch and get our bearings- we could smell the vineyards waiting for us.
We stayed for 3 nights in Blenheim .
Monday 17th October
Geoff says I didn't stop squeaking the whole of the first day- we saw so many vineyards that we knew. We decided to head for an unknown place for a tasting a look round and chose one called Highfields. They had a viewing tower that gave a 360 degree view of the surrounding area and showed clearly "The Ned" a fine mountain peak and the name of one of my favourite wines.
We tasted and bought some very goooood wines to cheer us up over the next week or so and found out something quite interesting. Not a lot of people know this but if you buy a bottle of Tesco's Finest Malborough Sauvignon Blanc it comes from the second pressing (the first one is totally dependent on gravity) of the Highfield grapes. If it is anything like the first quality wine we bought I know where I am heading on our return.
In the afternoon with the sun still shining we headed off for a tramp in the Wither Hills (another fine wine ) We climbed to the top of Mount Vernon and felt very proud of ourselves. It was steep and quite taxing. The viewing point looked so desolate and we had met no one on our way up- were we the first to struggle up this year.....? No just as we were leaving a pick up truck drove up oh well.
Tuesday 18th October.
Because of the fear of worsening weather we headed down the coast to Kaikoura to do some Whale watching . We were booked on the earliest trip but that and two following were cancelled because of rough seas. Eventually with dire warnings of seasickness we were able to get out. The trip was certainly exciting. We crashed through two meter high waves and bounced up and down continuously, rolling from side to side to make things even worse. Three people were sick but not The Kingtons. We were lucky enough to see 4 sperm whales each about 16 metres in length. On the return journey we met up with some very frolicsome Dusky Dolphins and spotted some albatross gliding over the sea. After getting our landlegs back we headed up the coast to see some New Zealand Fur Seals What a day!!

Wednesday 19th October.
A beautiful sunny morning greeted us and we decided to go for a walk around the Wairau Lagoons before setting off once again for Kaikoura.
We spent a couple of hours sauntering in the sunshine enjoying the bird life and the antics of the vast crab population. On returning to the car we noticed some black clouds looming and an hour later it was freezing cold pouring with rain and really unpleasant. It didn't stop raining for the rest of the day. One bright spot was a stop at Ohau Stream where seal pups spend some months before they become independent from their mothers. We walked a short way from the beach to a freshwater stream and there in a pool were 4 seal pups frolicking. Walking on further we came to a waterfall and in the pool beneath were dozens of these adorable pups playing in the water and resting on the rocks. It was so unexpected and again amazing.

Having arrived in Auckland,we took a shuttle bus to The Langham hotel. We were rather damp ,a little smelly and definitely scruffy after a wet time in Fiji.We were greeted at the hotel by a man in tails who offered to take our luggage to our rooms. Not wanting to get too close until after a shower we declined and made our way to our rooms. Such luxury, Slippers, bathrobes, chocolates on the bed and a whole cupboard full of tea and coffee. after a mass clean up and a good iron of some of our clothes we set off for the sky tower for dinner. Auckland was really buzzing, the streets were full of French, Irish and English as well as a heap of people out to celebrate Diwali. Everyone was good humoured and anticipating the game outcomes. The sky tower was very high and the restaurant served us some very welcome and delicious food. The night views were unforgettable but I think my main memory of Auckland will be of the cheerful, friendly and interested population in the midst of the World Cup.
We left Auckland early next morning, collecting a rather battered but hopefully reliable car from the airport and drove across to the Coromandal Peninsular. the coast is very beautiful and we spent two very happy days exploring beaches, tramping (that's the local word for it ) in forests and enjoying the birds. The next door bay is Called The Bay of Plenty and they are in the middle of an environmental disaster. a cargo ship ran aground on the reef and thousands of tons of oil is seeping into the sea onto the beaches and killing seabirds. It is very sad to see and hear .
Sept12th
We arrived in Rotorua in the pouring rain. the only really bad day we have had so far. However we had a brilliant visit to Rainbow Springs where we had a tour of the Kiwi breeding programme and saw the way in which the Brown Kiwi is being saved from extinction by the eggs being collected, incubated and hatched in safety. At the age of six months the birds are then released back to where they came from. they are soo sweet, but totally defenseless. Despite the weather we returned to Rainbow Springs to watch the adult Kiwis at night .
Sept13th
Today we went to the Waimunga volcanic valley to see boiling hot springs and geysers . We decided to walk both ways along the valley a total of about 7 miles of hilly walking but the views were totally worth it. We rounded off the day with a visit to Lake Rotorua and a local park where there were mud pools and boiling springs all over the place.
Off to Napier tomorrow but Now I am hoping to upload some photos

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Trying to import some of our pictures . Sadly some of Canada including a thrown away raccoon are on another chip and I can't get hold of it at present as Geoff is watching France beat the socks of England (boo hoo)- Have tried but computer restrictions not allowing it again sorry
On our way to Fiji we stopped for an hour at Christmas Island. Apparantly there are two in the Indian Ocean and one in the Pacific Ocean. We stopped at the Pacific one. It was an interesting airport making Coventry airport look like Heathrow. We talked to some people who got on the plane there, the terminal was a tin shack but we did notice a VIP Lounge sign. I asked them about this and they replied that the VIP lounge was just that in as much as it had the only toilet in the place. They also told us that they had just got married and that the whole thing only cost $200 Australian- So if anyone out there is interested, what a good idea.?...great surfing too.

Thursday October 7th.

After the sun shone we started the day very overcast, but the snorkeling trip was on . We waded out to the boat walking one behind the other to avoid 'sting rays' and zoomed off to a reef. the fish were beautifull and came so close to you. Geoff snorkeled for the first time and really enjoyed it. We then visited thwo islands but the heavens opened and we spent most of our island time in a beach cafe watching rain drops bounce off tables and chatting to an Anglo /Austraian family from Melbourne and Solihul. We made it back to the boat and rushed home dodging rain storms. In the afternoon during a break in the torrential rain we went for a walk outside the resort. The shacks that the local Fijians lived in are incredibly basic but the people all called out 'Bula' to us and smiled and waved . We came back feeling very humble and greatful that we had such a good standard of living. It was with a great deal of sadness for the brevity of our stay that we left this morning for the airport and made our way to New Zealand