We've had a busy time lately, last race of the winter series -won!, curry night in our local - pogged!!, treasure hunt in Marina - won!!!, quiz night - LAST!!!, picked olives for day and a half - knackered!!!!
Will be picking olives again in the New Year so will write more about that then, suffice to say, it is seriously HARD work but very rewarding when you see your own olive oil coming out of the press the very same day.
NZ Final Part
One of the main reasons for going to NZ this year was to get together with family. Most of whom I haven't seen in 8 years and Mark and Michael haven't seen in 16 years. So a family reunion on my Mums side was organised. My aunt and uncle have a farm in the Bombay Hills south of Auckland where she has a Chapel in the grounds for weddings and lots of room for receptions, so that's where we were going. My nephew arrived from Singapore, one of my brothers from Sydney, Mike and Eve from UAE and us from Greece, what a united nations lot we are now!! So lots of food, booze and a big open fire set us up for the afternoons hilarity. I love my family and don't get to spend nearly enough time with them so it was a brill afternoon.
Now we've only got a week left, we visit the famous Kelly Tarltons, the first of the walk through sea aquariums ever built. Lunch in Mission Bay at another new food chain, Burger Fuel where we had some of the biggest tastiest burgers we’d ever had.
Next day spent shopping with Mike and Eve for snow goggles and and a trip up the Skytower for more fab views over Auckland.
Next, we're off to find Hobbiton, for those of you who aren't Lord of Rings fans that's where the Hobbits live and where the film begins. Mike and I are big fans of LOTR. The nearest town to Hobbiton is Matamata.
Will be picking olives again in the New Year so will write more about that then, suffice to say, it is seriously HARD work but very rewarding when you see your own olive oil coming out of the press the very same day.NZ Final Part
One of the main reasons for going to NZ this year was to get together with family. Most of whom I haven't seen in 8 years and Mark and Michael haven't seen in 16 years. So a family reunion on my Mums side was organised. My aunt and uncle have a farm in the Bombay Hills south of Auckland where she has a Chapel in the grounds for weddings and lots of room for receptions, so that's where we were going. My nephew arrived from Singapore, one of my brothers from Sydney, Mike and Eve from UAE and us from Greece, what a united nations lot we are now!! So lots of food, booze and a big open fire set us up for the afternoons hilarity. I love my family and don't get to spend nearly enough time with them so it was a brill afternoon.
Now we've only got a week left, we visit the famous Kelly Tarltons, the first of the walk through sea aquariums ever built. Lunch in Mission Bay at another new food chain, Burger Fuel where we had some of the biggest tastiest burgers we’d ever had.
Next day spent shopping with Mike and Eve for snow goggles and and a trip up the Skytower for more fab views over Auckland.
Next, we're off to find Hobbiton, for those of you who aren't Lord of Rings fans that's where the Hobbits live and where the film begins. Mike and I are big fans of LOTR. The nearest town to Hobbiton is Matamata.
Mark makes a good Gollum
When we arrive we find that no private tours are allowed, the site is on a private farm. How much is a tour? $64 per person!! This is to see the place where the set was, the set isn’t even there anymore!! What a rip off. Another example of a few people trying to get rich quick but with very little to offer - am disappointed and empbarrased that the Kiwis a getting like this. Drove around the area that was used for the shire and used our imagination instead.After lunch in Cambridge we set out for Paeroa where I remember as a child there was a GIANT bottle of L&P, it was set at the entrance of the town and was 7 meters high. L&P is Lemon and Paeroa, NZ's own pop, a combination of lemon juice and local mineral water. It can only be found in NZ and in specialty NZ stores abroad. Things remembered as a child then revisited as an adult never seem quite the same. The bottle has been moved to a new site and although it is still 7 meters high, from an adult point of view the word GIANT had to be removed from my description and replaced with LARGE.
Friday 11thDrove to Kariotahi beach, about an hour from Pukekohe (where my Mum and Dad live) on the west coast. It is black sand beach, too hot to walk on in the summerbut it's not summer now and sky is black.
Kariotahi beachWe walked along the beach for about a kilometre then started to head back as the weather closed in. We got to about 150m from the car when the heavens opened so by the time we got in we were completely soaked. Sat in the car and ate our sandwiches, just like England.
Next stop, Pokeno for icecream. Standing in the middle of the town you can see both ends. Icecream here is superb, huge portions and very cheap and very very tasty.
After a fabulous lamb roast dinner Mike and Eve decide to dress Mum up in Eve's snowboarding outfit, hilarious.
Poor Mum was nearly expiring with all that gear on and a roaring fire going in the lounge. I think the comment of the evening was from Mum "this is abuse of the elderly". At 78 she's full of life and fun.
Saturday 12th Last day tomorrow – today I chill with Mum and Dad and wonder where the time has gone, we’ve had a good mixture of whistle stop touring and chilling with family. It will be sad to leave Mike and Eve, not sure when we'll see them again. Although I don’t really want to leave, part of me is also recognising I’m not ready to come back for good yet, still too much of the world I want to see.
Sunday 13th So sadly it's goodbye to NZ and back off to blighty.
No comments:
Post a Comment