Best holiday in the Southern Hemisphere!

Greetings from 35,000 feet in the air where we are back on board another flight,this time hopefully not as dramatic as the last one!Although we were delayed due to a spare part having to be got and inserted before take off but fingers crossed that's all sorted now, so far so good!!
We said a very tearful goodbye to NZ early this morning and are now en route to Hong Kong for 3 nights before flying to Hanoi, Vietnam. It's been an emotional last couple of days packing up, saying goodbye and realising that although 9 weeks might sound like a long time to you guys back home, it feels like our trip is almost over, we are moving onto our last continent and an amazing year is drawing to an end.

On a brighter note we had a great last 2 weeks in NZ where we took a holiday from our holiday and packed up Jarrod's truck and headed north.Our trip started in Paraparaumu at Jarrod's parents house where we lounged around , ate lots and recovered from the 'P' themed Easter party at Sj's the night before (you may not recognise us as Princess Leah, Prince and Posh Spice in the pics!!). The next morning after a spin on Rick's Harley trike we set off up the coast and stayed in New Plymouth for the night, very kindly put up by Sally and Dave in the local boy's boarding school.
As the boys were all on Easter hols we had our pick of 200 dorm beds to pick from, kinda weird sleeping in a boarding school dorm but quite amusing at the same time!Made me glad I was never a boarder,it would be like being in a hostel dorm for 6 years - no thanks!!Anyway after a night of great company and food and their kid asking us if we could ask our 'Dad' (she thought Jarrod was our Dad!) if we could come back for her birthday party in a few months - so cute! it was back on the road and Raglan bound. Raglan is a very small, chilled surf town which apparently has one of the world's best left breaks.

We settled into our 'train carriage' accomodation in Solscape eco retreat where we quickly discoverd the picture on their website was a little misleading size wise as we one by one for space reasons moved our gear into the quarter of a train carriage lodgings. It wouldn't have been too bad at all if we didn't have a pile of mossies, sandflies and a couple of random bugs for company aswell!
Next day had a surf on the beach while poor Jo watched on from the beach wrapped in her rug as she was beginning to come down with something which unfortunately turned into a bad throat infection and fever. Spent the day wandering around the hippie shops, lounging in coffee shops and taking a stroll to the waterfall.

Next day went surfing off the reef which proved to be a bit more difficult than I imagined. As I clambered after Jarrod out over the rocks I wondered how he was making it look so easy to get out. Before I knew it I had my foot wedged inbetween 2 rocks and sure enough I took a tumble, more concerend about damaging his board I didn't notice the cuts on my foot and hands till later. I was also trying to get up quickly before anyone else saw me, everyone else seemed to be seasoned over reef clamberers. In my panic to get back up and ignore the throbbing pain in my big toe I dodn't hear Jarrod telling me not to put my leash on until I was well in the water and out of the rocks way. So, as I finally approached the edge of the water I attached my leash not wanting my board to be taken away without me.

Complete school boy error. The next wave hit, while I was still navigating the rocks underneath the water. I lost my balance and as I tried to get up I realised my leash had got wrapped around a rock - not cool! I tried to unattach myself by feel as I couldn't see anything and the waves were continuing to break in on top of me. After 3 attempts at getting it undone my mind went into dramatic over drive and I started to envisage myslef being sucked under or hitting my head on a rock and not being able to surface beacuse I was attached to this leash which was wrapped around a rock.Obviously at this stage of the proceedigns everyone else who had been within view were now well out at the back having a blast catching the waves and therefore would be no help to me if this scenario did become a reality!
Luckily for me this over dramatic imagery ddn't become a reality and within moments I was rock free and paddling my way out. I paddled my heart out for about an hour and after being annihilated on the only 2 waves I caught I decided to admit defeat and face the clamber back in again over the rocks. A couple more cuts and bruises on the way out and I was back on level ground. Bit of a crappy surf on my behalf but fun all the same!

Next day we moved on up the coast, via the A & E where Jo was told she had a 'pussy throat'(surely there's a nicer way of putting this!) and was put on antibiotics and pain killers and since then has been slowly and surely on the mend. We spent the next 2 nights in the beautiful Bay of Islands in Peppertree backpackers in Paihai. From here we took a boat ride on 'Mack Attack' with a very amusing driver out around the islands and through Hole in the Rock at Cathedral cave. Amazing scenery and definitely a good way to see a lot in a short time.
The town we swere staying in was right by Waitangi where the famous Waitangi Treaty was signed by the British and the Maoris in the 1840's. There are some really amazing warrior canoes here made from the famous giant Kaori trees and some awesome carvings depicting all the Maori tribes. Each tribe has its own style and particualr images on their carving which tells the story of their people. The more elaborate the carving the stronger and more abundant the tribe.

On from Waitangi we drove further up the coast stopping briefly at some beautiful empty crystal blue water beaches and finally settled in Maitai Bay for the night where we pitched our tent, watched the sunset, cooked fresh mussels, had a horrendous night's sleep and got up at the crack of dawn again to watch the sun rise. We'd been a bit ahead of ourselves with the timing of sunrise so to fill in the time I decided to really wake myslef up with a swim across the bay.
After freaking myself out a litte by being in the water alone in the almost dark but glad of my wetsuit especially after seeing a few jellyfish I forgot about everything and thought at that moment I couldn't think of anything better I could have been doing than watching the sun rise from under the water as I swam. As they'd say in the 'Castle' - the Serentity!! After our post sunrise brekkie on the camping stove it was back on the road again and this time we headed up to Cape Reinga or Cape Regina as we like to call it.

Ths is the most northerly tip of NZ and we were truly blessed with the great weather we got the day we went up. As we approached we oohed and aghed at the dark blue Pacific Ocean on one side and the turqoise waters of the Tasman Sea on the other. Jarrod earned homself a goldstar for tourguiding these last few days showing us the best of NZ at its best with regular range, history and geography updates from the cockpit along the way!! The views from the cape were spectacular and we really couldn't have asked for nicer weather. After a few customery tourist shots at the famous lighthouse we decided to plant some roots in NZ and as the Maoris say 'gifted' a manuka tree to the area. Like a proud family we dug a hole , planted out little sapling, watered it and labelled it and took a picture ann we now have the GPS co-ordinates to keep an eye on our little tree until our next visit!

The rest of the afternoon was spent visiting some more beautiful bays and admiring the handy work of Niki the 'he couldn't be more South African looking if he tried'(we'd spotted them earlier up at the cape in matching safari outfits with elephants on them!) guy as he in a not so manly way painstakingly made a mosaic (Honne and Niki, NZ 2010) on the beach with rocks in his way too tight speedos!!We are quite easily entertained as you might have noticed!
After a long debate on whether we should camp again tonight we opted for a cabin for health reasons (Jo's recovery and none us really gettig any sleep the night before on rock solid cold ground). After 3 attempts at getting a suitable room i.e. one with enough beds, or one with power or one that wasn't already in use we finally settled into our very warm cabin for the night at the last dairy before the cape.

From here we crossed over to Ninety Mile beach which funnily enough is about 90miles long This beach is considered part of the State Highway and so had quite a bit of traffic on it including huge tourist buses. Before we started the drive we clambered up the sand dunes which are famous for sandboarding on body boards. Unfotunately the rental guy wasn't open when we arrived so after analysing everything we had in the truck we decided the tarpaulin was our best bet for getting any sort of sliding action. We had considered using the top of the chilly bin but thought better of this when we did some risk management assessment and decided that for the sake of cold beer it was better not to risk breaking this!
After a very steep climb up we had a lovely view of the ocean and the rest of the dunes which seemed to stretch on for an eternity. We looked on enviously at families who had their own boards with them as they shrieked their way down the dune. Then we got to work on making a slide out of the tarp - not so easy!! Eventually we discoverd the best option was to be semi wrapped up in it and pulled down the hill by someone else. Not quite sandboarding but still good craic!

As we drove on towards the beach we came across a whole tour bus full of OAP's throwing themselves down the hill on boards, they were getting up so much speed that we had to move the truck for fear they'd slide on under as they were taking a long time to stop as they reached the bottom of the dune. Some were actually aquaplaning over the shallow river bed below! Unfortunately they wouldn't give us a lend of their boards though so sandboarding these dunes has been put on the 'things to do next time I visit NZ' list!

The drive down the beach was pretty cool and each time it was my turn to drive we seemed to come across some beach kill, namely a shark and a huge stingray.At the end of the beach we came to Shipwreck Bay and Ahipara where locals have found a very inventive way to recylce their old microwaves - erect them on a post and use as a post box!After taking a rein check on the slightly dodgy looking Maori campsite we decided to spend the night in the lovely Dutch man's house right on the beach and had the luxury of a TV, couch and fully equipped kitchen - it's the little home comforts that excite us!
Another beautiful west coast sunset and then it was back on the road. We stopped for lunch in a not so happening town called Dargalville? where the supposed tourist information site was nowhere to be found. The previous town had had one but according to the guy in the chip shop there they'd been shut for the last 5 days but nobody knew why - welcome to NZ customer service! This fush and chups shop was a bit random though and sported a hand written sign that said 'Any lemons would be greatly appreciated' - So random!!!
Anyway after a lunch and glass of vino stop in the not so happening Dargalville, we got some very convuluted directions from the owner of the local surf shop who'd come out in search of us in the cafe having seen a car in the town with boards on the roof!They really don't seem to get much excitement there! We drove about another hour to an even smaller town called Paparoa (need to check my journal for this town name) where we declined a tent site for 60 bucks and took the only slighly more expensive fully equipped cabin option which I think Jo will vouch for aswell had the best shower we might possibly ever have had. Great showers are few and far between on a trip like this and it was especially nice to have near the end of our NZ experience not knowing what South East Asia will have to offer, from past experience it's more along the bucket of cold water and trough systems!!

The emotion of the upcoming departure was beginning to hit and I fought back the tears as I immersed myself in the Loney Planet guide to Vietnam as a distraction aid! We did one final post home and then one last swim at the very cool Goat Island Marine reserve where we swam with some huge snapper and some very cool blue fish. Then it was Auckland bound. We took in the Skytower skyline one last time and met our lovely hosts for the night - Shannon and Rebecca. After a great night of good wine and tapas it was an early night and a 4.30 am alarm. And here we are back in the air, another country to mark on map and another shot glass to buy! Our time in NZ and the great friends we made there will never be forgotten and don't worry Jarrod 'We'll be back!!!'Boom! P.S. If you're reading this thanks for helping make a great holiday, you'll be missed dearly.