Anyway, back to the drawing board!
I am sorry that it has been so long since I have posted anything at all...however, I can always tell you to have a look at the Stott family blog and I hardly rate on the poor bloggers scale!!
You had better put the kettle on and settle in for a long read as I realize that I have not really outlined the events of our trip to NZ nor have you seen many pictures except as Katey pointed out of my son (not to worry it won't all be boring scenery pics...I am sure I can throw the odd one of Ollie in as well).
First of all, I know you all heard about the hellish journey over...well, the journey home was amazing by comparison. If anyone was on the flight home that had been on the journey to NZ they wouldn't have thought we were bringing the same child home that we took out there!
Despite an unplanned stop in Columbo, Sri Lanka due to a medical emergency which then had us miss our connecting flight, Ollie was a superstar. He seemed to be on a mission to collect smiles and coos from all passers-by.
New Zealand 2006
Here is a map of the North Island outlining our journey. We spent a total of 15 days on the North Island and 12 days in the South. We had our last two days in Auckland however, this was spent resting up for the journey home. I was supposed to have a picture of the South Island journey similar to this one however, we never got around to highlighting it or taking the pic and now we have leant the map out!!Day 1-2:After the hellish journey we finally got out of the airport and after lengthy proceedings managed to get the campervan sorted. Within minutes of getting in the campervan we were enroute to the first of many Top 10 holiday parks...where we parked up and crashed!! That night there was a terrible storm apparently but noone in our campervan heard the branches being ripped from the trees. Here is a pic of Ollie and I up in his new bed. You should have seen him when he finally got to lie down...he was rolling back and forth and smiling away!! Look how tired we both look!
The next day we headed further North. We would have liked to go up as far as lands end however, we had made arrangements to meet up with Jim and Tammy (the Kiwi couple we met on our honeymoon in Thailand) on the weekend so, we didn't want to have to spend the whole time driving all the way up just to come back down one day later. Instead we went up as far as Goat Island (where the snorkling is supposedly amazing). It was a bit chilly so Adam was disappointed that we weren't able to go. Anyway, we drove a little bit further south to Orewa where we stayed for 2 nights. We finally managed to pick up some groceries to pack the camper van up and start living the camper experience!! This is where Ollie had a picnic with some Duckies. He thought it was hilarious when they started to quack while fighting over his bread!! After these two relaxing days...Ollie
was now into the swing of things (therefore, not waking the whole campsite at night when mum and dad refused to play at his 3-4am alert time!!). The next day (Friday, February 27th) we headed back down and around. Apparently it was a long weekend for Aucklanders and our friend Jim warned us to leave early as the traffic could be horrendous. You see on the main highway out of Auckland and enroute to the Coramandel Peninsula (a popular long weekend destination for Aucklanders) there is a one lane bridge!! There are many one lane bridges in NZ however, this one apparently can cause quite the backlog. Again, when you are up at 4 a.m it seems traffic isn't such an issue! We then headed over to the East side of the Coramandel Peninsula to a place called Hahei. Apparently Tammy (an Aucklander) spent many a summer vacation here. It was lovely. Our campsite (sorted out by Jim) was amazing. Our camper overlooked the beach and ocean. It was one of the nicest campsites we stayed at. On the Saturday, some Dolphins spent the day at the beach. Therefore, Adam spent most of the day running up and down the beach trying to get a photo. As you all know...Adam while amazed by sealife is desperately afraid of the killer dolphin so he himself did not venture in to get up close and personal! 
We had a lovely couple of days with Tammy and James. We went on a short hike over to Cathedral Cove where Adam and I learned how thin the ozone layer is over NZ as despite sunscreen and an overcast day, we ended up a little lobster-like. Not to worry...Ollie was fully protected!! On the Sunday, Tammy and Jim had to head home (as they had a 6hr journey ahead of them and work in the morning....poor suckers!!). So, we headed down to Tauranga. We had two lovely days in Tauranga. On day two we headed off down the road to Mt. Manganui (not sure if I have spelled that corrrectly) Anyway, Adam had a very interesting conversation with a man that he thinks may have a gift for seeing the future...however, my diagnosis was significantly different as I thought it more likely that he was a paranoid schizophrenic who had perhaps forgotten to take his meds this week. While I was in the camper with Ollie...Adam proceeded to chat with this gentleman at length. Apparently, there are to be several assassination attempts on various war mongering world leaders, the vatican is moving campus (apparenlty moving somewhere in England) and finally Putin is going to hit "the button" and launch nuclear war. Now, all is not lost as he passed on this useful and lifesaving information that I will now pass along to you. When the button is pressed we are all to head to the crop circles where the aliens will be picking up the sole survivors! There...not only is this blog informative with respect to our family goings on but also includes lifesaving information regarding impending world events! I wonder which cyberspace watchdog will now be keeping close eye on my blogs given the above content!! Anyway, despite this conversation of doom...we managed to have a lovely day walking the base of Mt. Manganui!! After our two days in Tauranga, it was off to Rotarua for another two days. We stayed at a lovely place just outside Rotarua which bragged about having "no sulpher smell". A very good selling feature since alot of Rotarua stinks of rotten egg smell due to the geothermal activity in the area. We spent one day at Paradise Valley, where Ollie met a couple of lion cubs as well as their parents, a few wild boar, some deer, wallabies and of course some trout. We have several pics of the trout...guess who took those exotic shots!!
Here is a pic of Ollie and Adam enjoying the great outdoors at the back of our camper site in Rotarua...we stayed at the top 10 at Blue Lake. As you can see..Ollie enjoyed his spaghetti bolognese prior to this photo op!! Have a look at the amazing ferns behind the two studs....NZ was covered in this amazing greenery!! After, our two days in Rotarua we were off to Taupo, more geothermal activity. This is the site where Ollie took ill as I have mentioned in previous blogs.....However, we ended up getting an ambulance ride back to Rotarua since we couldn't be admitted to Taupo as they had no pediatric beds...Prior to taking ill we did manage to get Ollie's first train ride in...he didn't seem to like it very much especially when all the kids screamed inside the short tunnel. All in all, not bad for a dollar! 
This photo was taken on the way out of "the station". We also went to Wai-o-tapu which is a geothermal area near Taupo. Quite smelly in parts. Adam got to watch the "geezer" as he pronounces it but Ollie and I were in the camper while he had his morning nap. Adam only just told me the story of the "geezers" discovery the other day. Apparently, the natives were using some washing powder upstream and suddenly there was an almighty noise and a burst of water....as you can see...would have been quite a site. 
After the hospital stay we spent one more day in Rotarua lazing just to make sure that things were fine to travel onward....unfortunately, because of this unscheduled stop in Rotarua, we lost some time. We had planned on spending some time over in James and Tammy's neck of the woods which is Hawkes Bay but unfortunately we had to cut that out. So, the day after our lazy day we headed all the way down to Wellington so that we could head off to the South Island the following morning. Anyway, this is where I will leave off for now...in the next blog I will cover the South Island experience!!Hope all is well....Take care!!
1 comment:
Hi Folks
Enjoyed the trip of the north island
awaiting the 2nd edition.
MIL XX
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