It’s been fabulous, and particularly good to catch up with the southern hemisphere family, meeting new members as well. Everyone has made me feel so welcome! I do have a couple of small regrets – no kakapo sightings, but next time, in South Island, I’m sure I’ll put that right. I did see kiwis at Te Puia, which was great. I would also have loved more time in Taupo and Rotorua, but then I could happily have spent 3 weeks there, so I don’t think that’s a fair comment! I would also have liked more time in Te Papa Museum in Wellington, as I didn’t manage to see everything I wanted to. Apart from that, and a wish for a little less rain, and better health for Julie, it’s been pretty near perfect!

And I did make it home in time for Grahame’s birthday…………

Pukekhoe is a farming community, and we found a lovely garden centre for our final coffee (Decaf Soy Flat White, naturally!) of the holiday, with a piece of lemon slice and cream as a treat. The motel was perfect, with a swimming pool and space for me to sort my luggage finally, shower and change.

Gordon’s train up from Palmerston North was delayed by an hour, but that still left us plenty of time to find the airport. Road changes and continuing work since the last set of visitors meant the way was knew to them as well as to me. I checked my luggage in, and we headed up to Spinnaker’s restaurant for a farewell meal and to kill some time before my flight.

Goodbyes are never easy, especially to family and after such a wonderful holiday. Still, I’m certain I will be going back again, and hopefully family will come over here in the meantime.

The flight home? Ah, yes, the flight home! Fabulous as far as Hong Kong. I slept through Australia – what a great result!! We’d set off from Auckland at midnight, and arrived in HK about half an hour late, just before 6am. Not my favourite airport – rather sterile, and with nothing open before 7am. Couldn’t even log on to update my Blog.

Back on the plane for the 13 hour leg of the journey, heading happily for take-off, when the pilot announces that the red warning light on the right-hand engine needs investigation, so we’re back off towards the terminal again. Shortly after that, he tells us that a hydraulic thingy has a crack in it, and they will try to replace it, which will take at least 2.5 hours, which we will spend on the plane. Sitting there, refusing repeated offers of champagne (being a non-drinker is SUCH a disadvantage at a time like this!), popping my No Jet Lag pills and glancing at my watch, I can see the time ticking away, and hope they can manage the repairs so that I make it home in time for Grahame’s 40th (sorry, Grahame!) party the following day.

We finally set off, 3 hours late, and I’ve managed to text family in UK to let them know I’ll be much later in than expected. The flight seems interminable, and I watch 2 movies, since I can’t seem to sleep through. The cabin crew have been brilliant, and there’s a round of applause when we finally land after circling Heathrow for 3/4 an hour for a landing slot. The luggage finally appears, and I’m back in the UK, to a cold, frosty English winter night and a warm family welcome.

Good choice, as by the time we’d successfully driven in to the Domain (first time!), the sun was out again, and it was back to summer. We wandered around the gardens on the Domain site, and then headed in to the Museum there for lunch in the Atrium. Very nice too, and the Museum shops were beautiful – some fabulous art on sale, which we looked at admiringly but couldn’t afford, and a lovely, peaceful atmosphere. I felt quite at home when I noticed the glamorous young lady behind the counter was wearing a reindeer head-dress!

I had my first Golden Kiwi fruit for breakfast – delicious, and definitely different from the green ones. Decided to spend today and tomorrow in and around Auckland, then find a motel for Julie and Gordon to overnight in after they had dropped me at the airport. How quickly the time has gone!

Devonport is delightful! Coastal, with a naval base, and opposite Auckland, it has many older houses, which are beautiful, and lovely shopping and cultural areas. It’s expensive to live in, but seems such a nice place to live. We caught the ferry over to Auckland and wandered around the seafront area before having a Gelato – Hokey Pokey flavour, in case you are interested, which is honeycomb and butterscotch. We then caught the ferry back and wandered up through Devonport main street in search of a late lunch, which we found in a local Deli. Delicious, and still weird to be sitting outside in the sunshine while Christmas Music is played by all the shops and cafes.

After lunch, we went up to North Head – another blustery headland with astonishing views. It’s one of the many volcanoes in the Auckland area, plus a site of Maori importance, and was fortified against feared Japanese invasion during WW2. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves……………..

Still craving potato after our Hahei experience, we opted for fish and chips, and I tried a Paua Fritter. Not the best ones we’ve had, which was a shame, as it was my last evening meal on the road. Orewa is another lovely little beach town, and we strolled out from the motel to pick up the fish and chips.

The coffee was good, but the place itself was disappointing. Finding ourselves in the middle of a strange Santa Parade didn’t help – the 5 people on mopeds, hooting maniacally, as they were late and trying to catch up with Santa was also strange………… Even the shops were disappointing, so we set off up the Coromandel in search of better things.

Top travel tip – if you are heading up the Coromandel, make sure you don’t combine rain and a Sunday, as most indoor things, including shops, are closed, and it tinges everything with sadness, and doesn’t do the place justice. As with Napier earlier in the holiday, I was told “It’s so lovely here when the sun shines!” We did find a lovely place for lunch, at a winery en route to Coromandel Township, where we just caught a break in the rain for long enough to eat outside, and moved on just as a minibus full of women dressed as pirates arrived. No, honestly, I’d had nothing stronger than a Decaf Soy Flat White to drink!!

Coromandel Township was another place which would have been lovely in the sun, and on a day when everything was open. We did go round the small museum, and chatted to the man there, who had emigrated from London 40 years earlier, and was deeply content to be where he was. Decided to press on round the coast and down to Thames for the night. Again, I’m sure I didn’t see the coast at its best, although the Puhutakawa trees were magnificent.

We had lunch on the beach at Whangamata, which was pretty crowded, as it was full of life guards training for the new season. It was also baking hot, and we decided to move on, having seen the new marina, the beach, and wandered around the shops. Retail therapy is such a good idea! We’d also, of course, sampled the local Decaf Soy Flat White coffee before buying sandwiches to eat on the beach.

We had planned to head up to Hot Water Beach, and Jillian & Gordon had kindly lent us their spade……….. OK, sounds bizarre, but this another geothermal highlight, and part consolation for moving from Rotorua to the coast and up the Coromandel. At low tide, it’s possible to dig for hot water springs on the beach, and create your very own thermal pool. We mis-timed low tide on the first day, so spent the night in nearby Hahei at a very swish motel. Sitting in the garden there, we spotted a very peculiar bird with a little crest-thing waving on its head, a fussy walk, and a lot of verbal, plus it’s mate. Looking it up later, we discovered that we’d seen a Californian Quail couple, who came right up to us until a Tui muscled in and frightened them off.

Hahei beach was beautiful, and we had a lovely swim in the sea. I reminded myself it was December! Although the motel was beautiful (and our most expensive night of the holiday), the owner had forgotten to mention that much of the community shut down that evening for the Christmas party. With our craving for fish & chips unsatisfied, we had a truly horrible tuna pasta meal, with what later events led us to believe was dodgy tuna.

After an interesting start to the next day, as the tuna made its presence felt, we headed off to Hot Water Beach in time for low tide around 10am. It’s such a bizarre sight – a seemingly normal small stretch of beach swamped by people frantically digging and making pools in the sand! It’s also extremely well named, as the water on our part of the beach was scaldingly hot, and it was quite a challenge to find some cool enough to sit in. We met a lovely American student over from Australia where she’s studying Marine Biology, and her mother. Together, we managed to construct a pool with enough incoming cool water from the tide to make it usable.

Waihi was very pleasant – good to see the sea again – and we called in at the Martha Mine on the way out of town. It did have to be seen, but I didn’t enjoy the experience at all. A former underground mine, an American company has turned it into an open mine, still for gold. And it’s big. VERY big! It took several Phoenix Palms and Whangamata to restore the balance of my mind – Nicky, you would absolutely HATE this one! It completely freaked me out, and I’m OK with heights and depths.

We decided to zip round Te Puia pretty quickly, looking at the geysers and then moving on to the coast and Whangamata, which is Julie’s favourite beach. However, that was before we started the guided tour! We were so lucky! We had a Maori lady as our guide who normally works in the ticket office. She gave us a direct link to the oral tradition and a glimpse of life in Whakawerawera village, also linking in with the village buried by the Tarawera eruption in the 19th Century.

It was fabulous, and although most of the rest of the tour party melted away, Julie and I stuck with her for the best part of 2 hours, and were fascinated!

Last night, we spent the evening in the Polynesian Pools on the edge of Lake Rotorua, watching the stars come out as darkness fell. The 42 degree pool was too hot, but we found one which was just right.

A definite highlight of this trip is the visit to Waiotapu – the Place of Sacred Waters. Another geothermal site, it is astonishing! It has absolutely everything this geothermal enthusiast can ask for – mud, steam, spectacular scenery, walks through the Bush, and an amazing atmosphere. See what you think………..