North to South

After a very drunken last weekend in Auckland with Max, thanks to lots of free drinks from Sebastian at the local Belgium pub on the Saturday night, which didn't help with our plan of winning enough money at the casino to fund the rest of the trip....the fact that we could barely stand may have had something to do with our much lighter pockets at the end of the night... Anyway, our time at Bamber House, on the North Island and with Max came to an end on the Monday morning when we left to travel down to Wellington to catch the ferry across to the South island.

We were quite sad to leave all of the above for may different reasons:

The North Island because it was our first destination of our travelling expedition, not to mention the fact that it's a gorgeous place & we've visited so many amazing places and some great times. Some of the best being -

• PIHA - we spent our first month here pet sitting. It is by far one of the most stunning places on the N. island with the KiteKite Falls, Lion Rock, Waitakere Ranges....also our first experience of a long drop loo!
• AHIPARA - and Endless Summer Lodge...lazy days baking, cooking, eating, drinking, surfing (kinda), meeting lots of new and now good friends. Definitely the best hostel so far with great hosts Anna and Blaine, not to mention the funniest pets - Billie and Jamie. Our day out for a picnic and sandboarding was one of the funniest yet!
• Bay of Islands - We had a lovely couple of days here with Kirstin & Alec - again another gorgeous place.
• Coromandel - Best beaches of the North Island - Hahei, Cathedral Cove and the crazy Hot Water Beach.
• Mount Maunganui - a bugger to climb but well worth it when we got to the top! Late night BBQ on the beach with friends Katerina and Nao.
• Rotorua - bubbling mud - what more do you need??!!
• Napier - Sunniest place on the North Island. Our first week there was cool starting with the cycling wine tour for Matt's Birthday. Also our first experience of stacking shelves in a supermarket which wasn't so cool!
• Taupo and Tongariro National Park - Volcanoes, sailing, Huka jet and superloos....

Then to Bamber House. - our first experience of managing a hostel, and not a small one at that. Although it was long days and quite tiring, we met lots of friendly backpackers and the work was actually very rewarding (we got good bonuses for a full house!!). We also got to live in the flat, which although was very small, it's the most comfort we've had since leaving home with our very own kitchen with fridge!!
It was also the place where we got to spend an ace few days with our lovely newly wed friends from home Rach and Mat - we miss you guys!

The last of the above brings us to Max.... Since meeting him back at Endless Summer he's been a big part of our North Island travels and has become a good friend. We had lots of fun times and created many happy memories of our travels so far. A fair few of them involving Max 'Brewing up' (meaning of the tea variety, not the 'pull my finger' kind), namely at 2 in the morning for us when we finished our night shift at Pak'n'Save! The rest of them involve food, drink, films, coffee shops, magazines and lots more food and drink. So thanks Max, it's been a pleasure!

Anyway, back to the matter in hand..us travelling to the South island...

The ferry crossing from Wellington to Picton is renowned for being pretty rough, but lucky for us we woke up to a perfect day which meant a nice smooth crossing & stunning views from the sun deck of the Marlborough Sounds.

Not thinking it could possibly get any better, we followed the Queen Charlotte Track from Picton on our route to Nelson, which proved us wrong - we just wished the pictures could do it justice.

We stayed with Mags and Gavin in Nelson for our first night and went Quad biking the next day. Razzing round a Muddy track with amazing scenery and a picnic half way through - nice!

That night we went to our destination for the next 3 weeks - the White Elephant backpackers in Motueka, just on the edge of Abel Tasman National Park where we're working for our accommodation.

We're just coming to our last week now and have so far managed to see most of the Abel Tasman, which again is gorgeous! We went sea kayaking to Split Apple Rock with Kirstin and Alec last week, which was a tad scary further out in the rougher water but still pretty cool and we managed to see the seal colony at Tonga Island from the water taxi.

A couple of weeks ago we had our first outdoor cinematic experience. The local park in nelson was showing 'Rebel without a Cause' starring James Dean which was good fun. We went with Gavin, Kirstin and Alec and everyone took along blankets, picnics and alcohol, one group even took a sofa...!

We've now got one week left here at the White Elephant before we get to stay with Mags & Gavin again in Nelson ready for the Marlborough Sounds wine festival (free wine, food and entertainment...), then we'll be travelling down to Christchurch ready for the arrival of Matt's Mum and Al on the 14th February - Can't wait!

For more pics...

left a good job in the city...

well, its true... it was a really nice job at Bamber House. Nearly all of the people we met were great and truly nice. It was fun, but lots of hard work... ask Bully... she was near breakdown by the end of it :)

However, the next stage of adventure begins. We travel to the South Island on the Interislander Ferry on Tuesday morning and our first port of call (apart from Picton where we dock) is Nelson for a night to catch up with our friends from Ahipara, Gavin and Mags. We are then bound not too far away from them as we begin our next job, cleaning for accommodation in Motueka at the White Elephant lodge, which looks lovely.

We think we may also have a chance to meet up with old pals Kirsten and Alec too, who are now also on the South Island, which is always nice.

Our moving on is also tinged with some sadness as it means we'll be leaving our crazy German friend Max for the last time in New Zealand. Since meeting him in Ahipara 5 long months ago we've had many goodbyes but we always knew that they wouldn't be for long, or at least we came to realise that after he managed to find us again for the 3rd or 4th time... ; ) But this time it's for good as Max is leaving NZ in Feb. We've had a weekend of goodbye celebrations...or commiserations... which consisted of a cinema night on Friday, a very drunken pub and casino night last night and we're having a last meal at the hostel tonight.

Not to worry though, we're planning on popping in to see him in Germany on our way home before Christmas and he'll be coming over to us for New Year.... so prepare yourselves!!

Happy New Year!

Wishing you all lots of Love, Happiness, & fun times for 2007!

Blimey, we can't believe Christmas and New Year are all over...it always goes so fast.

Christmas actually turned out to be much better than we were expecting. Everywhere here was so un-christmassy that we just didn't feel in the mood....that is until we finished work for our Christmas lunch and started digging into the 3 huge chilly bins of fruity vodka punch...that certainly raised our spirits!! The big BBQ, the sun, and the packages of Christmas cards and presents from our lovely friends and folks also helped!

Next, was New Year's Eve, and more importantly of course...Trace's Birthday....couldn't come round quick enough for us as it also signalled the arrival of some friendly faces from home...the newly weds, Rach & Mat.

I (TB) was treated to a lovely Birthday lunch by Matt and Max which consisited of my favourite meal... chip butties with mayonnaise (not very sophisticated i know!) and a homemade Birthday cake from Max. I also got lots of lovely cards and presents, texts and emails - thanks loads to everyone who sent them!! But the biggest thanks goes to Matty who worked for me not only on my Birthday, but also the day after which as you'll soon find out was no mean feat!

We had a reservation at the Orbit (revolving) restaurant at the top of the Sky Tower for NYE, which has the most stunning views over the whole of Auckland and we even managed to catch the sun setting just as we took our seats. The food, drink, atmosphere and live music was all just perfect and before we new it it was midnight and the fireworks were going off all over the City as well as off the top of the Sky Tower.

After the meal we decided to head for the casino, where after a few dutch courages and a small loss on the Roulette table, Rach and I decided we were brave enough to have a go on a Black Jack table. Explaining to the croupier that we'd never played before and didn't know the rules, we were left feeling a little red faced when she suggested we should start on the smaller tables.... we'd sat down at a $25 minimum table....

Not to worry though, we got Rach a space at a $10 table and after building up a very friendly rappour ; ) with the Little Britain Hypnotist look-a-like Rach came away V. Happy after winning over $100!

After a few more drinks in another casino area and lots more catching up, we were moved on, as everywhere was closing, and so decided to have another go on the tables. Rach and I joined forces and after putting $20 down came away with over $200... not bad for our first time (well, Rach's 2nd), and of course we had a lot of help from the boys!

We decided to quit while we were ahead and make our way out to get a taxi. When we stepped outside it was daylight and the birds were singing... we looked at our watches and saw that it was 6.30am.... poor Matt had to start a 12 hour shift at 8.30am.... ! He got through it though, and didn't complain....too much! ; )

On New Years Day, after a lot of recovering by most of us, and hard work by Matt, Rach & Mat came to the hostel where Max cooked us a 3-course meal that we were still trying to get through at lunch the next day!

Here comes the sad part...

On the 2nd Jan it was Max's Birthday (we went to a Belgian pub for a dram and then to the cinema to watch The Prestige) and Mat & Rach's last day in Auckland, so after a quick detour up to the top of Mount Eden, we popped into the village for some goodbye/ birthday drinks before Mat & Rach drove off into the sunset in their luxury camper!

We'd had such an amazing few days with them that when it came to them leaving, it felt like we were back leaving Manchester Airport on August 6th again... : (

Have a great trip guys!

**more pics**