Interesting Stats

The adventure in New Zealand has come to an end, but I thought you might be interested in some statistics from the holiday: -

Countries travelled through: 3
Places visited in New Zealand: 16
Distanced travelled by car: 4,500 km
Hours spent in car: 45
Postcards sent: 85
Species of animal seen: 100
Books read: 5

Some places we played brain train (not including motels)
1. Pancake rocks
2. Boat on lake Te Anu
3. Cruise ship terminal in Milford Sound
4. Cruise ship on Milford Sound
5. Ferry to Wellington
6. Auckland Airport
7. Airplane somewhere over Pakistan

Greetings from Singapore!

Hi all. Just a quick note from Singapore. It is 7.20am here, the sun has just risen and it is already 26 degrees! I really like Singapore airport. They have free Internet, really friendly staff (their English is better than mine!) and everything is easily sign posted. I am feeling totally messed up in my time lines. It is 11.20pm at home, 12.20pm in New Zealand, 7.30 am here and I don't know whether I should be doing stuff or getting ready for bed. The first leg of the journey out Auckland went well. We left at about 1.10am in the morning (NZ time) and both the monster and I were exhausted after our exciting day so we got lots of sleep. It took us about 9 hours to get to Singapore. It is mad to think that it took us as long if not longer to drive from Wanaka to Kaikoura and the driving was more difficult, we couldn't sleep, we weren't plied with food, drink and hot towels and there weren't toilets in the car. We have to board our plane to Heathrow at 9am Singapore time. I don't know what time we get into London, probably about 4pm and then on to Dublin due to arrive at 7pm. It is great that our baggage has been checked all the way through (we were 5kgs over the limit - all those pressies!) and we have our boarding passes for the two connecting flights. Looking forward to seeing everyone back in the emerald isle soon. Ps, Michele - the days of Peleg is really good, meant to tell you earlier.

Tiger Wrestling

The monster and I had a fantastic day today. We drove for about 2 1/2 hours to Whangerei where Zion Gardens are located (if you have ever seen the programme the Lion Man you will know what they are like). The weather was a bit dismal and I was really stressed because of the early start and having to get to the place on time. It is a big cat park in rolling green hills - reminded me of the wicklow mountains - with about 40 big cats; leopards, lions, tigers, cheetahs and a baboon. A lot of the animals have been rescued from zoos and circus' and all of them are part of a breeding programme which hopes to reintroduce the animals offspring to their native habitat. Our guide was Ash, who was visiting the park from Johannesburg to see how the lions he had hand reared from cubs were getting on. He was very friendly and informative. The best part of the day was meeting Karli, the tiger. Ash and another keeper led her out on a lead (chain collar and rope lead) and the monster and I got lots of time to pet her and get to know her. She liked us so much she decided to play with the monster. She was just like my little cat Fudge. When the monster tickled her tummy, she rolled over and grabbed the monster's leg, knocking her off her feet. It was all in play however, and she was quickly pulled off the Monster. It was a fantastic experience. She was so soft, I just wanted to cuddle her, but I was respectful of her size and power as well. Drove back to Auckland and straight out to the airport. Waiting to go home now. We also got to tickle a baboon who had been rescued from riding a bike in the circus. Her name was Foxy. She was really friendly. That was really cool too.

Auckland at last

Stayed in a beautiful hotel in Wellington and celebrated the Monster's birthday in style with lots of delicious room service. Had an early start yesterday and were on the road by 8.30 (including a 30 minute detour through the city of Wellington - the Monster thought I was lost, but it was all planned out!!! :)) Driving to Auckland was fine, it was all flat highways and loads of towns. It was raining and the countryside is lush green fields, I felt I had been teleported back to Ireland. I don't like the North Island very much. It is very different in population (much more populated), scenery (not as dramatic) and people (still friendly, but much busier). We took it in turns driving and hit Auckland at the evening rush hour. It was like being on the M50 but I didn't mind sitting in traffic because at least we only had another few miles to go rather than another couple of hours along twisting mountain roads. Our hotel is Sky City, in the Sky City Tower in the centre of Auckland. It is the tallest tower in the southern hemisphere. It has casinos, lots of restaurants, spa, theatres, luxury cinemas, the sky jump (14 second free fall jump and there is no mattress to land on, but you are attached to a harness) and shops. Weather here is warm and overcast. We both had a long lie in - we are exhausted after our three days of travel - and then wandered around the city, had something to eat and did some shopping. The city is very busy and reminds me of Dublin. It is a total shock to my system. I haven't seen so many people in a month and I'm not used to the fast pace and the sheer mass of humanity.

The end is nigh

It is so sad that our adventure is nearly over - i dont really want to post what may be my last comment for this adventure.

Our room in Wellington was really lovely - the beds were soooo comfy. But all to soon the alarm clock went off at 7.00am on Thursday morning and we had to get up. We planned to leave at 8.00 in order to get a good start to the driving - we were slightly behind target when we got the car started at 8.30am. Wellington city is enormous and it took us ages to get out and on to the motorway. As we drove along i was overcome with the similarly to IReland. It was raining alot and the fields on each side of the road were the same as the fields at home - in fact it felt like driving to Dublin (before the motorways bypassed the towns). We stopped for lunch at 12.00 and then i took the wheel. Unfortunately the new car didnt have an MP3 plug so instead we sang songs as we drove along - including some Christmas ones. The time passed quickly and shortly after 8 hours we made it to the hotel. We had noticed that the travel agent had booked us in for the wrong nights so i was worried that would be homeless last night - but thank God the holy souls came to our rescue and we had a room for the night. We were both exhausted so we got room service and watched tv. This morning we got up late and have been doing some shopping for the last few hours. ( FOR SIMONS EYES ONLY: i got some Christmas pressies - will fill you in next week)

We check out of the hotel tomorrow and our flight is sunday morning at 1.10am. We havent fully decided what we will do yet but it will involve packing. We had to buy another case today as our stuff has mysterious grown.

Anyway toodle doo for now.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONSTER

As the Monster already posted, we had a marathon day yesterday driving from Wanaka to Kaikoura. We took it in turns to drive (5 hours each) along twisty, winding roads that were often bordered by a steep cliff edge on one side. It was so nice to get back to Kaikoura. It is a beautiful place. The room in the White Morph Motel wasn't as nice as our first room, we mightn't have liked it so much if we had stayed there first off. It made it easier to leave this morning. We got a great welcome in the White Morph Restaurant. They wanted to hear all about our adventures and asked if we had met the rich dairy farmers. They had their Christmas decorations up and it looked very festive. Today is the Monster's birthday, and unfortunately we spent most of it travelling. The weather in the South Island was hot and sunny, about 23 degrees. It is the first time the Monster has had a hot sunny day on her birthday and it is the first day off she has had on her birthday for a while (excluding weekends). We popped out to the seal colony before we left Kaikoura and lots of seals came over to say happy birthday. It was lovely. Then we hopped in Yari for the last leg of our journey in that wonderful car. It took about two hours to Picton, which makes 3400km we have travelled in Yari since getting the car on the 12th November. It took 3 hours to cross to the North Island, Wellington being our port of call. The crossing was fine, but they had the world's most boring television programmes on to entertain us. Wellington is very different to what we have encountered before. It is a big city, much more like a European city and very populated. We have probably seen more people tonight than we have in our entire stay in the South Island. I prefer the south island so far. We managed to get rooms in a swanky hotel (got a last minute cancellation thank God) and we are both feeling really tired. On to Auckland tomorrow. We'll leave early in the morning because it is another 10 hour drive, but probably on motorways and stuff rather than twisty roads.

Its a record

Thanks for the good wishes for the jump and Birthday. I hope everyone is well - we will be home soon!!!

Yesterday was a record breaking day - we spent 10 hours driving from Wanaka to Kaikoura - we had expected it to take 7 hours but were misinformed. We had one 5 minute break and stopped twice for petrol. We were so happy to reach our destination that we were laughing and giggling out loud in the restuarant - we were getting loooks.

We are now in Picton waiting for the 2.25 Ferry to Wellington to go. 3 hours on the sea - i hope it wouldnt be like the whale watching boat.

so long for now xxxx

special love to Woozer, Rags, Janna, Fudge and Blueberry.