Noumea

We've had a busy few weeks.  I started my new job last Thursday and Harry has just accepted an offer.  We went for a walk to Catchpool with Phillipa and lots of other friends, and had our first bike ride in months along the Hutt River - very enjoyable.  Went to hear Sean Preston play with Marie and Ian (Italian first which was rather nice) and to the movies to see Haute Cuisine.  Did a bit of gardening (starting to get organised for barking), and now we are off the  Noumea for a week.

During our visit we became grandparents for the first time.  Little Connie Elizabeth was born one month early.  Michael called me 4 times, I had turned my phone off because I had forgotten to take my recharger and Harry's didn't roam in New Caledonia!!  When I switched it on in the evening, I found all these missed calls.  Thankfully Connie and Rebecca were fine, she had just decided it was time to enter the real world!! Photos in the next blog.

We had a great time in the sunshine - low 20's every day and lots of swimming in the sea.

 Our hotel was a bit out of the town which was fine by us, as there were plenty of eateries, although we were disappointed the swimming pool was closed for renovation.  We had a great walk into the centre of town one day, and lots of walks along the beaches to explore.

The beaches were lovely and warm with lots of little fish swimming around.  On the last day a storm seemed to create a whole lot of little bits of coral covered in algae or seaweedy stuff which we watched come and pile up on shore.  The locals were happy to swim in it, but it didn't appeal to us.

Lots of 4WDs - the roads are like a rally track - probably a result of holidaying just after the rainy season.  We drove around lots, but there wasn't heaps to see, but all good fun.  

We went to a little prisoner colony at that was intriguing and quite frightening - those poor people being transported from France - heat, insects, rain and every illness under the sun.  Idyllic it seems on a warm day, but not back then.  Dig the huge fig tree!!

Its expensive -we decided probably cos of the subsidies from France and the number of visitors from Europe (the queue at customs on the flight from Auckland was 6 in the 'other passport holders queue' and the rest of the plane was in 'EU passport holders' queue').  We saved our pennies for treats, by heating up frozen food from the supermarket - CASINO is a great brand - grilled veges (zucchs, capsicums, eggplant), and lots of little quiches and potato meals.  Bread from the bakery and fruit meant we could live quite cheaply.  We actually enjoyed sitting in our hotel room, eating our dinner!!We enjoyed wandering around in the evening - watching the locals play petanque, the local eccentrics and listening to music and the locals dancing.  We queued to get tickets to sail to the Pines, but the ticket office closed at 3.00 - literally, someone was just handing over their money and down went the electric door nearly getting their fingers! So, we decided to rent a car and go somewhere else. We went to the local markets but didn't buy much, and had  a wander around the little church and the shops (bought Harry a new pair of sandals as his broke on the way down to the beach).

Also had a trip to the local botanical garden and zoo, where we saw some birds not seen before, and enjoyed wandering around with umbrellas (a tad cold that day).  It was quite an adventure getting to the gardens, signposts left a little to be desired and we went up and down a hill and around suburbs - we could see the fence line and look down onto the gardens but couldn't find the entrance. 

Also stopped by a little museum out in the country which I was quite keen to look in, but it wasn't open.  There were a lot of volunteers helping mow the lawn and weed, and they looked at us suspiciously as we did a circuit round the little building.

And the cemetery to the fallen NZ soldiers.  It is nice to know that locals care for kiwis who fell on their land.

 Had a great trip to Amadee Island.  Snorkelled with the fish and the turtles, went on a glass bottom boat and out to the reef to see the sharks, had an amazing local lunch (which suited vege tastes as well), climbed the lighthouse and went for a slow walk around the island (forgot coral is quite sharp to walk on and we'd left our shoes behind).

Tongariro Crossing

We recently had a great weekend up near National Park.  We had been given a voucher for a wedding present for accommodation and transfers, food and transfers to the Tongariro Crossing and we had been looking forward to it for ages.

Saturday it dawned cold, wet and windy and so we decided to delay the walk until Sunday.  We had a lovely sheltered walk around the Chateau and to the Silica Falls and then spent the evening talking to some people from Auckland who did the crossing that day.  Good thing we waited until Sunday!!  30 metres visibility cold and wet was their summation of the day.

 Sunday dawned and was a glorious day.  We were overdressed for the warmth of walking at altitude and most of our bag was filled with unwanted clothes (and our lunch of course).  The walk wasn't has hard as I thought it would be and we managed it relatively easily and a bit slow.  Coming down the scree was the trickiest part and both Haz and I took a topple but recovered quite quickly.  Great weekend!!

Manawatu Gorge

Manawatu Gorge

During the week we went to Zealandia - Harry had been given a voucher for his birthday and I was the lucky one he chose to go along with him.  We wandered up the hill and stopped at a regular kiwi spotting area, turned off our lights and waited.  There was a noise and everyone got excited, the torches went on and a duck walked proudly past.  It was a bit of an anticlimax even when we discovered the duck was the rare indigeneous nocturnal duck.  Both Harry and I thought of our trip to see the Northern Lights in Iceland (we had no success there either). After that luck was with us, and we saw three little spotted kiwis searching for food as well as the takahe and tuis.

A trip to Palmy to see Cheryl after her op meant an opportunity to go for a walk that I had always wanted to do but never have.  Manawatu Gorge is a one way walk through bush above the road and railway track.  We walked half way in and back again on account of having only one car.  Great views of the slip that closed the road for months, and of the gorge and the winding road and railway.  Fish and chips on the beach on the way home as the sun set and a very lazy Sunday (doing nothing except watching Lincoln).

We went to Eketehuna the next weekend. Cheryl is recovering well.

Blenheim

Blenheim

Easter weekend saw us touring around the Marlborough countryside.  Harry went to the airshow and I'll let him write another blog about that (all I need to say is that the view from the top of the Wither Farm Hills was somewhat full of aircraft and smoke trails and the walk was slightly less peaceful than it might have been on another weekend!!). It is a perfect place for biking, but I decided I wasn't quite ready yet to get back on, so we might be heading back this way sometime for a biking weekend.

We visited Lake Grassmere and the salt hills - its one of those places you always pass on the way to Christchurch, but it is worth a stop, especially when the sky is a bright blue.

We had lunch at a winery for lunch, saw the little cob cottage, the Omaka Museum and went to see Hyde Park on Hudson (Roosevelt movie) as well as wandered around some marshland.  

The highlight for me was wandering up to Mt Vernon on the day of the airshow.  I climbed 422 metres which is just slightly less than Mt Kau Kau.  Great weather and my first good walk since my  op.  4.5 hours - and with some left over energy to go and find an icecream at the end.  It is very brown down here - Wellington might be in drought, but it is greener than further south.