North Island leg of our trip home.

We arrived, drove the short distance to the campervan park and we weren't disappointed.  Ideal location, clean ablutions with hot showers!

We were a short walking distance to the main shopping and business area.  Te Papa was also just down the road and we even managed a short visit before we met up with Bradley and Jingjing who had the biggest grins on their faces that  we had ever seen.  The reason was that they had just got engaged and we were lucky enough to share the day with them.

We celebrated by drinking a toast with a wine from Cloudy Bay, thanks to Lloyd and then off to dinner with them.  We spent the next couple of days catching up with them whenever we could.  Arranging for them to join us at Paekakariki Holiday Park for a couple of nights.

We found a yellow pohutukawa mingling with the red one.

And we also found the perfect pet!  We spent a couple of days walking along this coastline enjoying the fresh sea breeze...although Wayne did tell me it was 'cold'.

During these walks I was concentrating on getting some good photos of our local flax flowers.

But who can resist the bunny tails?

 

The views along this coast were breathtaking.  Luckily for us Jingjing and Bradley had brought dinner with them and taught us how easy it was to cook dumplings (we have since cooked them back here in KL).

The next morning it was pack up time to move onto our next destination.  Taupo.  The drive took us on some roads we had never been on.  Views we had never seen.  It am always amazed at the scenery we see in NZ, surely some of the best in the world and in such a small country.

Next stop Thames, where we get lovley sunsets off our balcony and time to spend without cat, Silky.

Next stop was to see my parents where I played with my camera in Dad's garden.  

Then it was off to have lunch with Jo and Samuel and of course Beth and Claudia tagged along.  Cuddles with our great nephew were awesome.

One have the highlights of going home is to have fish and chips on the beach.  Well we were almost on the beach...it was sea water beside us but we just happened to be sitting at the wharf in Thames enjoying a coffee and fish and chips and yes they were wrapped in paper - the only way to have fish and chips.

Sadly we had to leave Thames to go to Rotorua to spend Christmas with Wayne's brothers.  We stayed with David at his lovely place at Hamurana.  It was so lovely to be able to do this and to catch up on all the news from his side of the family.  And of course being a property that has some land we were able to play with our cameras.

Lilly, Craig and Danni's daughter.

Lucas, their son.

 DINK1E - my dinkie toy car...it was wonderful to be able to drive her around.

David has some very photogenic animals!








Boxing day saw us go and visit Nana and Poppa at their tree.  Such a special place for our family that we always make the time to visit this spot whenever we are in Rotorua.

But only after having a bbq lunch, thanks to Ian and Katie.  Such a yum way to eat fresh crayfish!

 Our trip home was drawing to a close.  It was fantastic to catch up with family and friends.  They are invaluable times and memories.

South Island during our trip home

Christmas in New Zealand…we know when it is Christmas here as you see the pohutukawa out In flower…it is stunning.  We will see that as we drive further north.  We flew into Christchurch airport at about 12.30 a.m. By the time we were through customs where the man was very abrupt it was after 1 pm.   We picked up a taxi at the rank and were asked where we from!!!   Funnily enough the driver was from Korea!  Our motel knew we were arriving late and had kindly left a note on the door to tell us which unit was ours and that she would see us in the morning.  Being 1.30 a.m. in New Zealand meant it was still 8.30 p.m. in Kuala Lumpur and we weren’t tired at all.  We did manage to read our books and watch TV, listen to the radio and then finally sleep until around 8 a.m. when it was time for a coffee.  Unfortunately we didn’t have any food so that had to wait.  We met up with the owner and paid for our room and she kindly orgainsed a taxi to take us to pick up our Escape Campervan.  Krispy was a delight to deal with and we had our pick of vans but really there was no choice…The Batmobile.

Then it was breakfast time.  We found a lovley little café that serviced the workers in the area and had our extra coffee fix.  Time now to find our way out of Christchurch….we drove around for a while fascinated by the buildings that had been devastated by the earthquakes and consequently missed reading the signs to tell us the way out.  We did a complete circle and then we were on our way.  It was so good to see NZ landscape, green and beautiful.  It wasn’t long before we were hankering to see a beach so the first chance we got one we drove down a side road.

And we were not dissapointed by the view.  Around the corner from this beach was Cathedral Gully.

Back onto the road again following the coast to Kaikoura  where we parked up and had lunch looking at the sea.  The weather had deteriated andit was blowing a cold wind. From here it was a short drive to look at the seal colony there.  Krispy said to go  up the river and there should be baby seals playing but not today.  There were plenty on the rocks and we spent a long time taking photos of them.  They are beautiful but boy did they smell disgusting. They were having fun playing in the water, on the rocks and with each other.

It was only a short drive to Lloyd and Anna's  house in Blenheim.  It was so good to see him and Anna and their new house. They were so proud of their little house and it is lovely.  It does need a lot of work but it will be a real on-going project that will be very worthwhile.  It will keep them busy for a few years.

Seeing our dog Zena was just wonderful.  She is still  fit and wants to walk and be with people.  She still has that lovely nature she has always had.

We were lucky enough to have a built in wine tour guide amongst us and he took us to a number of wineries, ending up at Cloudy Bay.  Was good to see him at his work place and to see how much enjoyed being there.

From here we drove up the coast, the long way, to Picton to catch the ferry across to Wellington to spend some time with Bradley and Jingjing.

We found a tui feeding on the nectar from the flax...was fascinating watching it flick from flower to flower.  Now it was time for the ferry ride...drive the Batmobile on, find a seat...front window view, have a meal - fish and chips - settle back and enjoy the ride.  We arrived in Wellington and parked up at the Waterfront Campervan Park - almost in the middle of Wellington's city centre.

Sunday 23^rd, we finished work and walked down to meet our taxi driver, Mr Chen, who was taking us to the airport to catch our flight to Kota Kinabalu.  

It was with excitement as this was a long weekend extended by and extra day as we had taken our long service leave.  Arriving at the airport we went through to domestic departures.  Kota Kinabalu is on Borneo but is part of Eastern Malaysia.  We arrived at our hotel around midnight and checked in.  Citidel Express is a new hotel.  The room was very small, only enough room to walk around the foot of the bed and sideways alongside the bed.  It was very clean and adequate as we were intending on being out all day and back only to sleep.

Monday and we were up early looking for breakfast and finding the Information Centre.  We found a great place to have a cold drink after walking along the waterfront.  The view out was of the islands.  From here we found Borneo Travel and booked a day island hopping for Tuesday.  The rest of Monday we wandered around and explored some of the city ending up at the Esplanade in an Irish Bar  overlooking the water and watching the sun go down.

As we were being picked up at 8.30 on Tuesday morning we decided to have breakfast at the hotel.  The taxi took us down to Jesselton Peir to catch a water taxi across to Mamutik Island.  

This is the third of three islands in the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park.  This was said to be the least popular island as it was smaller than the others but still very good for snorkelling.  Wayne had hired a pair of flippers and a mask for this purpose.  I intended to paddle in the water and enjoy looking at the fish near the shore.  Some were swimming around but obviously Wayne was going to see more. 

We arranged with our hotel to hire a car for Wednesday and this turned out to be a great way to see another part of the area.  The car was a Proton Saga, brand new!  We left our hotel at around 8 am heading towards the Rafflesia Centre in the hope of being able to see a Rafflesia flower.  We used our GPS as we weren’t entirely sure of the way and only had a small map that was included in a Insight Pocket Guide of Sabah.  Luckily we did use the GPS as the signage in Malaysia leaves a lot to be desired.  Yes they do have signs but often they are on or past the intersections.  Even with the GPS we still managed to miss the turnoff and were often told “route recalculation”.  We drove through the Crocker Range which was very pretty.  Lots of greenery and flowers.  The Rafflesia Centre was open and when asked if there were any flowers blooming were told there was one 3 days old.  We paid for a guide to show us and followed him a short ride and then walked down a steep bank for around 10 minutes.

On the way he showed us the vine that the rafflesia takes over, buds that were growing and finally the flower.  I was not prepared for it to be so red.  For a parasite it was quite beautiful.

From here we drove onto Keningau thinking this would be a good place to stop for lunch.  Driving around we didn’t see anything that looked remotely apetising so decided to carryon to Tenom which proved to be a wise choice.  We had ginger beef and chicken cashew with rice for lunch at a kopitian.  We also bought some deep fried banana fritters were yummy.  We were hoping the Fat Choi Coffee Showroom would be open.  This was being optimistic as it was a public holiday.  We tried to take a different route back but couldn’t find the turn off so headed back to Keningau to take the coastal route back to Kota Kinabalu.  Dinner tonight was at a very local restoran – kwey teow and beef redang.  Having enjoyed the freedom of driving ourselves around we arranged to have the car an extra day.

Thursday we were up and ready to roll for a drive to Mt Kinabalu National Park where we could wander around and observe the flora and fauna. 

 We found many orchids; beautiful birds, amazing insects and butterflies while walking in cool temperatures.   The view of the mountain on the way was spectacular and we managed to get a photo of it without out its hat of clouds. 

We also decided to splurge and have lunch inside the park area.  Not cheap but very nice.  The drive back to Kota Kinabalu was again very pretty winding down the mountain through valleys and villages.  Not really sure of the way we followed a taxi that seemed to be going back but lost him as he buzzed off into the distance and had to rely on the signs.  We took a different route back into the city along the coast and past the floating mosque and pretty wetlands for fishing and bird watching.  Back to our room for a shower and freshen up before we went out looking for dinner.  One good thing about our small room was that we were not inclined to spend much time in there except for sleeping.  The Espanade has a number of choices for meals at varying prices and choices of restaurants offering a variety of foods.

Friday, we packed our bags and headed down to reception to check out.  We were flying back to Kuala Lumpur having had a refreshing and relaxing break but still managing to fit a lot into our time away. 

Back to work and looking forward to our next weekend away.