Today we have been up to Warkworth to spend the day on Val and Francis's Farm called Possum's Retreat. It took about 1.5 hours to drive up there. The scenery was fabulous and we stopped to take photos on the way. Val and Francis have a beautiful farm just outside Warkworth and they made us very welcome. We had a BBQ for lunch and then later they gave us a tour of the farm. We met the pigs including Basil and Sybil, collected a few eggs from the chickhens and th...

Thought it was about time I updated this blog - we have been very lazy!! We have been helping Sheila and Mike with the packing up of their belongings ready for storage. They were hoping to get a storage unit in the middle of January but unfortunately it will not now be until the beginning of February, after we have left, so at the moment the garage is full of boxes ready to move. Mike finishes work on 15 February - the house is being advertised for rent and th...

Well, we only have 2 weeks left in New Zealand. Mike has gone back to work today and we are just waiting for the chimney sweep to arrive. On Monday evening we all went to the Santa Lucia restaurant for dinner as it was Sheila's birthday. We had a really lovely meal. After dinner we walked along the waterfront. There were lots of people about, many of them had taken picnics and the beach was really busy. Yesterday morning we went over to Mike's sisters hou...

Today we have visited Alberton House. This house was built in 1863 and was the home of the Taylor family for over 100 years until it was bequeathed to the New Zealand Historic Places Trust by Muriel Kerr-Taylor in 1972. The house contains much of the original family furniture and collection, and some 19th century wallpapes still decorate the walls. It was opened as a house museum in 1973. When it was built in 1863 it stood at the head of 500 acres of land. Origi...

We have just spent a lovely week at Taupo. The weather has been really hot and sunny. Neil joined us on 3 Jan after spending a week in the South Island walking in Arthurs Pass. His friends Joe and Gillian stopped and had a meal with us on their way back to Auckland. Adrienne and Ian, who live in Taupo, have really spoilt us this week - we have been to their house several evenings for dinner and even cooked the trout that Neil and Mike caught. We spent a lovely...