Last Day with the Fam Nan, Mel and I went shopping in the posh area as Darren got himself a tattoo and the others went to the fabulous museum. We got a lot of nice souvenirs and had a wander around the few shops that were open; NZenders are lazy when it comes to opening days! It was a chilled out morning and then it was all go when everyone got back together for lunch. In the afternoon Mum, Dad, Nan, Mel, James, Rob and I all went to the aquarium. The best p...

A Sky High Birthday For my 28th birthday Dad had booked a walk around Auckland's tower, 328m high. But first of all I had a few presents to open, breakfast to enjoy and an amazing skype session with Kirsty, Kelly and Liam where they held a party, including cake in my honour! Even Marnie had a birthday hat on! The walk was delayed by a few hours just to get us a little more nervous but the weather was clear so we could see exactly how high we were. Jenny, Rob...

Mum and Dad went to Manly Bay to visit Val and John and Darren, Nan, Mel and I had planned to go to Devonport. Gail, Chris, Jenny and James met us there and we all took a short ride around the ancient houses (100 years=ancient for NZ) by horse cart. Darren and Mel decided to go for a long walk around the island and Nan and I joined the Wipers in the pub. We celebrated NYE for the second time when it was 12:00pm UK time. 'Auld Lang Syne' was sung again and o...

NYE We were back with plenty of time to have a nice relaxed shower and get changed in preparation for tonight's meal. The Wipers were not so punctual and although they were running late they managed to get to the meal on time, just! Dad had done well again with delicious food situated in a very cool old timey style restaurant with the most amazing toilets! Everyone had a great evening and we made it back to The Pullman just in time to see the fireworks from ...

Maori Time We were all on a bit of adrenaline high from the caves and the journey to Rotorua was really scenic and surprisingly quick. The Wipers had booked into the same hotel and we bumped into them whilst they were waiting for dinner. They had had a good two days. They visited Hobbiton on the 28th and went to the thermal springs for Gail's Birthday on the 29th. It was a quick catch up as they were off to the caves themselves the following day. The weathe...