2nd - 16th April

Hello and a slightly belated Happy Easter to you all! Haven't been very well organised with the blog recently have I? In fact I've just realised that as I wrote the last couple of blogs so far after the actual dates that I was writing about I forgot to include a couple of very important Happy Birthdays - shocking, I'm so sorry. So a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Dad for 25th March and Claude for 21st March. Luckily we didn't forget to send cards/presents/texts or to phone home! Phew!

But that is an indication of how time seems to have sped up since we left work as we are on a countdown to leaving New Zealand and beginning our new adventures in SE Asia. Suddenly we seem to have lots to sort out, not least selling our beloved Shadowfax while people are tightening their purse strings and working out whether or not it is actually safe to go to Bangkok, which is our next stop!

But before I get to all that, where did I leave you? Picton I believe on our last day on the beautiful South Island. Picton is a pretty little place, known as the 'hopping off' spot for ferries from North Island, but aside from the ferry terminals it has a lovely little harbour and sits in a magnificent location on the Marlborough Sounds. And this is where we spent our last day, wandering along from Picton Foreshore to The Snout, a finger of the Sounds that juts out into the Queen Charlotte Sound. It was a perfect relaxing day, a gentle stroll with gorgeous views over this maze of land and sea, on a beautiful sunny day, with the odd ferry cruising past which appeared dwarfed by the grandeur of the Sounds. And the next day we drove Shadowfax onto the Interislander (one of our old P&Q Dover-Calais ferries), raced up to the viewing deck and waved goodbye to the South Island, which we believe to be the most beautiful part of New Zealand. And it felt kind of strange standing up there, waving goodbye, after living there for 7 months and from that point onwards it really started to feel as though our time in New Zealand was drawing to a close.

The next 2 weeks were all about goodbyes as we headed back to the Kapiti Coast to stay with Ross, Helen & Stevie, where once again we were welcomed in as part of the family. It's very strange to think that we've known them for almost a year, that we've gotten to know each other well, have seen little Stevie grow over the past year, and now we're heading back to the other side of the world and may not see each other again for years! And how little Stevie has grown in this past year, even since we last saw them in Nelson only 4 months ago. He has now found his feet properly and is running everywhere and his speech is amazing - he just loves words and certain words especially make him giggle & giggle. One of his favourites when we arrived was 'Kapiti Island', which often morphed into 'Cuppa Tea Island' as Su and I make tea all the time. Clever little fella that he is, he soon learnt Liverpool and used that whenever he wanted a response from me and 'mosquito' and gorgeous' were also good words for a giggle. But the most amazing thing for me was his ability to learn - I'm not really used to young children and to see him learning from everything that you say, and desperate to be able to communicate was just incredible.

Much of our time throughout these 2 weeks was 'Stevie playtime' which we all loved whether it was reading books, playing in his box, racing around the tennis court on his bike, or exploring rock pools and paddling in the sea, which he adores. I think Stevie's highlight of our stay was our outing to Plimmerton where we spent some time exploring rock pools, finding crabs, fishes and shells, then went for a walk to see the fire engine at the tiny seafront fire station. Here we were quickly spotted by a friendly fireman who soon had Stevie in the driving seat, helmet on, with a quick blast of the siren for a treat - he was speechless with wonder, until the drill sounded for real and we had to vacate quickly before watching the fireman jump up and race off! The most memorable & touching thing for us was how quickly he accepted us into his life again, how we awoke to the sounds of him asking "SuJo gone?" every morning, followed by the smile of delight when we appeared, and how he learnt to trust us in such a short space of time. We were amazed at how good he was when Helen left him with us one morning, escaping one sticky moment of him asking "Mum, Mum, Mum?" by the arrival of a delivery truck, then going down for a sleep without any fuss. On our last day with them Su & I took him to the beach on our own and after a quizzical glance at Helen wondering why she wasn't joining us, he just looked up and took a hand each and walked with us. I have to admit to blinking back a little tear! Stevie, we will miss you!

But of course this visit wasn't just about Stevie and once he had gone to bed we could all sit and enjoy some 'grown up' conversation, plus indulge in our shared pleasures of good wine and food. We were, as always, fed extremely well, with meals ranging from proper kiwi barbeques, to a full on roast, to delicious casseroles, plus a treat of fish & chips, always accompanied by a superb wine from the cellar. And we also did our bit: Su cooked a delicious fish pie with gurnard and blue cod one night, while I made a lemon mousse to follow, with lemons from the garden, and on our last night we made a Spanish style stew with blue cod and chorizo which was much appreciated. And Su lived up to her role of baking goddess, keeping us supplied with cookies plus a gorgeous lemon drizzle cake which Helen matched with a mouthwatering 2005 Forrest Estate Botrytised Riesling pudding wine - Su's favourite. And on Easter weekend we were treated to a trip to Martinborough, a little wine region in the Wairarapa, an hour's drive from Wellington, famous for its Pinot Noir. The Martinborough wine region is a small area in comparison to Marlborough or Central Otago and I found it strikingly pretty, a beautiful small town full of designer lifestyle shops, with a healthy helping of cafes, restaurants, delis and a wine centre, surrounded by vineyards, all sporting roses at the end of the rows. It is undoubtedly a choice spot for city folk to relax at over the weekend, though no less appealing for this. We shared our time between enjoying a hot chocolate and cake in the square, taking a tour around the area, browsing the shops, enjoying a picnic by the river, and of course a couple of tastings: Ata Rangi and Te Kairanga. Ata Rangi is one of the oldest vineyards in this region and its wines were wonderful, particularly the Pinot Gris, Crimson Pinot Noir and Botrytised Riesling, though sadly Te Kairangi has changed hands and winemakers and the results were disappointing to us all.

In addition to spending some time with friends before leaving NZ, these 2 weeks also gave us time to sort ourselves out a little in preparation for leaving and the most important thing to sort was selling our wonderful car and finding a relocation deal to take us back to Auckland, as we didn't want to risk selling her at the very end when we might be forced to accept a price lower than her value. We advertised her on several websites and backpacker boards around Wellington but we were worried about selling in the current economic climate. But in true 'Jo & Su' style we ended up with a lovely story to tell. It began on an evening that we were babysitting for Stevie as Ross & Helen went out for dinner. I answered the phone to Shirley, Ross' sister who we had met when here in June so we had a little chat about various things and when I mentioned that we were selling our car she asked for some details as they were in the process of buying a car for their son. And the rest, as they say, is history! So we have waved goodbye to our lovely car and she has gone to a new home (and I believe had a sex change in the process!) and we have already received photos of her being lovingly polished by her new Daddy, Matthew, plus I think she already has new seat covers and a steering wheel cover. And the best bit of this story? We sold her for $2500, exactly what we paid for her! So we have had this wonderful car, our first car, who undoubtedly transformed our trip, for 10 months, driven 13,000 kms and all she cost us was 2 WOFs (a NZ MOT), 2 rear tyres and petrol! Thank you Shadowfax - now be good for your new Daddy!

Finally we had to arrange for Visas to Thailand while in Wellington and we were delighted to discover that they are currently issuing free tourist visas. So we went to the Thai Embassy in Wellington and came out very excited at our new adventure (there is a picture of me looking suitably pleased with myself outside the embassy on the photo albums) only to arrive back and find that protests in Thailand had turned ugly and the FCO were advising against all but essential travel to Bangkok, which is where we are heading to for our first few nights in SE Asia! So we had a couple of sleepless nights trying to work out what to do as our travel insurance doesn't cover us from this sort of thing so if we changed our flights we would have to change in Bangkok anyway as we are flying Thai Airways, or lose all our money and buy entirely new flights. Thankfully the protests are over and the FCO have changed their advice so we will proceed as planned and just be aware and avoid any gatherings. We are not really planning on spending a huge amount of time in Bangkok anyway - we're more interested in Chiang Mai and the islands. Plus I guess we have to put this sort of thing into perspective - these protests are aimed at the government of Thailand and are not intended to harm tourists (though there is always the danger of being caught up) whereas in our own capital city we face a very real threat of attacks aimed at killing and maiming the average person on the street, and yet we still travel through London.

Anyway, on that cheery note I must wrap up this blog. We found ourselves a relocation deal on a car to take us back to Auckland and allow us a few days to explore Northland before dropping it off, and we waved goodbye to Ross, Helen & Stevie and said our thank-yous for a lovely 2 weeks. And off we drove. And I have to say that while we managed to wave off Shadowfax without bawling our eyes out we may have shed a little tear as we waved goodbye to Helen & Stevie and drove down the driveway!

Once again many, many thanks to Ross, Helen & Stevie - it has been wonderful meeting you and we look forward to meeting up again, sometime, somewhere. And this one's for our Shads - we love ya babe!

With all our love, Jo & Su, xxx