Mon 26 Feb (Continued!)

After saying our goodbyes to the other Stray passengers we then met up straight away with Chris, another EHO who Lisa used to work with in Sutton. Chris and his wife, Deborah, moved over to New Zealand three or four years ago so it was the perfect ooportunity to catch up with them. They now live in Days Bay, a short boat ride across from Wellington harbour. We got the ferry then walked to their place where they have kindly agreed to put us up for a few nights. Their place has stunning views out over the bay, and it was so nice not to be checking into a hostel again! We met Deborah and thanked her for having two complete strangers in her house, went out to a local pub for some nice food. We were all exhausted by the time we got back so all went to bed at 10.30pm!

Tues 27 Feb

Got up and walked to the boat/ferry point just to see one leaving and find out there wasn´t another for two hours - typical! We managed to get a bus easily enough though so we went into Wellington and had a look around the Te Papa Museum. Loads of great exhibitions, especially the information abour volcanoes and earthquakes. We even stood inside a little fake house and felt an ´earthquake´!). We bumped into Chris on the harbourside, he was just going back to the office after he´s been with his colleagues for a fishing competition..... the life of a NZ EHO! We spent the rest of the afternoon just wandering around Wellington (mostly in search of a second hand bookshop as we are still carrying around the Oz Lonely Plant - apply here if you need one!). Headed back to Chris & Deborah´s place and had a relaxing night in, they apologised as it was their ´TV night´but it was actually quite nice to watch some TV for a change (´House´ is quite good, hope it´s on at home!).

Wed 28 Feb

Got up at around 7.30am feeling refreshed after a couple of decent nights sleep at long last. Our hire car was delivered just after lunch then we set off on the drive to New Plymouth. Lisa´s lovely lodger/housemate Cath is from New Zealand and we were invited to visit her family in New Plymouth. We arrived at around 6.30pm and John and Raewyn (and Molly the dog) were waiting for us. They treated us to a lovely meal and we even had our own (separate) bedrooms to sleep in, the first time in five months! Cath rang home and we had a quick gossip as we haven´t seen each other since August - wish you were here Cath!

Thurs 1 March

Oh no, it´s March already, our last month away. Time is absolutely flying by now but we intend to make the most of our last month away. John and Raewyn had breakfast ready for us when we got up, we are just not used to being pampered like this but it is of course fantastic! We went for a walk around Pukewura Park where we saw the illuminations (strange fairies, giants in trees and other strange things!), the fountain, water wheel, a fern garden etc. We then went to the Puke Ariki Museum where we learnt about the history of the Taranaki area then had a lovely lunch. We had a drive to the harbour then had a walk around the massive plot of land that John & Raewyn are having their new house built on. I think the ´shed´is probably bigger than my house! We then went to the airport (John is a helicopter pilot and works just next door) and John showed us his plane that he made from a kit, Raewyn even showed us the bits that she had sewn together! Fabulous little plane but I think I would be too nervous to go up in one like that (I just throw myself out of them instead!). Later we met Craig and Liz (Cath´s bro´& sis-in-law) and their lovely little boy Angus. We had a great BBQ and were in bed for 10.30pm.

Fri 2 March

Spent the morning in the Anderson house with all the family including John´s Mum who lives a few doors away, she is 87 - hope I am as fit and healthy at that age. John and Raewyn then took us out for a drive to see Mount Taranaki, unfortunately it has been covered in clouds since we arrived. By the time we arrived at Egmont National Park the weather had slightly improved but we still couldn´t see the top of the mountain. We went for a walk up to a ski lift and lodge (all closed at the moment as there isn´t any snow), fabulous views of the area...... but we still couldn´t see the summit! On the way back we stopped off for to pick some blackberries which we later ate in a yummy blackberry and apple crumble made by Raewyn, doesn´t get much better than that!

Sat 3 March

Got up and met Cath´s sister Di who had flown up from Christchurch. We then went to the Taranaki Food and Wine Festival with Di, Craig, Liz and Angus (they start them on the red wine early here!). We were all a bit disappointed to find that we had to pay $2 even for wine tastings after we´d already paid $40 to get in. However, we sampled a few very nice wines, as well as some of the food on offer. We watched a Wellington band called Rhombus who had everyone up dancing, all in a spectacular coastal setting. Later we went to Craig & Liz´s for dinner and......... got to see the top of Mount Taranaki at long last! It is a huge cone shaped volcano, 2518 metres high so it was worth the wait.

Sun 4 March

Ed was sick during the night and I didn´t feel too great but we were both well enough to accept a helicopter ride from John! After saying our goodbyes and thanks to Raewyn, John drove us to the airport and we had a twenty minute ride in a Bell 412 helicopter (i.e a very big one!). Brilliant views over the coast, New Plymouth and out over the countryside. A fantastic end to a fabulous few days staying with John and Raewyn who looked after us so well, thank you so much again (it was well needed after the Stray tour too). We then set back off in the hire car with no real plans! It was a long drive to Hamilton (with just a short stop for me to be sick, think we must have picked up a bug or something, lovely!), then there was nothing open in Hamilton and it didn´t look that exciting so we decided to carry on to Auckland. We had a quiet night in (back in a hostel unfortunately) only interupted right in the middle of the night by one of our silly (probably drunken) room-mates who had managed to lock herself out of the room so was left outside in the corridor knocking on the door wearing only her underwear - lovely!

Mon 5 March

Ed took the car back and got a haircut whilst I spent a couple of hours updating the journal. We got a bus to the airport then waited for our flight to Santiago. New Zealand was amazing - fabulous scenery, lots of fun (and expensive) activities, great fun people on the Stray bus all finished off perfectly staying with Chris and Deborah, and John and Raewyn. My only regret is that we didn´t have more time here but don´t worry ............I´ll be back!