An emotional day as we had to say goodbye to Sarah, Dave and family. We said goodbye to the kids after watching them horse riding. With a tearful goodbye we said farewell to Sarah and effectively started the long journey back to England. This part of New Zealand is both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. It is like England in a parrallel universe - looks similar but with different people. On the way back we were amazed to see that the Kiwis just stop tra...

Went off with Sarah, Dave, Luke, Sam and families to another nice beach. The evening was spent eating with a few beers. It has been lovely getting the home feeling, nice meals and a sofa to chill on - and of course coffees during the day.

Another sunny day and warm. We all headed off further north to Matauri Bay for the day. Matauri Bay had a memorial to Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior that was sunk by the French - it was now collecting coral out in the bay. The bay is very pretty with lots of off shore islands and a white sandy beach (it reminded me of South Africa). After the short slog up to see the memorial we headed to the beaches. Stan showed us his surfing skills, and Dave showed us his abili...

The first day of sunshine and it is a Saturday so we all headed off to see Rainbow falls just a short walk away from the house. The walk was nice with lots of fern trees and a swollen waterfall at the end (just as good as Lichfield in Oz). It was nice to be out with old friends and now family. We used the money given to us by Liz's work to go out for a nice meal at a restaurant.

Home comforts - apart from going to the shop we haven't ventured more than 20 yards from the house. I am still not feeling that good, I can't remember a cold lasting this long. I have been sorting through the thousands of photos making backups. Liz has been sleeping in, making nice meals and catching up with her hobby of wine drinking.Dave seemed to be up for a bit of a party. He was not taking any chances, he appeared with his famous spangly trousers and a red s...