All good things must come to an end as we surely know and we woke up today knowing that our wonderful trip across the length and breadth of both islands of New Zealand was almost at an end. We will take a wealth of memories away with us of the stunning places we have seen, the marvellous places we have stayed and the wonderful people we have met along the way. Not forgetting all the excellent food and wines we have tasted, and there have been many thrilling exper...

Finals day dawned, and as we left the hotel in the morning we noticed the French team outside the hotel opposite, just setting out for a last training session. They looked very relaxed as they paused for photos and to chat to supporters and finally boarded their coach to a rousing chorus of the French national anthem. Stirring stuff! We went down to the water front and caught a ferry over to Waiheke island. The island was much bigger than we imagined! We had ass...

After a leisurely morning we drove across the harbour bridge and over to Devonport. There are some lovely houses here and plenty more historic buildings but it was much chillier today and we were grateful to slip inside a nice warm cafe for a spot of lunch. Amanda had those green-lipped mussels again, yummy!! In the evening our friends, Gordon and Gwen, picked us up from the hotel and took us over to Mission Bay along the water front on Tamaki Drive. We walked b...

We left Mike and Gay's place after breakfast and drove into Auckland. It was a lovely, sunny day and too early to check into the hotel so we decided to go and see the view from Mount Eden which we had been told is well worth seeing. The sat nav threw a bit of a wobbly and took us round the same area 3 times without actually taking us to Mount Eden itself. When we were passing the prison for the 3rd time we decided to go it alone and find our own way. We eventuall...

After breakfast we crossed the sky bridge linking our hotel with Sky City Tower and paused to watch people doing the Sky Jump from above. We took the elevator to the viewing platforms and luckily the weather was clear and sunny and we were able to get great views all around Auckland. Every few minutes another plucky (stupid??) individual would throw themselves off the platform and dangle for a few moments in front of our eyes before being lowered at speed down th...