Oh, the hours we spent looking at this view in the early 1980s!! Or for Andy, I suppose his view was mostly from the pitch itself. Much changed in some ways, but the bar is exactly the same - the first bar our son was thrown out of, aged six months or so. Managed to talk our way in for a look round this morning, and met the current captain of cricket who happens to be the younger brother of a guy Andy played cricket with all those years ago. A lovely trip down...

Well, we're actually in Hong Kong but this website didn't recognise that as a valid destination!! Arrived on the last day of Chinese New Year, so the airport had kindly laid on a lion dance to welcome us back. It's lovely to be here but my word it's changed! More exploring tomorrow...

Church with our friends Rod and Anne, then we headed across to the west coast to Piha Beach, shown in today's photo. Along with half of Auckland, it seemed! But we did find a parking spot, and walked along the beautiful black sand beach taking in the views and, of course, paddling... Now we're packing to head off to Hong Kong in the morning, but first dinner at the Hilton with a view of fireworks for the Year of the Rooster. Gung hei fat choi!

The North Island's answer to Bournemouth, Tauranga is where Aucklanders go to retire. It was good to visit an ordinary town in NZ, not one primarily set up for tourists and not a big bustling city. We lunched at a winery (why can't they call them vineyards?!) called Ohinemuri, and enjoyed a cold platter with their degustation. Lovely!

We've just returned from a totally brilliant evening's entertainment. I can recommend the Tamaki Maori Village cultural experience most highly, especially if your husband is chosen as chief of the "tribe" or tour bus! Andy was selected as being the only adult male who'd played rugby... He had to do the welcoming ceremony, including facing down a haka and accepting a peace offering of a silver fern. Here he's being briefed on how to lead his warriors - ie all adul...