Wow here we are in Beijing! After a VERY LONG day where we flew out of Sydney at 11.30 am we then flew to Nanjing(2hr+ stopover) & on to Beijing. No one was waiting for us at the airport which had it's moment of worry but as we'd linked up with quite a few Aussies in the plane who were doing our same Tour we all put our heads together, luckily our guide, Jackie arrived soon after, after having been delayed. The plane trip was quite long but what was great was...

Well here we girls are in Sydney on our way to China. Karen, Kaye, Vicki & I set out today from Ballina for our 10 day adventure to China, for me my 1st real time in Asia! We've had a nice a/noon in the city going for a wander. I then met up with Genevieve this which was great, she then joined us for dinner. Off to bed now ready to head off on our Chinese Fling!

Off we went this morning for a day trip to the Wairapa ( it's an area of the Nth Island on the Sth East Coast). It's a fertile farming area mostly for sheep & cattle grazing with some quaint country towns that we visited like Greytown, Carterton, Martinborough & Gladstone Pub where we had a delicious lunch. It also was an interesting winding track to get there in the car through a winding mountain range to the nth east of Wellington. Our last night tonigh...

Past few days have been nice & relaxing catching up with our friends Joyce & Snow. Monday we went for a look around the local area around Peka Peka, lots of little coastal hamlets before heading home for a BBQ dinner with Brent (Joyce & Snow's son) & Eva & Oliver (their grandchildren) their mum is away on a school trip to Vietnam during the holidays. Yesterday we headed off to watch the horse trials at Foxton ( Charlie saw quite a few that imp...

After a lovely night catching up with Joyce & Snow at their lovely place just out of town we got up & organized & headed into Wellington where we had a lovely look around the city & it's Harbour. Today was quite fresh & windy in contrast to yesterday when we arrived here which was amazing. We also went for a big walk & checked out the Botanical Gardens as well as the Te Papa (our place), which is a great museum etc of New Zealand history &...