Back to the Auckland, finally

Well, its almost time to say goodbye to Sydney, Australia. I have been travelling now for what seems like months and our stuff still isn't in Auckland. I think it is at the shipping yards finally, but needs to be in customs for a while still because the forms had changed since the last time we filled them out, since it took so long. Hopefully we will get our stuff in the next few days.

I miss Jen and Lucy (our cat) a lot. Can't wait to get home tomorrow and settle down a bit.

Sydney has been great and thanks again to Ed and Steve our hosts. It was awesome visiting them and having a chance to hang out with Runi and Walter for such a long stretch since I hadn't had a chance to see them in a long time. I really like Sydney and plan to visit again with Jen at some point and who knows, maybe move there if New Zealand ever kicks us out.

The trip here has been great. The best thing is the slow pace. I saw all the things I wanted to see, and a few things I didn't even know I wanted to see :) Steve is a great tour guide and Ed knows all the cool neighborhoods, so between their suggestions we saw lots of great things. I also get a chance to head out on my own and explore a bit which was great. Finally, I have gotten the Rugby bug and have been staying up late to watch the Rugby 2007 World Cup games. I saw the Australia Wallabies play two games, and saw a few other random partial matches including Wales vs. Canada. I finally saw the New Zealand All Blacks play last night. The hard part for us is that the matches tend to be on at 2-6 AM New Zealand time since most of the other countries are in different time zones and the matches are mostly in France or England. Being in Sydney gave us 2 more hours ahead which made it possible. Also we don't really get any stations in NZ. Its mostly fuzzy, so it will be hard to watch any more games there.

Good on all of you!

Cheers,

Matthew

Sydney, Oz

Hey all,

Well after a whirlwind tour of New Zealand including some fun last few days in the Auckland area checking out Devonport, Mission Bay and Heliers Bay we are finally in Sydney, Australia.

Jen is busy studying and finishing her papers for mid terms at University of Auckland. Fingers crossed that she will do well! Runi, Walter and Me are visiting Ed and Steve in Sydney and arrived last night. They have a cool place and are great hosts! Couldn't ask for a better way to see this beautfiul city.

So far we have just been chilling in their place and nearby neighborhoods. We did a nice walk around their hood last night and head some vegetarian Indian which everyone loved (even me!). Today I am just catching up on some work and we will trek out to see the whole city soon.

More soon,

Matthew

Lamby!

Hey all,

Our trip is going along nicely. To pick up where I left off, after breakfast at the B&B we got to do a farm tour. They have some cute animals on the farm behind the B&B including deer, elk, ostriches, sheep dogs, sheep, cows, and a few I am probably missing.



After the tour, we hit the road and drove to the outskirts of Rotorua where there is a ton of geothermal activity. We went to Te Pake? which is a Maori historical and thermal activity site. We saw some bubbling mud, their geysers and smelled the lovely smell of sulfur. The sulfur is actually supposed to be good for sinuses so that is nice, but the smell isn't so nice. After touring the grounds and trying to make the most of our $50 entrance fees, we went to see a Maori show where they danced, sang and did some cool spinning moves with balls and wood. Very cool show.

After this we road down to Lake Tapoa stopping at a honey vendor on the way. We breezed through Tapoa but it is similar to Lake Tahoe in California and is where all the locals go for recreation. Jen and I plan to go back sometime soon.

The landscapes and scenary while driving is breathtaking. This is the most beautiful place I have been in the world and to see such variety and contrast is amazing as the scenary changes every 10 minutes.

Here's a link to our photo album.

Soon we arrived in the Napier wine region and spent the night at an RV park. The next morning we went to Napier which is a very cute and interesting town. It is heavily Art Deco oriented as it was rebuilt in the 30s after a major earthquake. We toured the town and hung out on the water front a bit, then went to a few wineries in the area including CJ Fask, Silinus, and Te Mata (I am sure I am spelling these wrong).

We drove about an hour site and stayed at another smaller RV park. Then the next day we went to Wellington. In Wellie, we meat some great people over the last two days. We hung out in Island Bay with Jonathan, Moe, Jetta and their kids who are friends of a friend of Runi's who used to live here and just moved to Key West. Everyone was great and we really enjoyed our time. We had an nice Indian dinner in town and opted for a hotel room as the camper van is getting a bit crowded. Monday we hung out at the musuem and met another friend, Nikkie, who works there in events. We met Suzy in the afternoon who works at the mayor's office. She moved here from Florida about 2 years ago.

For dinner I found a great New Orleans style restaurant, Sweet Mother's Kitchen. They had great food and atmosphere and something for both vegetarians and us carnivores.

Today we are going to drive north for 5-7 hours which should be hard since we have been doing only 1-3 hour trips till now. Tomorrow we drive the last few hours into Auckland and pick up Lucy, our cat from quarantine!!!! Jen is very excited. Then it's Auckland for a few days and finally me, Runi and Walter are flying to Sydney, Australia to visit Ed and Steve!

Hope everyone is well,

Matthew