Category Archives: New Zealand

I woke to hear the faint tinkle of the Tui outside the window against the incessant sound of the waves. A watery sun was trying its best to shine but it was a comfortable 20 deg so I decided to … Continue reading →

It was raining as we left Taupo. This is good, better to do our traveling in the rain so long as the sun shines when we get there, although BFTs are not nice in the rain. We followed the same … Continue reading →

Leigh brought me a nice cuppa in bed. “I’m not going to make a habit of this!” she said… the old buzzard! 🙂 After breakfast Leigh, Dan and I took Sally (their 9-month old labrador) down a gully, a pathway … Continue reading →

Today is a much brighter day, although the forecast had said otherwise, so we took the opportunity for a “ticky tour”. An old friend of Leigh’s, Fiona, joined us with her ten year old son, Scott, as we headed up … Continue reading →

This Tui is a nectar feeding bird and loves the yellow Kowhoi blossom. I have painted this for my 2012 calendar and it’s good to see it in real life in Kay’s garden. Breakfast at 8.30am. Then Chris took me … Continue reading →

I recognised Kay at the airport before she saw me and before long we were heading out to her home in the quiet little town of Cambridge, a couple of hours outside Auckland. Kay is Leigh’s sister. I hadn’t met … Continue reading →

Happy Birthday birthday Dad! We left for Brisbane International Airport at 3am and Kylie had packed a bacon and egg roll breakfast with fruit juice and coffee – gud on er!!! She is such a star and we arrived to … Continue reading →

Feijoa – Kay has just spent an hour at the bench scooping

Ok, I have now signed on to the Kiwi Experience, the back-packers bus pass round NZ. The reason for this was that they were advertising special more than half price offers for bookings made before the end of March. But … Continue reading →

Ok so it seems I have to learn a new language too!  So will make notes as I go along.  Please feel free to make any corrections and/or useful additions (no rude or swear words please 🙂 ) Leigh. Tino … Continue reading →