hello there! Still in the backpackers at the moment. We have both been looking for jobs and stuff this last week or two. I have had 3 interviews so far, the first was being a receptionist in an MRI clinic where apparently the All Blacks get their xrays done (!) but he said I was too overqulaified which is a bit annoying cos the hours and pay were really good! arghhh

The other two interviews were for being a host in the Skytower, which probably would have been ok except its really badly paid and you have to work until midnight! Unfortunately here they dont tell you the wage on the adverts, you have to apply and have the interview and then they tell you the wage afterwards…a bit frustrating.

The third job was being a travel agent in the centre of Auckland, but that ended up being a commission based job, and the wage was poor again. They will be emailing me in the next week or so to let me know if I have the job but Im not sure I will be taking either of them… so the search continues!

Mark is still doing odd jobs around the hostel, and waiting for someone to get back to him about being an auto electrician for a Volvo boat company down in the harbour, but the boss is in Australia at the moment so we have to be patient!

Other than that we have jaoined a local gym with a swimming pool, which is about 25 mins walk from the house, and two minutes form the centre of Town, so we seem to be getting into a pattern of walking there and coming back via a pub, cafe or shopping! I will take some pictures of where we are living and upload them for you all, I think there are still a few on the camera from our travels as well so I will add them.

Other than that not been upto much just enjoying our last few days of freedom before going back to work…if we ever get a job!

 Yes Auntie Beryl we are back to mission bay, we went over the other day when the weather was good and had a stroll along the beach and in a few little cafes. We absolutely love it there, and just further around the coast at St Helier.

The weather is getting warmer here Laura, it is really strange when I think it is November, we are both in shorts most of the time, although it is raining today. All the shops have started selling christmas stuff and the displays look really funny in the sun! Im sure I will be terribly homesick at christmas for snow!

anyway I will get off and start looking for a job again, hope you are all well, speak soon

love Gill and Mark

P.s –  our address is PO BOX 91716, Auckland Sorting Office, Auckland, New Zealand. It is quite a small box so don’t send us anything huge, I tend to check it every week or so, so if you have any urges to send a letter please do. I promise to reply with an nz postcard if you do!

Sorry for the short absence, we have just been settling in and really busy for the last few days, and not had chance to write a message. We are back in Auckland! After searching for suitable jobs, it seems that most of the auto electrical stuff is up here, and we both really liked Auckland so we decided to give it 6 months or so and see how we get on in the North.

I never got round to describing the East coast of the South Island, so will do that quickly before I talk about this mad week we’ve had!

I think I mentioned how rubbish Invercargill was. Such a shame, because of where it was placed it could have been a lovely little town, instead it was quite industrial and tired looking. Even the focal point for the town, Bluff, was a dissapointing. It is New Zealand’s equivalent of Land’s End, there is a signpost showing how many miles to different cities like New York, London, Melbourne etc, but it was just sat on a carpark in the middle of nowhere, with some roadworks around a big hole! We left here after only a night heading about 200km further north to Dunedin.

Dunedin was settled by a group of Scottish Immigrants who named it Dunedin, the Gaelic word for Edinburgh I believe ( correct me if Im wrong Julie and Laura!) The accent here was funny, they had a definate scottish burr on certain words. We found statues od famous scots like Robbie Burns, and the areas were named after their Scottish counterparts – we stayed in a campsite in Leith by the River Leith!

After two or three days of exploring the city we decided to head further up the East coast through a few small towns, stopping properly only to look at the giant boulders at Moeraki, they are formed inside the hill and roll onto the beach after so many years, very odd. Apparently there used to be hundreds of them but the tourists have pinched all the small ones! Yes, I was looking for one to take home but they were all as big as me, and I didn’t think the van was upto it!!

We eventually arrived at Christchurch, which we were both looking forward to after hearing so much about it. It was a lovely big city, which is supposed to be very English. We could see the resemblance to some of the University towns like Oxford and Cambridge. There were old stone university buildings ( now a private school) with kids running round in really old fashioned uniforms ( straw boating hats, stripey blazers and knee high socks… poor things) and you could even go punting up the Avon river than runs through town! The city itself was very modern with a big Cathedral square and lots of good shopping streets. I think if Mark had found a few jobs advertised here we probably would have spent some time here. The only drawback was that the seaside area, where we really want to live was so expensive. The other beach areas looked a little bit run down to us, and probably were due a face lift soon.

After much consideration we decided that we should probably head for the places where the work was to start with, and then we can always come back to the south when we have saved a bit more, or the house markets stabilises a bit ( here the house prices and land prices have shot up unbeleivably in the last few months). I mentioned that we stopped in Wellington ( Oh I love it here!!) but again the job market was a bit poor, so I was sad when we had to leave

We managed to get here in about a day and a half taking it in turns to drive, and stooping at Lake Taupo on the way up. It was quite weird going through places a second time, everywhere has been new to us before that.

Luckily there is everything you could want here in Auckland, lovely beaches out at Mission Bay and in St Helier ( where we are hoping to get a house) and the big city for shopping and nights out, and there are 20+ volcanoes and national parks for walking and picnics etc so we are set up now! The Coromandel area is only an hour or so drive away and just further north is an area called ninety mile beach, with untouched coast and forests etc.

We have come back to the original hostel we stayed at in our first week, in a suburb called Ponsonby, (you can take a virtual tour here!) where all the trendy bars and boutiques are, its really a nice area. Mark has even managed to get some work for the landlady Diana, clearing out and refitting one of the outdoor bathrooms, to pay for our rent, so he’s happily working away in the garden. One of the guys he is working with works in the ship yard here so Mark might even get some work down on the boats which I know he would love!

 I am going to look for jobs today, Im not really desperate for money yet, but I end up hanging around all day doing nothing except eating cakes in all the cafes up here so its time to get out and see what I fancy doing before I gain 10 stone! No solid ideas yet, will just have to see whats on offer really.

Some of the people in the hostel are ok, some not so friendly, its a bit like living in uni halls again, and the kitchen is always a tip which bugs me! Our room is lovely and the bathroom is on our corridor – finally a shower ahh. That first night we slept out of the van in 3 months was like sleeping on a cloud, sooooo comfy.

We have a po box  address you can use, if you want to know it just send me an email and I will let you have it. I think our travelling is paused for a little bit now, but I will still let you know what we are upto on here.

Hope you are all well

love from Gill and Mark

xoox

On a really duff computer so can’t even load pictures up here, but we have made it to Wellington on a pretty rough crossing ( thought Gill was going to lose her dinner for most of the journey) its was like trying to walk when you have drunk a few bottles of wine!

Have just been to watch the Joe Strummer film in a very arty cinema, and had coffee on the main street. Is very busy here at weekend, the video shop is even open 24 hours!

I promise to update about the South Island soon, I’m not very inspired to at the moment,  still feeling a bit wobbly and ill! Were very excited about going whale watching down there but dissapointed when it was all cancelled due to bad sea conditions, perhaps a blessing in disguise after the boat trip today! We did meet some seals tho’, who were sat on the car park in Kaikoura!

Off to the suburbs of Wellington in the morning to see what areas we might like to live in, and what we can afford! So yes Jill and Ste you can come and visit soon..I’ll be glad when we have an address so that someone can send me some decent tea bags! They’re absolutely awful here, I would just be glad to receive Tesco’s own right now!

Im glad to hear that Kate is becoming more Imelda too, you can never have too many shoes!

Nice to hear from you Mell and Andy, hope you two and Jade and Ryan ok.

Will email soon and update with pictures.

Gill and Mark xox

Ive only got 15 mins ’til the internet place closes so just a quick hello. Have been further south to Invercargill ( awful place!) Dunedin ( fake edinburgh) and thru to Christchurch in the last few days, will go into detail when I have more time. We are currently in Picton, waiting for our ferry tommorow to take us back to Wellington in the North Island. We are officially looking for jobs now and somewhere to live.

I think we may end up in Auckland, where Mark can pick up the most work, but we aren’t ruling out the possibility of a few other places up there, i.e Wellington and Mount Maunganui, and Napier. We will just be getting the local papers and checking job websites, and seeing what property we can afford, so will keep you posted.

Congrats on selling your house Mick, we bet that was a relief!

Happy Birthday for tommorow Nan!! Just remember… it doesnt really matter if you’re old and grey…you know how the song goes! Hope you have a lovely day!

take care, speak soon

love from Gill and Mark xox

We definitely like the South Island, its such a lot prettier than up north, but there are about 5 people on the whole island, so you can drive for quite a while and not see any towns or houses or anything. Mark has even managed to stomach the local delicacy of whitebait (a fish you eat whole, bones, eyes,tail and all) not me though, ewwwwww.

When we left Golden bay, we headed down the west coast to a place called Westport, which prides itself on being typically kiwi, the way the towns used to be. To me it seemed like the rest of the world had passed it by. Dusty streets and old boarded shops. We didn’t stay here long enough even for a cup of tea, and drove further south to a little beach cove for the night.  Unfortunately we got eaten by the sandflies (mini mosquitos) here which are so itchy!! In a typical fashion I had a bad reaction to a bite and my foot swelled up and wouldn’t fit in my shoe. It was still itchy a week later, and I think I will have a permanant scar on my foot now!

Futher south the next day ( Sunday 23rd) We made it to the Franz Joseph Glacier
which was truly awe inspiring. It’s like the slowest avalanche down a hillside, which is thousands of years old. It took around an hour to walk across the dry river bed to the face of the glacier. We sat here for a bit (not too close!!) watching peices of ice slipping forward and rocks falling from the top. You could see where the ice had scraped big ’s’ shapes out of the rock walls on its way past. We decided to stay in Franz Jospeh for another day, cos Mark was itching to go on the cross country quad bikes here. This was really funny, bouncing around the rivers and through the forests, and getting some fantastic views of the mountains.

We moved futher south again to Haast pass, where you can get through the Southern Alps without having to climb any mountains, and arrived in Wanaka on Tuesday 25th (i think). Unfortunatley, on the way into town we had a tyre blow up, there was literally a massive hole in the tyre, which we think was dodgy to start with. Of course it happened while I was driving so it was my fault! Poor Mark had to change the tyre on a steep hill, and got covered in dust muck and grease.

When we finally got into town, we made ourselves feel better with the BIGGEST pub lunch I have ever seen. Mark ended up with a full rack of ribs i.e half a pig and roast potatoes, and I had a ploughmans lunch with a whole loaf of bread! So we spent the rest of the day lazing in the sun with big fat bellies!

In Wanaka we also had our first rude awakening by a council traffic worker, who told us off for parking on the street overnight – they want you to pay for a campsite everytime, so we had to drive around at 5 in the morning to find somewhere quiet. We haven’t had any problems with that before. After having a flat tyre we took the van in for a service, so had a whole day with no home, and decided to try the jetboats whilst in Wanaka, which we had heard a lot about. This was loads of fun. They take you out at high speeds and do lots of spins and swerves around rocks and things. Mark sat at the edge and got wet and cold hehe.

On Thursday we headed to Cardrona, one of the ski resorts in the Southern alps, which is supposed to be good for beginners and intermediates. After a few mishaps ( I dropped one ski off the chair lift, twisted my ankle and fell over at the top of the mountain trying to get off the chair lift, and then both took different ski routes to each other by mistake) we had lots of fun!! The snow is a bit slushy now, as it is getting warmer by the day, but it was enough to get by on. We have both got a bit of sunburn now. We drove onto Queenstown, where we are now, and had a few beers to get over the muscle aches!

Queenstown is really lovely, yesterday we spent a bit of time walking around town and having a nosy in ye olde sweet shoppe, where we had vimto ( I forgot how much I love this! they dont have it here!!) the town is set on another lake, with mountains all around. It is very modern, and another contender in the top ten of places to live in New Zealand. We even went up the gondola to Bobs peak to get a good view of town. They took some really silly pics of us going up, which I will add on when I have the access codes ( they email to you) At the top is a luge circuit ( little carts you sit in and steer like a bike) so of course we had a go!! Mine was broken and kept stopping, and all the little kids were laughing at me thinking I was scared There were bungy jumps from the top of this peak as well, but we aren’t brave enough yet! We are staying for another night here, so you never know!! I have updated some pics here so have a nosy if you can.

Hope you are all well, Happy Birthday Vicki, hope you have a good un!
Missing you all,

Gill and Mark
xox

Made it across to the South Island on Saturday, after a three hour ferry crossing. I was  feeling seasick for most of it, and Mark spent most of the trip at the front of the ship watching the scenery and being blown away by the fierce winds of the Cook Straight.

 Landed at Picton, which is a cute fishing village, stopped in a campsite overnight to get our washing done, and the other boring stuff we can’t do on the road. On Sunday we set off through Blenheim, which was a bit bland and boring to me. Everything was closed and it seemed like a ghost town.  We decided to carry on to Nelson straight away, where we spent Sunday evening and Monday.

 This was somewhere that I wouldn’t mind living, although I’m not sure Mark was as keen. There was a lovely stretch of beach and a good view of the mountains, as well as some good shops finally! We were both feeling a bit tired and run down, its harder to travel around by campervan than you might imagine, and we are both craving home comfots by now, so a few days at the seaside is in order, which is where we are now in Collingwood, on the Golden Bay.

Today we have had excellent weather,  the sun is scorching in this area, and we have been for a bit of an explore of the place, to see an ancient graveyard of the first settlers here, and a hilltop lookout. We are just enjoying some smoothies in a cafe now, with the owners cat wrapped around Marks legs. I think we will spend a few days relaxing here before we set off down the West coast. I dont know how often we will get internet access, but will say hi when we can.

Hope you are all well,

love from Gill and Mark

xox

hello ,

Arrived in Wellington yesterday pm ( Monday) and have to say this is one of the most interesting cities I’ve ever visited! It beats Auckland hands down really, and all the other towns we have seen on the north island. There is such a mix of different architecture for a start. One minute you are walking down a brand new shopping arcade, and then a few 100 year old wooden houses pop up, and a brick cathedral from 1866! There are Spanish and Italian-style villas dotted around the harbour on the hills that lead down to the sea and I want to live there!! (Unfotunately it is the most expensive area in New Zealand to buy property on the hills, so I doubt it!)

 You can have a walk around really quirky districts like Cuba street, which is kind of how Afflecks Palace used to be, but spread over a large area. We had lunch today in a bar called Ernestos, a kind of cuban bar with really good food and music, I recommend it if you ever visit!

You can even walk around the Parliament buildings and their gardens, lots of people seemed to head here to eat their lunches, and the sun was actually shining as well! We of course went up on the cable car to the botanical gardens at the top of Mount Victoria, and had a walk back down, past all the university buildings. I think it would be a great place to go to uni in. We are currently parked in an overnight car park by the sea front, which was a bit windy last night. I think the city has a reputation for being windy all year, and we both have bright red cheeks to prove it!

We stopped for coffee along the sea front this morning, and the guy serving was telling us that his family is from Ludlow, and that they were related to William the Conqueror, and mates with William of Orange, so if the stories my nan told about our family are true, we might have long-lost, ten-times removed relatives here!!

prob going to head to the cinema tonight, see whats on, or maybe have a few drinks. Im craving icecream, so will partake in that if we see a stall. I Dont have any pics to upload today, as I forgot to take it with us today, but below is a decent website about Wellington, with better pics than I could take!

hope you are all well,

lots of love from Mark and Gill

xox

Wellington website

Hallo again!

From Napier we made our way back up the coast to a city called Gisborne, which is a pretty quiet town. It has historical value to New Zealand, as it was the fisrt landing place of Captain Cook and his ship in 1769. We only spent a day here, as there wasn’t much to do really. We looked at flat screen tvs for about 2 hours, trying to decide whether to put one in the van!! I really want one, but we hardly get a decent radio signal as it is

We drove on from Gisborne on Monday, through a scenic gorge called Waioeke, and had a lovely picnic there in the sun. We eventually arrived in Whakatane, on the southern part of the Bay of Plenty. This was our favourite town so far, and we bumped into a lady from Leeds here, who had just moved out to New Zealand herself. There are really pretty pastel-coloured weatherboard houses here, and a nice walk along the seafront.

We treated ourselves to a campsite here for once so we could wash our smelly clothes! We had been told that a town called Hamilton, nearer to Auckland, was a good place to live, so we set off for there on Tuesday.

It is a bigger city than we have seen further south, but it was too industrial for my liking, with a rubbish shopping area too, and the rain didn’t help! Funnily enough we ran into someone here that we met in the hot pools at Napier the week before. It’s like living in the Truman show, you see the same people over and over, but I spose NZ has a small population.

After Hamilton, we made our way to the West Coast, and a little surfing village called Raglan. We only spent one night here, as we were hoping to go to the glow-worm caves at Waitomo the next day. This was a really great experience. We thought it was a bit expensive but decided to go in anyway. The first caves were really eerie, with waxy-looking stalagtites and stalagmites everywhere, and a really low ceiling. The guide took us through a maze of tunnels and up and down loads of flights of stairs, into one cave called the Cathedral, where they have christmas carol concerts!!

When we got into the second cave, we had to step in to a boat and float along the river into a pitch black hole, where thousands of glow-worms were attached to the ceiling. They looked like little green stars, very cool!

We left Waitomo on Thursday and arrived in New Plymouth the same night. We have found the local swimming pool for a bit of a swim and a hot spa – which is luxury compared to the cold water showers we have by the side of the road!! there is a rather unusual art peice on the coast here called the Wind Wand, it sways around in the breeze all day and night..Further up the coast is the Sugar Loaf Reserve, where we stopped at sunset to watch the flocks of birds come in to roost – there we so many of them! Today we have had a look round the shops and I was so chuffed to find out that New Zealand stock shoes in my size in normal shoe shops, and go up to a size 12 here for ladies! Imelda Marcos is going to have nothing on me from now on!

Sorry to hear about your foot Jane, I bet that really hurt! It makes me shudder at the thought. At least it has got Matt doing some jobs tho eh!

Glad to hear you didnt get into too much trouble at Leeds Garry and Leanne, I dont know if they have music festivals here, they do have concerts all over the place of American and British bands, we watched the Editors in Auckland in a tiny venue, but they definately have sheep shearing contests!! We drove through the sheep shearing capital of the World the other day! The 16 times champ lives there!!

Hi Mick and Cath, glad to see you here too! No we are not missing Englad, but we are missing the people lots.

Anyway Im off to get some tea, Im starving after spening all day shopping, and Mark is busy checking his shares! Hope you are all well, lots of love from
Mark and Gill xox

Napier has been one of the nicer places we have stayed at. We can see Cape Kidnappers from the van window, for those of you interested in the history of New Zealand…

The Art deco buildings are really pretty, they had a big earthquake here in the 1930’s and decided to rebuild it in the Art Deco style, and they have all survived so far.

Yesterday we treated ourselves to a tour of the Winery at Church Road (along with some tastings of course!) which was like stepping into Tuscany or some other beautiful Mediteranean country, with the vinyards running up the hill behind. The wine cellar was the most perfect venue for a party – you should have your wedding here Jill its lovely!!

The weather is good all year round for growing grapes along this coast we have been told, and it shows when you can go swimming outdoors in the middle of Winter! After our skiing we have been taking it easy, as some of our muscles were a bit sore! That’s what happens when you don’t go to the gym for a couple of months! We have mostly been wandering around the town, stopping for coffee and a cake now and then, and nosying at the local fashions ( suspicious..). I had to buy new sunglasses as I sat on my old ones (whoops) and you can’t go without here, the sun is so bright due to the hole in the ozone layer.

The pubs have been really busy here too at night, which we have found is unusual. Most places other than in Auckland close at 8.30-9 pm and the ask you to leave! We had taken to reading in bed and having an early night!!

As we have missed off quite a big chunk of the coast we will probably go back up north a bit to Gisbourne, and then across to Hamilton, which was recommended by a guy from London who lives here, then we will be going down the west coast towards Wellington, then across to the South Island. I’m not sure wehn we will post next, as Gisbourne looks pretty small. We are going to treat ourselves to a new digicam this week, so keep your fingers crossed for some decent pictures!
Hope you are all well, speak soon
Gill and Mark
xox

Its been a busy week since I last got on the Internet! From Tauranga we decided to have a look at Rotorua, where the earths crust is naturally a lot thinner than other places, so there is a lot of geothermal activity, and inevitably that lovely eggy smell! ( Vicki you will know what I mean!) Yo uwere sposed to get used to it after a bit, but believe me it STINKS!!

We had a wander around all the smelly mud pools where the steam was coming through, and had a dip in the local hot pools outside. Your head gets freezing in the wind but the rest of your body is boiling away. The locals call it the Lobster Pools, as you come out looking like one!! We just stayed for one night here, a lot of the attractions were closed, or you had to pay a fortune to see the geysers, so we decided to carry on to Lake Taupo, further south.

This was a really gorgeous place, with a huge lake in an old volcano crater. You could also see some snowy mountains in the distance, on the other side of the lake. We were lucky and could park overnight by the lake, with some amazing views to wake upto! The little town was very cute, so we spent a couple of days having a rest here, as we were on our way to do some SKIING hooray!!

We just about made it up Mount Ruapehu ( Mount doom in the Lord of the rings films) in our trusty old van, where it gradually got colder and colder, until we hit the snow line. The area we hit first (Whakapapa) looked a bit more advanced than we were used to, so we headed around the mountain a bit to Turoa. The gear hire and lift passes were really cheap ( about 30 quid a day) and so we got some new bruises whizzing down the piste! Mark has improved loads, and is ‘linking his turns’ as they say! I managed to fall over only twice, and conquered my fear of the swingy chair lifts so it was a success all round!Really bad weather came in so we had to cut the skiing short, but we will definately be going back, as they have snow until October there.

We were pretty sore afterwards and have just arrived in Hawkes bay ( currently in Napier, the world’s Art Deco centre) which seems really pretty, and the house prices aren’t too bad either, so we will be exploring the region – namely the vinyards that are all over the place!! I have updated the pics here but have to go and check on my washing now, before someone pinches it!!

Hope you are all well, love

Gill and Mark

xox

I just remembered to say, please stop lurking, I know that we have had over 1200 hits over the last week or two, but only a few of you ever say hi! Please leave a comment so we know whos spying on us!

anyway, two new posts below…..

We managed to find the hot springs by accident, just roaming around the rocks and stepped on a bloody boiling hot bit of sand where hot water was bubbling through! Then all the other tourists looking around for hot water spotted us jumping up and down to stop our feet burning and came over to nick our spot!!

Mark was very brave and dug himself a pool and jumped in in his shorts -as it was actually freezing cold on the beach, I just warmed up my toes! It was quite a strange sensation having boiling water come up in the sand next to where you were sitting, and the smell of eggs was horrible!! I took some more beach pictures for you Auntie Beryl! Funnily enough the couple in the pool next to us were from Whitefield! We told them to wave at you, Nan, next time they drove past your house. He was saying that he drinks in the Horseshoe pub a lot! Strange coincidence eh?!

The beach was fantastic, really long stretches of sand, I bet in the summer it is heaving there. We have found everywhere to be really quiet, but I suppose it is out of season really. All the pubs close at about 8.00pm so you have to get in there
early! One night near here, as we were walking back from the pub , we stopped on a little jetty to look at the yachts and could see loads of fish jumping out of the water, then suddenly a baby seal appeared from nowhere to chase all the fish around. It was amazing to watch him zooming around, we both stood there for ages!

When we made it to Whangatane, we stopped for a look round, but like I said everything is so quiet that most of the shops and restaraunts are closed so we just had a quick lunch and drove on to Tauranga, where we are now. 

I really like it here, it is a bit bigger than some of the towns we have seen so far, and there is loads to do and see, and a 20 km strecth of beach! Yesterday we climbed Mount Maunganui ( an extinct Volcano) which was pretty tough going near the top. It took about 40 mins of hard slog to get to the top, but as usual the views made it worthwhile. We were both sweating like mad and had to strip down to the bare minimum to cool off.  On the way back down we saw a few lambs that had just been born wobbling around on the grass, very cute!  After the mammoth climb we treated ourselves to an afternoon in the outdoor heated swimming pools, with jacuzzis and jets etc, which I recommend if you ever make it to Tauranga!

 Today ( thurs) I think we will just be looking around town, to pick up some books/magazines to read when we are in the van, and maybe moving on towards Gisbourne/Napier later tonight. The Bay of Plenty (where we are at the moment) was somewhere we thought we might want to live, so hopefully we will like it here.  So far New Zealand has been amazing, so Im sure we will find somewhere we love..

Anyway hope you are all well, speak soon

love Gill and Mark

xoxo 

Still in Coromandel, have been taking it easy and staying in relative luxury at a lovely campsite - hot showers woo! It is quite a cute place really. When we first arrived we thought it looked like a film set, like a Western/Cowboy film would be shot here, with frontier type shops, but is seems this is an actual old gold mining town where you can go panning for gold in the streams nearby.

We saw an old gold mine yetserday, just like a deep tunnel into the rock. I think if we had been wearing proper shoes we would have gone in for a nosy! We also climbed up an extict volcano and got some amazing views of the whole peninsula and the islands offshore. ( We took some pictures, but are yet to find a computer where I can plug it in!)

Tomorrow we are off to look at the rest of the peninsula, and try out the hot springs at Hot Water Beach, where you can dig your own pool in the sand at low tide and enjoy a lovely salty bath!!

love Gill and Mark

xox

just a quickie – been on the road since Monday and this is the first time we have seen the internet, but we are still alive! Having loads of fun in the van but staying in a campsite tonight so we can have a shower and use a plug socket!! seems my straighteners dont work off the plug in the van boooo and I blew up my new hairdryer!!

Today the immobiliser on the van has started playing up and the van won’t start so Mark is gonna have fun fixing it tomorrow. We are in a place called Coromandel, on the Coromandel Peninsula east of Auckland. We went up North and came across some awful weather ( I thought the van might blow over last night!) We have seen some spectacular scenery, waterfalls, lakes, mountains etc. I have been snapping away on the digicam, so will post them when I can Auntie Beryl!

We have come down here where it is much warmer. Lovely town so far, we are on the Jack D’s and coke tonight in a local pub.

Re : all your comments – Our Portaloo is amazing – it actually comes out of the cupboard Vicki and leans on the van wall. It saves you putting all your clothes on in the night and running off down the road to the local loos.
Auntie Beryl, dont worry about me and the loonies, now we are in the van I dont have to get the bus!
Hope you had a top b-day Laura, sorry the card was late, I think the post is slow here. Glad you like the portaloo Jill and Ste

I best hurry up now, the internet costs a bomb here!! will post our pics in a couple of days
lots of love
Gill and Mark xox

…is taking a wee bit longer than anticipated.  I’ts not far off finished now, I have uploaded some pictures   here but will save the finished one’ til we’ve got all our stuff in.  Marks done a really good job, I think he has even impressed himself!

We’ve got all the mod cons, heater, shower, bedside lamps, cooker, fridge, even a hairdryer that plugs into the cigarette lighter (except I think I could dry my hair faster by breathing on it!), double bed, toilet sink ( ahem…washing up bowl) etc etc. We are both getting excited about setting off now. We have booked the next two nights here, so whatever happens on Monday, we’re off. Keep your fingers crossed.

Yesterday whilst looking for a leisure battery for the van we stopped for lunch in a beautiful place called Mission Bay (north coast of Auckland)- some of the pics are  here, but I will load the rest later. It was so pretty, and the sun was shining all day so it was great to be walking along the beach. 

The sand was made from crushed shells, and there were still some really big whole shells along the shoreline. Loads of seagulls squwaking at each other and fighting over leftover chips, which was quite funny to watch. I have to say it beats sitting in the office on a Friday afternoon!

 I am hoping for a night on the tiles tonight, if Mark isn’t too knackered. It can be a bit dodgy round here at night – there is a road called Karangahape Road ( or K road as the locals call it) where you can find ladies (and ladyboys) of the night, transvestites and other interesting people milling around! Some weirdo sat next to me on the bus the other day up there ( I was the only passenger and he picked the seat next to me!!) and started quoting biblical quotes to me! I had to get off the bus about 5 stops early, I was bloody terrified.

Hope you are all well, I believe the weather has improved so hoopefully you’ll get a few weeks of sun.

 take care

love Gill

p.s Hope you have a good time at Leeds festival Garry, stay away from the ketchup this time!!

p.p.s  Yes thanks Anna, I have just heard the news today Jill, congratulations to you and Andy on your engagement, just don’t get married until we come for a visit!! xoxo

We were up with the sparrow farts this morning ( New Zealand sayings are so lovely!) to get some bits for the van. Its coming on quite well now, we have lined it with insulation and some boards to keep it toasty in the night, and Mark has put a roof vent in.

Today we will be fitting the sofa bed and hopefully buying the hob and fridge ( if we have time). I will put up some pictures when we are a bit closer to finish.

 I think today I will go off and do some shopping, I got bored holding up wooden boards all day yesterday, and I’m still itchy from putting that insulation in!

 In response to some of your comments-

Ste and Jill -I will get Mark to pose on the loo for you if you like! Its tiny and I think it might be hard to aim for after a few beers! We are staying in a backpackers hostel at the moment. It is really quite nice, the owner is lovely and really helpful, and its 10 mins from Auckland centre.

Auntie Beryl, yes I have been feeling like the Hunch Back of Notre Dam, it is quite a low roof, we tried to get a high top but there aren’t many about here. I have decided to get a stool with wheels on to whizz around the van on!! I will definately need one when I am cooking.

Ann and Jean – I hope everything is ok there, and you aren’t having too many traumas in the office!

 Speak soon, Im off to the shops

love Gill

xox

Picked up the van today, it was nice driving around and not having to get the bus everywhere! It was just in time as well, there has been some really bad rain tonight. 

  Mark keeps humming the ‘A’ Team theme tune every time we get in it, very funny. He has started to draw up the plans for inside, but we can’t do much until our freight arrives wit hall his power tools and things.

We have had a bit of a nightmare getting our stuff over here really. The guy supposed to be dealing with it nearly sent it all over by sea ( when we asked for air) which would have taken 12 weeks. Then they almost sent it to Christchurch ( about 18 hours drive away) even tho’ we specifically wrote Auckland all over the boxes.  Anyway…we should be getting a phone call tonight to let us know where it is upto, then we can plug in the loo and go!!

hope you are all well

speak soon

love Gill and Mark

(Yes Garry, I think Mark is glad about the toilet, I will get him a magazine rack to stick on the wall next to it!)

hello!

Still in Auckland at the moment, we have been looking around loads of little towns here (Auckland is HUGE!) We have been to a place called One Tree Hill ( I don’t think it is where the programme is from) Ponsonby, Western Springs and Onehunga (pronounced Oh-nee-hun-gar) which is where we have finally found our campervan!

It is currently being used as a works van, carrying around steel toe-capped workboots (?!?) so we have to wait until Monday to pick it up. It is just a Ford Transit at the moment but we have grand designs for refurbishing it.

We spent most of yesterday looking around truck and boat shops to make sure we can get all the bits of electrical equipment Mark needs so that I can plug my hairdryer in (of course). We also found a place that sold portable loos, so as a treat we are going to get one! Originally I think we were going to use a bucket ( too much information) so this will be a luxury in comparison!We even saw Solar powered showers (a bag with a hose coming off) so it will be home from home in there.

Whilst we were looking at the hardware shops we walked around all the harbour area (No wonder it is called the city of sails, there are so many boats) and Mark has decided where to spend his first million ‘bucks’.  There are some absolutely gorgeous yachts here, and some very rich people I think!

I have been trying to upload some pictures this morning, but Im not sure if they have gone on, I will keep trying tho and let you know.

best go, this is costing a lot to use!

love from

Gill and Mark

xox

edit – some pics have come on now! click here

Thought I would update quickly whilst Mark is looking at campervans/ vans for us to live in, and we still have free internet access. 

We had a really  nice day out yesterday, looking around the North side of Auckland. We took a ferry ride (urgh seasick!) to Devonport, and got some amazing views of the city skyline, including the sky tower (see link here). I took some photos but camera isn’t working at the moment so can’t add them yet. 

We learnt about ‘tree tomatoes’ from the farmers market on the pier - apparently these are the ‘original’ tomatoes (obviously) but they looked like red plums to me! Saw some very strange fruits and veggies there…I’m sure I will learn in time what they all are!!

Devonport turned out to be a really quaint little village with typical colonial-style buildings all painted in different colours, exactly what I expected of New Zealand, and the sun even came out whilst we ate our lunch. (its still pretty cold tho.)

It was a really busy little place, everyone out for a sunday stroll and some coffee. Looked at accomodation options in Devonport, but it seems like the most expensive bit. The hotel manager where we are at the moment has recommnded a hostel near here, in a place called Ponsonby. Think we will go and have a nosy there today. We have one more night in this hotel booked, but need somewhere a bit cheaper really. Will prob hire a car today too.

Last night we found it really cold when we went out for tea, it is about 2 degrees centigrade. Saw on the news today that there are still loads of floods in England, hope none of you have floated away!

Anyway I won’t waffle on too much, just thought I would update while I still can. Once we are out of Auckland we might not see a computer for some time!

Take care

love Gill

xoxo

So exhausted, so excuse the bad spelling and if I make no sense, but we have arrived!!

Flight from London to LA was really good, we got leg room seats and our own private tv screens. Wacthed about 4 films back to back and even got free choc ices! Staying in LA for 8 hours was a bit awful. It felt like the middle of the night to us, but it was glorious sunshine there. We were eating giant burgers at 3am (to us!)

Flight from LA to Auckland (vis the Cook Islands we found out) was pretty awful. I think cos we were so tired by then, it made it worse. Normal seats, and an annoying child behind made those 14 hours LOOOOOONG. I asked Mark what time it was about 18 times! The airport at the Cook Islands (Rotatonga) was interesting, they had a man dressed in typical polynesian clothes (think hawaian) playing the banjo for us, but he was singing the green green grass of home! Kind of surreal.

Arrived at Auckland about 10.00 am here (so 10.00pm Friday there) Taxi driver terrible, had to read map and direct him ourselves by ringing the hotel! Below link is where we are staying, they have put us in the Isabella suite, which is very posh (thanks Garry and Leanne!)
hotel

Had a look around Auckland yesterday but felt like poo, and had wobbly legs (which we thought might have been our first earthquake) turns out we were hungry, it was Gills grumbly tummy hehe.

Went for a mexican and felt better. Turns out we are right next to the stadium where the All Blacks played Australia last night, so no taxis for miles!! Weather just like home, it is raining and a bit chilly, but I suppose it is Winter here. Just had breakfast with some people from Bradford who have lived in Australia since 1969, so home form home really!

anyway need a rest and to find somewhere to live. will update soon.

xox Gill and Mark