Destination: Birmingham
Well folks, we’re on our way home! Can’t quite believe that the year has gone by but we’ve waved farewell to Wellington for the last time (sniff!). It was hard to say goodbye but the dispersal of our furniture did much to soften the blow (sleeping on the floor for the last 3 nights wasn’t much fun) and we knew a holiday was on the way so we can’t complain too much!
We had a great final weekend in Wellington – it coincided with my birthday (hurrah!) so Alan took me to stay in a rather swanky hotel in the centre of Wellington. Which just so happened to have Sky. Which just so happened to be when England were playing their first match. Hmmm. A cunning ruse me thinks. Anyhow we had a slap-up meal and met up with Nicky and Ben to watch the match at 3am (well, Nicky and I watched for the first 4 minutes, saw the goal and then spent the next 86 minutes gossiping. Perfect!).
From Wellington we went for a few days in the South Island – flew down to Dunedin (sooo cold!) and went exploring in the Catlins (which is right at the bottom of the South island). Luckily, the weather was brilliant….
Then again, maybe not.
But we did get to see some wonderful, wild coastline…
…along with seals, sea lions and a friendly yellow-eyed penguin…
I really enjoyed seeing the “Petrified Forest” – fossils of tree stumps and fallen tree trunks dating back 180 million years. I just about managed to refrain from the plethora of gags to be aimed at Alan (“oh, some of these must look pretty familiar to you” etc) but only just.
From the Catlins we drove up to Queenstown – a trip which saw completely different weather altogether. Clear blue skies and warm sun really set the snow capped mountains off perfectly. Nowhere was this more apparent than at Lake Manapouri where we stopped for a spot of lunch….
…and the sun going down over Lake Wakatipu on the way into Queenstown was glorious…
This time we headed much further round the lake than Queenstown to a tiny out of the way place called Kinloch. We arrived at our lovely, comfortable lodge as the sun was setting. While we could still see the mountains in the distance, it wasn’t until the morning that we saw the area properly…
We then had a very stressful morning…
…and then headed out to catch some more great views…
Even from the plane the pictures kept on coming!
Then it was back to Wellington for a final night – this time we were very brave and just parked the camper by the sea on the South coast, near where we used to live. (Those of you who have been to see us may remember the spot – near Alan’s favourite bit of beach between Lyall Bay and Houghton Bay). It’s an impressive bit of coastline but we arrived when it was dark (having been out for dinner in Wellington) and left when it was dark (to go and see the football in town!). Still, we chose a good spot to do our only bit of “freedom camping”.
From then it was off to Napier and on to Rotorua – which have been great….
…but absolutely freezing! We piked out and stayed in youth hostel/backpacker places for the last couple of nights as we couldn’t quite face the van (letting the Venga bus down at the last minute!)
From there we headed to Auckland to stay with Guy and Marny – in their nice warm house! Most of what we did revolved around chilling out…
…eating fine food and drinking beer. Oh, and football of course! We did manage to drag ourselves away for a couple of days out on Monday and Tuesday. We went over to Devenport on the ferry in beautiful weather then into the Waitekere National Park for a day. We particularly enjoyed seeing Piha Beach in the sunshine…
…and having a picnic on the beach.
We said goodbye to the Venga bus – we managed to sell it pretty easily in the end so the feeling was more relief at not having to spend days trying to sell it rather than feeling too sad!
We also had to say goodbye to Guy, Marny and Marny’s expanding tummy (baby, not pies) which really was very sad. But we managed to be as troublesome as possible right up to the moment of departure (“Guy, we’ve set the burglar alarm off again”, “Guy, we’re leaving in 3 hours and don’t have any travel insurance. Can you help??” etc). So undoubtedly they were pleased to see the back of us.
From there it was time for Melbourne with Kim, Tim and Emma – and here I sit. With Lionel Ritchie playing in the background (mercifully Kim’s stopped singing along) and Alan pretending to be doing some washing but really just sat on the floor playing with Emma! Who remains as gorgeous as ever…
We’re having a great time with the Storeys so far and we’re off this afternoon for a weekend away in Rye which should be brilliant. Anyhow, we’d better go. Kim has no doubt got a lovely lunch venue in mind – oh this holiday lark is tough!
All love
Christie and Alan