Queen Charlotte Drive to Kaikura Friday 4th March.

It turned out to be a wet morning so we set off not sure where to go but in the direction of Blenheim. Despite the wet weather Queen Charlotte sound looked beautiful and by the time we got to Picton the rain had stopped. We stopped at a lookout to look down at the harbour where the ferry leaves to cross over to North Island. The morning ferry was just leaving and there was also a large cruise ship moored in the harbour. We carried on towards Blenheim and stopped there to pick up some pies from the bakery for lunch. Blenheim is a small pretty town but we decided to press on to Kaikura. It was a  beautiful drive with the sea at one side and the seaward Kaikura ranges to our left,  a stunning set of hills that seemed to go on forever. There were plenty of vineyards at the seaward side of the road. At one point we followed signs towards the sea to a campsite but decided that it wasn't too special so we carried on with our original plan to head for Kaikura. It seemed that we had 3 camp sites to choose from, one just on the edge of town and two just south of the town. I was in my usual " I want a site by the sea mode" so we had a look at the first one out of town before going on to the other one to see if it waa any better. I was rather disappointed as this one promised "camping at its best at the water's edge" which was somewhat misleading as one had to cross state highway 1 and the railway line to get to the beach from the site. N had had enough by this time and would have been happy to stay there but I put my foot down and we went back to the other one at Peketa beach which was right by the sea. It was a beautiful evening and we settled in, had a look at the beach and cooked supper in the camp kitchen.

Kaikura Saturday 5th March.

A beautiful day dawned so we decided to spend the day exploring Kaikura.Before we left we chatted to our neighbour, a Frenchman living in Bora Bora, it gave me a chance to practise my French which had become somewht rusty over the last couple of months. I had been in two minds about visiting Kaikura as it is famous for whales and dolphiins and there are many trips to sea to see them. As it happened we found it was a lovely little town that doesn't seem to have let it's fame go to it's head! http://www.kaikoura.co.nz/
We drove the van into town and parked up and walked along the beach for a while, it was getting very hot and we realised that we would have quite a walk to the town centre so decided to go back to the van and find somewhere else to park. Just before we got back to the van we saw a sign pointing to the seal rocks a short way down the coast so we decided to go and have a look there first. When we got there the tide was out and we saw a notice saying that any seals lying on the rocks had not to be disturbed and not to get closer than 10 metres to them. There was quite a crowd of people and just one seal flaunting him/herself in front of the cameras, he was very photogenic and seemed not to mind all the attention being lavished on him! After watching him for a while we walked along the shoreline composed of large, flat rocks for a while before returning to the car park. We then followed the footpath signs and walked up the cliff and across the fields at the cliff top getting a good view of the sea and shore. It really was a hot day now and we decided to go back to the van and head into town for some lunch. We cruised through the town and found a good parking place just a short walk into town where we had lunch at a Thai restaurant. I then spent a lot of time in a couple of gift shops buying presents for friends and myself mainly things made from my favourite Paua shell which is found in abundance in the waters in Kaikura. The weather was changing quickly, dark clouds were threatening as we got back to the campsite and it was soon raining heavily.

Kaikura to Waipara. Sunday 6th March.

The weather had really changed from yesterday so it wasn't too difficult to leave Kaikura behind us. It was still raining so we packed up the van and drove around to the camp kitchen area for breakfast before setting off for our last stop on our tour. We knew of a couple of camp sites not far out of Christchurch and decided to aim for them rather than Hanmer Springs. We had wanted to visit there but as it was pretty chilly and meant quite a detour we decided to give it a miss. When we were about an hour north of Christchurch, in Waipara, we  saw a sign for a camp site and decided to investigate and maybe change our plans and stay there. A good decision as it was an amazing site, Waipara Sleepers, with old railway wagons dotted around the grounds and used as accomodation, camp kitchen and TV room/lounge. www.waiparasleepers.co.nz/
We quickly decided to stay there, no arguments this time, and soon we were booked in and in place. The rain had stopped and the sun was coming out so we set to to give the van a good clean out and wash in readiness for returning it the next day. Much to my delight there was a pretty good book exchange so I was able to top up my reading matter and then spent a relaxing hour or so sitting outside on a swing chair reading. After supper cooked in the camp kitchen we settled down for our last night in the van. I shan't be too unhappy not to spend any more nights on the rather hard sleeping accomodation that it has that's for sure!

Waipara to Christchurch.

No rush today as we only had to get to Christchurch, we reckoned about an hour and a halfs drive. After breakfast we had a final tidy up of the van and set off, Nigel driving. An easy drive to Christchurch but not easy to find the hire place even with the help of their plan. I was navigating and we had a few cross words but eventaully found our way back to the van's "home". As we approached we could see the cordons stopping anyone going into the central business district after the earthquake along with quite a lot of damage and a large sign warning us of earthquake damaged roads. The hire place was untouched but there was a large hole in the road just past their garage. We asked them to call a taxi for us and it arrived very quickly even before we had finished having the van checked over. Everything was OK with the van so we said our goodbyes and loaded ourselves and our belongings into the taxi. The taxi driver was very chatty and said that he would take us the long way round to the airport, with no extra charge, to see some of the earthquake damage. I felt that I would have been happier going straight to the airport but it was interesting aa well as frightening to see what had happened in Chhristchurch. Many of the streets had great piles of silt in the road after the earthquake had caused liquefaction of the sandy soil. There were lots of buildings that had major damage as well as many others with what seemed to be minor but nevertheless devastating damage for their inhabitants. Arriving at the airport we saw many of the international aid helpers, who had been helping in the rescue of people after the earthquake, waiting for flights to return home. We had quite a while to wait before checking in and waiting for our flight back to Auckland.

Back to North Island..

We landed back in Auckland at 7pm on Monday the 7th March and Rob picked us up and took us back "home" to Snell Beach. It really did feel like coming home and it was good to see both Rob and Julie again and we settled down with a few glasses of red to recount tales of our trip down south. Rob and Jullie were both working on Tuesday and we had a relaxing day "at home". I walked down to the shopping centre, had an iced coffee and watched the world go by before buying in some things for our evening meal. On Wednesday Rob and I went to Te Atatu and had a chat with Jodi before taking Jonny and going over to Dannis sports day. It was all a bit of a waste of time really as she was far too busy taking part and didn't have time to talk to us. Nevertheless it was good to see her in that environment. We took Jonny back home and drove back to Snells Beach. In th,  evening we met up with Jill , her daughter and her friend at the Salty Dog for a meal. Our last day was to be pretty memorable especially for N as he and Rob went fishing. Rob had recounted, many times, how the fish would jump onto the hook and they would catch loads of them. Typical fisherman's tales we thought! They were borrowing Danny's (Jules'son) boat only problem being that the engine was sick. Rob took it down the road to be repaired and then off they went to launch the boat from Martins Bay.
Julie and I had planned to go to the beach but as she wasn't feeling very well I took myself down to the beach at Snells along with a book. I spent a happy couple of hours down there altenately reading my book and swimming in the sea with a few strolls along the beach as well before walking back home. I took advantage of some free time too to sort out all our belongings and do most of the packing, not an easy job. The "boys" arrived back about 3pm, both were wet through and Rob was somewhat sunburnt. They did indeed have a load of fish, mainly snapper, and Nigel said that Rob had been right and that the fish had indeed been so easy to catch. Although they had brought back a good haul they had thrown many, too small to keep, back.It hadn't all been plain sailing though as the engine took quite some time to start when they launched the boat and then again much longer and many running repairs to start it again to return to shore. Even then their troubles weren't over as just about as they were to land the boat a large wave came and swamped them catapulting Rob onto the beach! It goes without saying that we had fish for late lunch and supper that night. It was my first taste of snapper and it was so good. We finished our packing and got most of the stuff in Rob's car ready for an early start the next day.
We were up early, said goodbye to Julie and left at 6.45 am to go to Te Atatu to see the children and say goodbye to them before they went off to school. I felt very emotional and had to get the goodbyes over quickly before I started to cry! Rob dropped us off at the mall near where he works and we went in there for a look around and to have some breakfast before meeting up with Rob and going to the airport. We were still too early to check in so we found some seats and left N and the luggage there whilst I walked outside with Rob to say goodbye to him - more tears. Soon it was time to check in, go through immigration and wait for our flight to KL.

Last leg in Penang.

When we booked the flights with Malaysian Airlines we were offered a free return flight to Penang so we thought it a good idea to take them up on the offer and havea relaxing few daysbefore going back home. The flight from Auckand got us into KL at 8.15pm local time and we transfered to our Penang flight. Sadly the flight was delayed and we were pretty shattered by the time we boarded but at least it was a short flight and we arrived in Penang at 11pm. At the airport we were relieved to find that our luggage had transferred with us and we went to the taxi counter to get a voucher to take us to our hotel. We were soon installed in the taxi and on our way but oh what a nightmare drive it was. The driver was young, the taxi was ancient and he drove like a madman through the heavy traqffic. Thankfully, despite the age of the taxi, the brakes worked well and they certainly needed to! It took about three quarters of an hour and I suppose the fact that we were absolutely shattered mitigated the horror of the drive. We were booked in at the Paradise Sandy Beach Hotel http://www.paradisehotel.com/ in Tanjung Bungag for 6 nights, the check in staff were swift and we were soon installed in our room on the top (23rd) floor. It was a large comforttable room and we were soon in bed and fast asleep.
Although the room had a balcony I was not tempted to venture out onto it, far too high up for me! Breakfast in the hotel was a  buffet and there was plenty to choose from including lots of beautiful fresh fruit which I loved. The breakfast area opened out onto the large pool and then there was an expanse of lawn leading to the beach where the loungers were put out every morning. The sea looked very tempting but there were notices advising caution when swimming due to the preponderance of jellyfish. I did see lots of people venturing in the sea but decided not to risk it and stick to the pool. It soon became apparent that one had to bag a lounger quite early as most people reseerved one, draping a towel over it, early on.
The hotel had 2 restaurants, a pool bar where pizza and pasta seemed to be popular and a more formal one where breakfast, lunch and dinner were served. The pool bar served fresh fruit platters and one of those and a freshly squeezed fruit juice soon became my preferred lunch.
We spent the first couple of days just relaxing by the pool and getting over our jet lag and planned then to do some sight-seeing. However on the 3rd day we both went down with a cold, most likely picked up on the flight from Auckland, and that put paid to our plans. N had to see the hotel doctor as he needed some more asthma medici ne and again on our last day there when he was running a fever and had to have some antibiotics. I fared better but still felt pretty grotty and was qute happy to spend most of the time lying on the lounger with a book and occasional dips in the pool.. Luckily the hotel had a small library with plenty of English books so I wasn't short of reading matter.
We did eat out a couple of times as there were 2 restaurants over the road from the hotel, one Indian and one Malaysian, where the food was good and much cheaper than in the hotel. We went to the main resort of Batu Ferringhi one evening and after seeing it I was very pleased not to be staying there! N had been there, about 25 years ago, when it was just a small fishing village. Now there are lots of large hotels and many restaurants some offering  steak and chips and fish and chips! We walked along the beach and then explored the "famous" night market. Lots of fake designer stuff for sale and not a lot else. Perhps the fact that we felt rather jaded clouded our opinion of the place but we were both happy to get back to the santuary of our hotel.
We had booked into another hotel, nearer the airport, for our last night in Penang as we had an early morning flight the next day. With hindsight we would have been better staying put and getting up a half hour earlier to get to the airport. We arrived at the Krystal suites http://www.thekrystalsuites.com which advertises itself as  "a business class apartment hotel  which provides both space and luxury" and were somewhat dismayed to say the least. Space it may have, luxury it does not. It was like a huge barrack block and it was far from clean as well as having some rather small insects joining us in the luxury accomodation. Thankfully there were plenty of eating places nearby and we had a very nice meal before getting an early night.
 We were up at 4.45 am and the taxi that we had booked arrived on time, 5.30, to take us to the airport which was somewhat more that the barely 5  minutes that reception had told us. Luckily Penang aairport isn't too busy and we were soon checked in and had time for a coffee before boarding our flight back to KL and the connection to Heathrow.
I don't think that I would be too keen to go back to Penang again although I was disappointed not to be able to explore Georgetown and some of the surrounding areas and feel somewhat guilty that most of my time was spent on a sun lounger! It did serve it's purpose though as an extended stopover on our way back home.