31 August - Brisbane, Australia

We have spent a week in hippie Byron Bay which is 900 kms north of Sydney. Rainbow colours, tie dye and dreadlocks are the norm in Byron Bay. While we were walking around town we even saw an advert for a tie dying course, suitable for children and beginners, everybody here seems to enjoy an alternative lifestyle.

Tallego beach

The east coast of Australia is beautiful with its vast, empty beaches. We have enjoyed long walks along Tallego beach and to Cape Byron lighthouse which is Australia's most easterly point. Unfortunately our very laid back lifestyle meant that we missed the 6am sunrises.

Walking along Tallego beach

We also made a visit to Nimbin, a small town west of Byron Bay. It is so alternative one of its roads is called Alternative Way. A major part of Nimbin's economy seems to be trading marijuana in both its legal (hemp) and illegal (hash) forms. Everything was very chilled out and we felt very much the odd ones out.

Hippie chicks (can you spot Rick?)

Before leaving Byron Bay we were treated to an amazing show of whales breaching less than 1/2 a mile from the shore. A pod of 5 whales had us spellbound for 2 hours as they leapt high into the air before falling back into the water creating what looked like fountains with whale tails.

Today we arrived in Brisbane. We are staying here for a couple of nights before we head north.

23 August - Sydney, Australia

We left New Zealand and arrived in Sydney a week ago in the hope that the sun would shine. New Zealand was stunningly beautiful and very green probably because it rains most of the time. When we arrived in Sydney after spending 4 hours (!) on the tarmac at Auckland airport due to a mechanical problem it was fractionally warmer than in Auckland. In the week that we have been here Sydney has received more than its average August rainfall! It has been decidedly wet. Fortunately, it looks like the sun will soon be shining and it will get a bit warmer. In spite of the bad winter weather we are experiencing we continue to believe that we are better off here than in England.

Auckland sunset

Before leaving New Zealand we managed to achieve one of our objectives which was to go to a rugby match. Rugby has the same standing as football in England and baseball in the US and therefore gets endless column inches in the newspapers and plenty of air time on TV. New Zealand is one of the favorites for the rugby world cup later this year, so we were glad to get tickets for a game. We saw the Auckland Blues beat Waikato in the Air New Zealand Cup. Some of the players on the field also play for the national All Blacks team that will represent NZ in the rugby world cup. An ex-pat English man who was passionately supporting Waikato sat next to us and we could hear "go Waikato" ringing in our ears for a long time after the match.

Stephen at Eden Park with Waikato supporters in the background

Even if it has been raining we have been able to get out every day, including last Sunday when the heavens opened and put an end to the 7 year drought Sydneysiders have endured. We have been doing lots of walking and have found a great route from Coogee to Bondi; it must be one of the most scenic city walks in the world. The immensely popular coastal walk runs along the cliffs edging the pacific. Enormous sandstone cliffs tower over the ocean before dropping down to golden sandy beaches. We have seen whales migrating south, laughing kookaburras and cackling parrots swooping off the cliff tops. We have also walked north to Watsons Bay and to Centennial Park and south to Maroubra beach.

Walking from Coogee to Bondi with Bondi beach in the background

Pelicans at Centennial Park

Last weekend we made the trip to Berry, a small town two hours drive south of Sydney. Our friends Rick and Reem are building a weekend home in the hills west of Berry and we helped oil some of the exterior walls and also clear their brushland. Stephen did a great job (maybe too good?) of clearing branches and wood and piling onto a bonfire which became enormous. When we lit the fire the flames licked high up into the air and at one point we were all a bit concerned for Rick's and Reem's brand new log cabin. It went well and the cabin is still standing, but the roofer was not too happy about being smoked out.

Stephen stoking the fire at Berry

In September the leaders of the Asian countries are meeting in Sydney for the annual APEC meeting. The security around the meeting is already noticeable with road blocks being put in place and police presence increasing. During our walk to Bondi yesterday two police helicopters hovered so low one of the policemen waved at us! We assume that they were waving and not trying to tell us something :)

Police helicopters at Bondi Icebergs pool

We have another 4 weeks in Australia. On Saturday we head north to Byron Bay with our friends to spend a week there. From Byron Bay we will catch the train north to Cairns stopping along the way at Fraser Island and Port Douglas. After that we head to Thailand for two weeks of cycling, we can't wait to get back on the bikes again. Our withdrawal symptoms got so strong we found ourselves in a Sydney bike shop drooling over the bikes.

9 August - 10 year anniversary

Havelock North, Hawke's Bay


Today is our 10th wedding anniversary. It has been a very nice and relaxing day. This morning we went to Napier to admire the Art Deco buildings. February 3rd 1931 Napier was shook by a earthquake measuring 7.8 on the richter scale. Most of the buildings in the town were destroyed and many of those that were left standing were consumed by fire. At the depth of the great depression Napier managed to re-build itself. The town became a beacon of all that was new and modern, incorporating new technologies and designs. The town has been left untouched and the buildings are immaculately maintained.

Daily Telegraph building, Napier's most flamboyant Art Deco building

Poppies on Napier's promenade

To celebrate our anniversary we headed to Te Mata vineyard to taste some good wine, and purchased a nice white to drink with the seafood we were planning for dinner.

Celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary

It is great staying in New Zealand because so many of the motels have self contained apartments with kitchens, which are affordable even on a budget. It is very nice to be able to cook our own meals in the evenings, as we have had our fill of cheap restaurant meals while we were in the US.

8 August - Eastwoodhill Arboretum near Gisborne

Yesterday we spent the day organising, re-organising, naming, re-naming and captioning our photos.

Today we have visited Eastwoodhill Arboretum west of Gisborne. We were the only visitors and enjoyed our two hour peaceful wander amongst the exotic tree collection. Eastwoodhill is NZ's largest exotic tree collection. Exotic trees in New Zealand are beech, birch, various fir trees, magnolias, in fact many of the trees that we are familiar with from England. There were also some unusual trees like the giant lemon tree from where else but America. The lemons dwarfed my hand.

Giant lemons

Eastwoodhill was founded and designed by William Douglas Cook, a failed peach farmer who decided during a trip to Scotland that he wanted a spectacular garden like those he had seen in Europe. Mr Cook was an eccentric who spent his time gardening in the nude apart from wearing boots and a sun hat. His drive to collect plants was fuelled by his fear of the cold war erupting into a nuclear war centred on Europe. His grand vision was that a devastated Europe rising from the ashes would be able to get plants from his unscathed garden in New Zealand. Alas, the cold war never got hot and today his plant collection is here for us to enjoy.

Pine trees reaching towards the sky

New Zealand flora is interesting. Native flora looks truly exotic to us: cabbage trees (a palm tree that looks nothing like a cabbage), putekhawa trees and tree ferns are everywhere. The native trees are mostly evergreen and it makes it look like it is summer here because the forests are so green. We are reminded that it is early spring here when we see birch and willow trees with large buds on bare branches. There are also flowering magnolias, camellia and daffodils all of which remind us of home and of how strong Britain's influence was even when it came to choice of garden plants on the other side of the world.

Tree fern with cabbage trees in the background

2-5 August, Opito Bay, Coromandel

We have spent 3 days in Opito Bay, a small isolated community at the end of an 11km gravel road on the northern tip of the Coromandel peninsula. We almost sacrificed the exhaust on the way there.

View of Coromandel Town through the clouds, during our drive to Opito Bay

Opito Bay is a beautiful crescent shaped bay with a white sandy beach and when the sun is shining very blue water. The "town" (Opito stretches the definition of town, since there are only a few houses, two obligatory sheep farms and no shops or any other businesses) is at the far end of the bay and most of the houses are holiday homes, many of which were empty. Opito got a little livelier at the weekend when there were lights in more of the houses and we saw 3 or 4 people during our 1 hour run on the beach.

Opito Bay

At the weekend we also had the entertainment of watching fishing the Opito way. When we arrived we noticed that every house had a tractor, a big boat and an enormous outdoor BBQ. The tractor is used to launch the boat, since there is no marina. The guys in the house next to where we were staying would attach their boat to the back of the tractor and then pull the boat down to the beach, reverse out into the water and launch the boat. When they returned from fishing they would drive the boat onto the beach (a bit hairy if the propeller gets stuck in the sand), the tractor would winch up the boat and it would be driven back to the house. The BBQ would be lit and the catch consumed. It looked and smelt delicious and we wanted to join the party.

Walking on the beach

Apart from watching the neighbours' fishing activity, reading, going for walks and runs there was not a lot to do in Opito. We loved it for the total peace and tranquility.


When we left Russell the boot of our car was full of water. Ever since we have been keeping our luggage on the back seat. Our host at Opito Bay kindly offered to drill a hole in the boot so the water could have somewhere to escape. It was very tempting to say yes.