Melbourne with Amy for her Birthday

Amy and I headed down to Melbourne for her birthday again this year. We have done this a few times now and it is a good time to catch up with some of the family before Christmas as well. We flew down on the Friday morning, picked up our hire car and then headed out to the South Melbourne Markets. We stayed one night in the city at QT Melbourne which was very stylish! 

 This was our plane- it had propellers and was a lot smaller than the normal planes we fly on- it took and extra 30 minutes to get to Melbourne but we flew lower so  we got good views as we flew down. Had to walk on  the tarmac and both ends- plane not tall enough to reach the gates!

 Christmas trees at Melboune airport while waiting for our luggage to come through.

 This was our Mercedes Benz we had for the weekend, our hire car was supposed to be a small metro car but we got upgraded. It was a bit scary driving it at first, keyless, button for the handbrake and no gear stick for changing gears- had to have a few explanations, but it was a nice car to drive!

 Amy and I went out to dinner at Cumulus Inc- same place we had gone last year for her birthday. We had the Chef's tasting menu, lots of little courses- it was very nice. They brought out our dessert with a candle in it so that was nice.

 Saturday morning I went for a wander around the streets of Melbourne while Amy slept in, checked out the Myer Windows and all the Christmas decorations.

We left the city around 12 noon and headed out to visit my mum who still has a stall at the Ferntree Gully Market, spent a couple of hours there and helped her pack up. We then went back to her place and that night went out to dinner with some of the family at an Afghan restaurant in Dandenong, had a lovely meal then took some photos.

The girls- Ella, Pam, Leeanne, Amy, Sue and Filomena

All of the above including Michael and Kim on either end

 Keiran, Ella and Amy

 Mike, Keiran and Kim- the taking of this photo had us in hysterics, Filomena told Kim he needed to hold his stomach in like Michael was doing, then Kim just hamed it up, I must have grabbed this photo when he was being sensible!

Mum in the Mercedes she was most impressed!

Last Day in Wellington

We packed up our gear and found a park for our car then headed to the New Zealand War Memorial Museum where they had an exhibition for the Great War. You started off walking through a Belgium Street back in 1914 as you walked through  you progressed through a time line of WW1- again put on by Peter Jackson and another excellent exhibition.

 After the museum we wandered back into down town Wellington and had some lunch before hiring some bikes and going for a ride along the waterfront. Then it was time to head back to the car, head to the airport and head for home. It was nice flying straight back to Canberra, Lachlan picked us up it was as great two weeks away.

Wellington

From Palmerston North the next morning we headed to Wellington. Checked into our hotel and then went to the TePapa Museum which had a Gallipoli Exhibition  put on by Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame, it was an excellent exhibition. Then we wandered along the waterfront, got some fish and chips for dinner then went for a walk up Mt Victoria which gave excellent views around Wellington.

 Wellington is a nice easy city to walk around and they have done up the waterfront, lots of interesting places and sculptures.

The Galliopli Exhibition at the Tepapa Museum was very impressive, these figures were so lifelike, you felt like wiping the sweat of their faces and you could see the hairs on their legs- pretty amazing.

 Lovely walk in the evening up to Mt Victoria with great views over Wellington.

Palmerston North

Next stop on our way south was a lovely B&B on a farm just out of Palmerston North. It is lovely driving in the North Island, apart from the middle cold desert section everything is so green and lumpy. I noticed lots of sheep lying down, we figured there is so much grass that the sheep can have a rest they don't have to eat non stop like in Australia where everything is so dry. After we settled into our B&B, got a tour and some afternoon tea we headed out for a walk at Manawatu Gorge, again great scenery- I think I may  have worn poor Bill out with all the walking!

We drove back along the Desert Road getting one final view of Mt Ngauruhoe as we drove down, this time the other side of the mountain and more snow from this angle. We stopped at the Army Museum at Wairoa and learnt heaps about the Maori Wars that took place in New Zealand.

 This was the lookout from Vinegar Hill, lovely view back over where we had come from and so green

Headed up to Manawatu Gorge and did an hour walk up and down the hill through lovely forests and great views of the valley.

Turangi

After Raglan we headed south towards Wellington, we just took our time and drove to Turangi about 3 hours away, we stopped for a picnic lunch then arrived at Turangi around lunch time. We settled into our motel and then hired some mountain bikes for two hours and went for a ride along the river. It was lovely except my brand new mountain bike hadn't been put together very well and the handlebars were very loose, Bill had to ride back and get a tool to fix them while I headed back on foot. It didn't matter, the scenery was lovely. We went for a walk along the river after dinner then I went for a walk the next morning as well. Saw lots of fly fishermen out in the river, it is a very popular area for fly fishing.

Raglan

After our weekend in Auckland we headed down to Raglan on the west coast about 2 hours from Auckland where we caught up with another cousin- Alex and his wife Cher. We stayed with them for one night, they had a lovely house with views over the habour and out to see-was a very relaxing place to stay. Went for some nice walks and drives along the beach, had a lovely visit with them, has been great catching up with the New Zealand cousins.

 Alex, Sue, Bill and Cher at Whale Beach near Raglan

Taupo and Auckland

From Taupo we headed up to Auckland but checked out the Huka Falls on the way where the wide Waikato  river flows through a narrow rock gorge, the volume of water is incredible.

In Auckland we stayed with Bill's cousin Christine and her husband Geoff, his other cousin John and his wife Maggie live just around the corner so we were able to catch up with them. We also caught up with my girlfriend Barbara, we were exchange students many years ago. We were so busy talking we forgot to take a photo-but had a lovely time catching up