We left New Zealand a week ago and it's never felt further away. It was sad leaving, especially not knowing when we will return. But the important thing is we will. And I think sooner than some might expect.


Funny isn't it? I always thought that as much as I might travel there will always just be the one place that feels like home. But that's not true is it?

you couldn't write this stuff...

I had little adventure yesterday when I went in to Hamilton to pick up the last presents and souvenirs. Driving down the main street I realized I had a flat tyre but couldn't pull over straight away because of the roadworks. I eventually found a loading bay and pulled in, got out and, yes, sure enough it was as flat as a pancake. I couldn't believe it. We've had this car for 5 months and never had a problem and this happens when I'm on my own, which is very unusual. And on top of that I was wearing my lovely white tunic, which I had to take off (I had a cami underneath though...)After an SOS to Harland to find out where everything was I got to work trying to get the jack out, with great difficulty. Then I got help from a lovely girl who was having coffee with two friends in a cafe where I pulled in. And here's the funny bit. The three girls had been sitting there chatting about what they can and can not do with cars. Two of them said they were useless when it came to cars and didn't even know how to change a tyre. The other girl then said: "You really ought to know how to change a tyre, I will have to teach you one day." And that's when I pulled in with my pancake wheel. So they got their lesson on my car and I got some much needed help + a good story to take home with me. As it were quite a few people stopped to see if we needed any help and I felt very well looked after :)

We had dinner with Rochelle and Paul and won't see them again this time. It was sad saying goodbye to the kids, especially Flynn "I love you with all my heart" bless his cotton socks. It's sad not knowing when we'll see them again. Rochelle is such a good sister to Harland and a good "sister" to me, always happy and warm and easy to talk to.

So, today we begin the final leg of our journey. Taking the car back to cousin hero in disguise Colin and then on to Auckland on the bus, spending the night in a hotel near the airport before we fly out tomorrow.

It's been such an amazing holiday

rugby frenzy

Last night was brilliant! A local derby between the Waikato Chiefs and Auckland Blues was always going to be a humdinger but never expected it to be quite such a try fest! I think Caveman, Bevan and Ashling were quite glad we dragged the along :)
There were about 15 000 people in waikato stadium which isn't much by brittish standards but not too bad for NZ. The atmosphere was pumping and the players were obviously charged up, the first try being scored only a couple of minutes in to the game with a quick reply from the blues. But then... the mighty Chiefs ran away with it and never looked like letting the opponents back in to the game

Match report on TVNZ

Oddly my favorite moment of the evening was before the game outside the stadium when we encountered "possum" (THE chiefs supporter and also the man responsible for revving up the chainsaw, as well as the supporters, from a crane). He was walking around belting out, at the top of his voice, a welcome to everyone, a challenge, a reminder that the waikato is the sacred land, and general patriotic encouragements. He was beaming with raw passion for his team and I thought that was really impressive.

Holiday Mode

The last few days in Whanga have been in complete holiday mode. We've been surfing on the few waves there were and on Thursday we hired a tandem bike for a few hours. Odd feeling sitting on the back relinquishing control completely! Unfortunately we didn't take any photos... Thursday night we went out for a soul burger and on friday morning, before heading back to Morrinsville, we had breakfast in a cafe. Yummy american pancakes and eggs benny. delish.

Gracie has just woken up from her nap and we're sharing a passion fruit from the garden. We're doing well considering we've never done a whole weekend with the rugrats before and they seem happy too. This morning we went for a loong walk in the Karangahake Gorge, a beautiful old gold mining place and wore the kids out with adventures, great because that means quiet afternoon. Honestly, I don't know how people do it... had the worst nights sleep last night, listening out for Gracie and getting up to give her the dummy when she lost it and then being waken up well before I was ready to get up. And then it's go go go all day, feeding them, keeping them happy, warm, dry, feeding them again and getting them to fall a sleep, happy. As much as I love our nieces and nephews and enjoy spending a weekend with them I don't think I could do it full time...

the team at karangahake

whangamata- finish where we started!

we're back in whanga! This is our place. We started our holiday here and we've know the place so well. Went for a short surf stint this morning but the fact of the matter was that it was cold. There is a real autumnal chill in the air and this makes life easier some how. I'm a lot happier now than I was a week ago. I'm just enjoying the last two weeks of my amazing holiday and I'm also looking forward to going back to the northern hemisphere, because it's getting warmer there and colder here:)

me in what looks like a mud pool but is in fact a thermal pool we dug out with a spade at hot water beach

the beginning of the end

we've just come back from a bbq at auntie sue's and it was lovely, sitting there enjoying the view of the waitangi river, in spite of grey skies and tropical style rain. As alway we were fed some lovely food and according to tradition I ate far too much:)
We're heading south tomorrow, to the Waikato, which means we had to say good-bye to a few people today, not knowing when we'll see them again. So, even though we have just under three weeks before we fly out it does feel like the beginning of the end... I'm trying to look on the bright side, I'll get to see my family soon and we'll be starting a new exciting life in Gbg, but I can't help feeling a tad sad that our trip is over. At the end of the day, who knows when we'll next get a five month holiday...

woolleys bay

this is Woolleys bay, a beautiful bay on the Tutakaka coast north of Whangarei. It just so happens that Harland's mum's cousin has a bach there and they offered it to us for a week. With some good surf along that coast it was unlikely that we would turn this offer down! Arrived on sunday after stocking up with food at Keri Keri farmers market. Loved it there from the start with the bach being just across the road from the beach.

Sandy bay is the next bay along, about a three minute drive from our pad and where we spent most of our time. Doing what? Surfing of course!
On Monday Harland's mate Jason and his flatmate Maria came to visit and we spent some time surfing, since Maria, who is from Uruguay, had never surfed before I tried to pass on some of my knowledge to her and she really enjoyed being swept in to shore by the waves!
On Tuesday we went to Mermaid rock Pools, they were beautiful but unfortunately didn't come out that way on any of my photos. We snorkeled around in the rock pools and Harland saw a stone fish which is poisonous...

is that a mermaid?? haha

Above: Harland riding a wave. Unfortunately we have yet to get a good photo of me surfing(but I have done it, I promise).
After Jason and Maria had headed we kept surfing (surprise) until we were to tired to paddle. I did my best surfing on Monday and Tuesday, but by Wednesday my arms were too tired to paddle! a great feeling, knowing that you've given it your all!

Below: my leg when I came out of the surf on Tuesday. A surfer dude in the car park was very impressed and I felt cool:)
Below: Harland got a surprise bottle of wine which we enjoyed on a blanket on the beach at dusk.

Jenny came down for a visit on Thursday and spent the night. We walked to Whale Bay, and she got the privilege to watch us surf:)

We actually ended up heading back to Paihia a couple of days before planned as a cyclone was moving in... Whale Bay (the most photographed beach in Northland) I can see why.

grey day, lazy day

yesterday was a drizzly day and I spent it with Sarah and Ethan, in the house and going for walks while Harland and Jenny sorted out their things in storage and getting Jenny ready to move house. It's nice to have one of those days every now and then.temperatures have now dropped to 23 degrees... buurrrr....Summer isn't over yet though so I'm hoping for a scorcher next week when we go to the holiday home on the beach :)

there was only one thing for it, after dinner ice cream in Paihia, in the rain

90 mile beach

was woken up in the morning by Ethan playing on his drum with a big, loving smile on his face (of course Harland put him up to it...) and we set off North looking for surf. Got to Tauranga bay,where Harland was sure there would be nice sized waves but she was a pancake... Nevermind, we drove on, it turned in to a bit of a surf safari...minus the surf, even shipwreck bay was calm and flat.

In the end we drove as far as 90 mile beach, where we'd previously been on a tourbus, a well known beach where it is common to drive on to the beach and along it. So we did just that and in the end we managed to find a few little waves and squeeze out some board action.

Water skiing lake Karapiro

Since yesterday, we're house sitting a beautiful house in Cambridge for Harlands sisters friends. How lucky are we? Lucky also to be invited to go water skiing after a first birthday party this morning.

if you think I'm looking nervous, there;s a reason for thatthis happened only twice, not bad for a first timer. They boys were all impressed how quickly I got up. It's not that hard really...

beautiful lake Karapiro. and some lunatic.

SURF'S UP

we've been out on the west coast for a few days, getting back in to surfing. Four days of riding waves and it's been so much fun! I just love surfing and sometimes get a buzz of happiness when I'm out there. On the first and second day conditions were quite rough, as they can be on the infamous west coast but it settled at the end of the third day.

Yesterday, our last day, I even dared to venture out the back to catch the proper waves, as opposed to secondary ones and white water I had been catching when I was still learning to stand up, and stay up.
So there I was out the back,with the big boys and girls - I call them the sharks- sitting on my board like a pro, gazing out to sea. It it surprisingly quiet out there considering how many people there are, maybe 10-15 surfers that look like they know what they're doing, it is almost as if there is an unwritten rule not to talk. They just sit there, looking out to sea, and at each other, waiting for the perfect wave. I almost got the feeling that I didn't belong there, in my cheap wetsuit and my board of an obscure brand nobody's ever heard of, KONZO. And being new to this lark I probably just got in the way.But at least I gave it a go! In the end me and KONZO moved on, closer to the swimming part of the beach where the waves were sort of second best but not so busy. I could have stayed with the sharks and jostled for waves but after all, that's not what were about, me and KONZO, we don't want to sit out the back for ages waiting for the perfect wave, we just want to catch anything, get up and ride it in to the beach and have fun!The funniest thing happened yesterday when Harly and I caught the same wave, riding close together and shaking hands, that made me laugh!
riding the white water to the end on my second day of surfing

cousin colin's b-day, Tirau

it was Colly Wolly's 27th yesterday so we buzzed over to Tirau to celebrate in style. We were welcomed with Chrystal's home made won tons, delish, and then we walked down to the waihou river, an incredibly beautiful, clear spring. (It soon climbed to the top of my favorite places list) Oh and cold. The water was cold. Yes we went swimming, with our goggles on to be able to take in the incredible plant and fish life under the surface, before warming up in the sun again. We were then treated to a wonderful dinner with six dishes including a Thai green curry, sweet sour pork, wild venison and various other scrumptious things. Lots of laughs and lots of fun, it was like a comedy show completed by the greyhound Mo and his squeaky toy! if we look a bit tense, it's because of the brain freeze

Tairua

Tairua has everything you could ask for, a not to busy nor too remote place with surf, beaty and lifestyle. I think we've found the perfect place for our summer home, or bach as the kiwis call it. You know, somewhere we can come for three weeks around xmas time every year. one day....

papa aroha

Papa means place (I think)

and Aroha means Love

so you can see why I was excited about going there. A lovely place it was too but unfortunately we were extremely lazy and the camera action was next to none. Lazy in a good way too though, four days with Rochelle, Paul and the kids, Flynn and Gracie, plus three other families from "The Ville". Twelve kids between four families plus a bunch of randoms that were floating around, communal dinners as well as parenting where we were the fun uncle and auntie (a role we're very familiar with) made for fun days and some delicious dinners. Paul had his boat in action every day we were there for fishing and giving rides on the biscuit, you know one of those round tyres attached to the boat by a rope flying along at a hell of a speed (Me:28 mph). But more than anything for us it was nice to spend some time with Rochelle and her family. Harland really loved being around the kids and I think that's great, as long as he doesn't turn clucky on me.

Me, Gracie and flynn by the creek
The fisherm... er.. hang on... people. fisherpeople...

with 59 scallops on the bbq

rotorua

note the steam at the back of this lake.

Last stop on the roadtrip was rotorua and a return to some favorite places plus a few new ones. Being a thermal area Rotorua is infamous for the sulphur smell that hangs around the town but I really don't think it's too bad at all. That might have something to do with my company for the last four years though:)

You can't tell from the photo but the water in kerosene creek is incredibly hot! To hot for me to get into as we'd just been down the road where this river meets a cold river and makes for perfect relaxation if you sit in the right place.

picnic bay

Towards the end of our stay in the south island we spent a couple of lovely days in a little bay in Marlborough Sounds called Picnic Bay. We just chillaxed completely, swimming, sunbathing, walking, napping....

I've discovered a lot of things on this trip down south. Walking barefoot down for example, completely socially acceptable here and really quite a nice feeling, you've just got to look out for glass. Sleeping al fresco is another thing. Nothing personal against our mini tent but falling asleep under the stars, feeling a drizzle of rain on your face in the middle of the night but not being bothered to move inside, and waking up with a view like this one, you just can't go wrong.
By request- pictures of quirky creatures

Till Lo, jag hoppas att jag hittar fler spannande djur at fota till dig.

Sofia & Hampus, har ni nagra onskemal?

Matthis e lite for liten an... eller?

ytterligare en sjostjarna, orange denna gangen. och en liten krabba med stora klor

Stewart Island- Rakiura

Very long account of our Xmas tramp. Read it all or just bits of it. Pics coming soon!

Day 1
We got the ferry over in the late morning and explored Oban for a bit before making our way over to Golden Bay where we'd set a date with Ian who would take us to Fred's Camp in his water taxi. we had the 10 bunk hut to ourselves that night, got some mussels in the afternoon and went fishing and exploring, got the fire going and made a cosy start to our visit.

Day 2 – First day of tramping. Fred's Camp to Rakeahua hut.
DoC estimate- 5 hours
Our walking time- 6 hrs
Distance- 12 km

Easy enough most of the way but the infamous Stewart Island mud and the heavy packs made it hard, especially towards the end. I was getting so tired towards the end (this tramping lark took some time getting used to) so the hut was a welcome sight and had a little potbelly which we lit to make it warm and snuggly. We were sharing the hut with an English guy who'd come from the other direction and he told us that the next leg was incredible challenging so I was a bit apprehensive when I went to bed...

Day 3 Rakeahua to Doughboy Bay Hut
DoC estimate time-7-8 hours
Our walking time- 7 hrs 10 min
Distance- 16 km

Such hard going at times but it made a difference that we were mentally prepared for it! Lots of ups and downs and a few steep bits but it was so rewarding stepping on to the beach after that grueling climb down. The view for the top had been amazing as it was a beautiful day. Felt really proud that we'd finished it and I didn't once think that I couldn't do it! Sharing the hut with four rough looking kiwi men in their 50's that soon turned out to be softer than butter on a hot day; all herbal tea, honey and kiwi spotting which we were welcome to join in on. Saw our first kiwi in the wild out on the beach, in the dark, busy little kiwi finding food in the sand. So cool!

Day 4- julafton- Rest day

We had planned to be sitting on the beach and swimming on our rest day but the weather had other plans for us. We went for a short walk in the morning but I was so exhausted i crashed and burned (unlike Harland who just went sliding down a slippery slope on his arse). The rest of the day consisted of keeping the fire going to dry out socks.

Day 5- Xmas Day- Doughboy By to Mason Bay Hut

DoC est time- 7hrs
Our walking time- 6 hrs
Distance- 18 km
This was really quite an easy day, partly because we were so mentally ready for it. There was a steep bit at the beginning which we blasted and before long we were at the beach. Then there was one and a half hour of walking on the beach against the wind which soon got very boring and felt never ending. There was a kiwi couple and a canadian girl as well as the Bubblegum Parade from Doughboy in the hut that night. We went kiwi spotting and saw one rummaging around the bushes. We made a crazy decision to do a double header the next day so we decided to get up early

Day 6 Mason Bay to Sawdust bay Campground

Had the best start to the day. A kiwi was out on the lawn in front of the hut was having its breakfast just as we were having ours. I watched it for ages. We decided to break this epic day in to smaller bits:

Leg 1 Mason Bay to Freshwater Hut
DoC est time- 3-4 hrs
Our time- 2.45
Distance- 15.5 km
The walk started off through old farmland where people from Shetland had come to farm but eventually gave up because of the rough conditions on the island (people from Shetland thought it was too rough, blimey!). The rest of the walk through the swamp was flat and rather boring and we decided to march at 500 mph. Got to Freshwater and had some soup and crackers just as it had started raining.

Leg 2 Freshwater to North Arm Hut
DoC est- 6-7 hrs
Our walking time- 6
Distance- 11 km
this bit would have been easy with fresh legs but I was struggling a bit. Luckily the rain subsided but it was still very muddy (again: Stewart island mud, ankle deep at best and that's after a dry week) at times especially up on Thompson ridge. Once we joined on to the Rakiura track (which is a so called Great Walk, which basically means it is easier and expensive) it got easy peasy, boardwalks all the way almost. My quad muscle was very sore after a hard day of stepping up and down steep muddy climbs. We finally got to the hut and had our dinner, talked to some very nice people and then moved on once our feet had dried out.

Leg 3 North Arm Hut to Sawdust Bay campsite
DoC est time- 1.30
My limping time- 1.10
Distance 2.5 km
I was tired and sore but we got there after having been on the go for about 13 hours. Felt good. When we were lying in the tent the last night (freezing our backsides off) I started thinking about going back to the mainland and I felt a sting of sadness.

Day 7

Walked the final 12 km back in to Oban got our well deserved fish and chips (LITERALLY the best fish and chips in the world, KAI KART, I mean it, blue cod straight off the local fishermen's boat in to the fryer, world famous for a reason). We had done it. 84.5 kilometres in 5 days of walking. Felt so proud. And smelly, well, what do you expect, we'd more or less been in the same clothes and not had a shower for nearly a week. We spent a few hours in Oban before getting on the ferry, relaxing in the sun and filling our tummies.

I was genuinely so, so sad that it was over. I couldn't have kept going due to being tired and sore but I didn't want it to end. It was such an amazing experience, one I'll never forget, we got to see so many remote, stunning places, places you can't drive to. (just the fact that we walked to the southernmost place we've ever been is something else. I don't know if it is tramping I've fallen in love with or if it is the place but I really didn't want it to be over. If my leg hadn't been buggered I would have probably chucked Harland over my shoulder and run back in to the bush again...

strange christmas

it'll be this year, not only will it be warm(ish), it'll be on the other side of the world. But just like the two previous years it's just the two of us and I'm hoping for a christmas with family next year, maybe in gotlaborg??? :) you don't know what you've got til it's gone and I think I'm due a family christmas in sweden .

The temeratures of the south island keep disappointing but in spite of that we're heading of on a 7-9 day hike (or "tramp" as we're in NZ) on Stewart Island (look it up on multimap, don't have time to link to it). We've been told by a lot of people that Stewart Island (Raikura) is a beautiful place, something extraordinary, secluded, off the beaten track, et.c. So we're very excited of course! And their is a rich birdlife as well, with the allusive Kiwi trotting around for all to see!:)

As always, very short of time on the computer (so forgive the spelling mistakes (DAD)) so before I get to soppy,

God Jul alla nara och kara. Hoppas ni far det riktigt fint!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you!

Arthurs Ass

We are currently in Arthur's Pass village and tomorrow we will be doing a small hike up to Avalanche Peak (nice name, I know) approx 1850 m. It almost feels like we left summer behind on the north island because it is cold down here! Luckily we have invested in some merino wool clothes that will hopefully keep us warm on our excursions (haha mamma! om det ar nat du vill ha, understall t.ex sa kolla priser pa icebreaker eller sok pa merino woll nz).

We've been on the south island for five days now and so far we've been quite busy (so has the bank account) with wine touring on bike in Marlborough, whale watching at and a very spontaneous drive from the west coast through Lewis pass and now back again via Arthur's (P)ass. Truly stunning here with mountains, turquoise rivers that look very cold, and green, green hills, unfortunately the weather is what it is and it is green for a reason...

Looking forward to tomorrow and getting closer to the infamous kea, a bird that takes great interest in us humans and what we get up to, resulting in them nicking shiny things (cameras, jewellery or whatever they can get their cheeky little beaks on) left unattended and ripping rubber off cars. There are a lot of them here in the national park and apparently there's Kiwi about as well, maybe we'll be lucky enough to see one. We did see a weka the other day and my heart jumped thinking it was a kiwi...

South Island

Just to let everyone know, we've arrived on the south island now (well at some stupid hour in the morning and we've been sleeping in a carpark until now), safe and sound. The crossing was "smooth as" but horribly cold and dark. Unfortunately the weather is a bit naff but I'm staying warm in my new merino woll jacket :)