Hello New Zealand!

So in the space of about 2 and half weeks we travelled from Peru South America to the States and the craziness of Los Angeles to New Zealand. And for this part of the trip Tash and I are splitting up for a bit to do our own thing. Spread our wings if you will. So that all started in a rather cloudy Auckland. I stayed for a few days to get my feet and I actually did a lot of very cultural things. I went to not 1 but 2 museums both of which were really interesting and gave me loads of info on New Zealand. One of which was a maritime museum which is always a fav  and I got to see the winning America's Cup New Zealand boat and learn all about the immigration overseas of people from all over the world to New Zealand.

Aside note. I have used a Thesaurus to look up new words to replace 'cool' because I over use the word and I really should expand my vocab so here is what the internet suggests!

A-OK, adequate, admissible, all right, average, big*, common, cooking with gas, cool*, copacetic, decent, delightful, fair, hep, hip*, hunky-dory, in the swim, kosher*, large, okay, on the ball, on the beam, passable, peachy keen, pleasant, pleasing, respectable, right on, standard, sufficient, swell*, tolerable, trendy, unexceptional, unobjectionable, up to code, up to snuff, welcome

So I also added good because sometimes I want to use that word as well but end up using cool instead so here are all the other words for 'good' Ok! I also went up the sky tower which was a lot of fun but quite a brief visit because i was hoping to catch the sunset but arrived an hour too early so i didn't really want to wait and I was getting hungry. But it was all hunky-dory up there and it was swell stepping on the glass and looking down below. see pics. Also stopped many times around in Auckland for a coffee and read of my book which seemed to be such a luxury! I also spent a day walking around a small volcanic island called Rangitoto. I met this lovely Dutch guy off the boat and we walked around the island and explored the caves! I wasn't so keen on that idea especially as I thought that there was spiders and creepy crawlies but actually New Zealand is very bug and dangerous animal free which was good to know for the future. So after a few relaxing days in Auckland I head up north to Kerikeri to stay with Al Hargrove (extended family) and his wife Jules and their kids Peter and Lily. I had such a peachy time with them. It was such a luxury to be looked after and I also got my own double bed! I was also treated to many beach days on the most gorgeous beaches surrounding the Bay of Islands. me, Al and Al's sister in law Ang me and Jules And Jules was lovely enough to take me out one day just the two of us to look at the sites of Kerikeri which are fairly limited but we had such a lovely time and a gorgeous little walk to Rainbow falls. And squeeze in a girls lunch before picking up the kids again. We also spent another lovely day going over to Russell - which is a cute little village/town on on the Bay of Islands. We took the ferry over and spent a day having another lovely lunch and then going to the beach! Literally have been so spoiled and loving every second. I had been contemplating doing a skydive but the weather wasn't really perfect so instead i took a bus tour which normally I avoid like the plague to Cape Reinga which turned out to be such a delightful day out! I got to see the 90 mile beach, the Cape itself which is the northern most point of New Zealand and had lunch at the most beautiful beach. See the panoramic pic of the beach. me and the kids, peter and lily Cape Reinga Lunch beach! 90 Mile Beach So have had a very relaxed start to my trip to New Zealand. Just been chilling out and don't see that changing much! Getting a wicked tan and very much enjoying the sunny hot weather! All for now J xxx