Gambling on the Pier

This was an interesting day, but we had to get up really early and catch a train to Brighton.  Bibley took us into her office where we met Beanie, this is the three of us having a chat on Vicky's desk.  We had to wait all day long before we headed out to Brighton Pier.

And here we are.  We went with Vicky, Andrea and Beanie and Bibley where we gambled to see what we could win.

This is Andrea and Beanie, if you look closely you can see him.  After we had finished gambling it was decided to go and get something to eat, so we went Italian.  We found this place.

Beanie, Vicky and Bibley had a bottle of wine - shouldn't be allowed - Andrea went quiet, Bibley talked a lot and most of it was rubbish and Vicky just sat there grinning and dancing in her seat.  But the food was good.

We all got our prizes out so we could see what we all won, these were Bib's to the front of the photo.  The others are some of Vicky's.  It was a good stash.

Bibley finished her dessert (chocolate cake) and was scraping her plate when Beanie slunk over and .......

Beanie got himself a chocolatey nose !!!

A good, fun day was had by all.

To Weymouth

Saturday afternoon and sitting on the harbourside having hot chocolate and cake.

And then we took Milo for a walk.

And here we all are just chilling and watching the world go by from our accommodation.

And then we all decided to go for a walk on the beach, it was lovely.

We walked towards the Pavilion and looked back at the beach and Weymouth Bay.

And Richard and Milo were so tired by all the walking and fresh sea air that Bibley had to take a picture.

Karekare Beach

My last full day in New Zealand and I was asked what I'd like to do, so I said I'd like to go the Karekare, which is a short drive from Piha.

This beach is beautiful and very large, there are people in the distance, if you can see them !!!

This beach was made famous by the film 'The Piano'.

The walk back to the car.

This is a view towards Karekare Beach, you can just see the rock in the middle of the picture.

And then the next day it was time to get a flight home.

Auckland Airport.

And home to these two.

This wooden Maori statue freaked Milo out - ha ha ha.

A Walk to Kitekite Falls

Kitekite Falls (pronounced Kitty Kitty), is in Piha and takes about an hour to reach on foot from the car park, but it's worth every step.

Such a beautiful walk.

The Falls.  The water was cold but very refreshing.

This has to be the best walk and the best waterfall I've ever been to, so thank you so much Erin and Tahe for sharing this with me.

Pictures of Auckland

This is the yacht harbour, near to the Vodaphone building.

Views over to the North Shore.

The harbour.

The two pictures above are of the same view.

Auckland is a fabulous city and well worth a visit.

One Last Big Adventure

We're off north to the Kauri Museum in Matakohe.

This is a cross section of a Kauri tree.

The largest black ring is 28 feet across, which is the largest surviving Kauri tree, although there are reports of larger ones in the past.

And this is Bibley sitting inside the above swamp find.

These are the Four Sisters, although you can only see three.

And this is the largest Kauri tree called Tane Mahuta and it's in the Waipoua Forest, it's about 2,500 years old - you can just see Bib at the bottom.

That was another wonderful day trip.

A New Adventure

We made a new friend when we were on our road trip, meet Dog.  He spends all his time in the windscreen of Erin's car.

Anyway we're off on a new adventure today.  We're driving up to Gulf Harbour, north of Auckland as we're travelling by boat to Tiritiri Matangi Island Wildlife Sanctuary.  There are 11 of New Zealand's endangered birds, 3 reptile species and 1 insect species that have been re-introduced to the island.  It has been re-vegetated with around 300,000 native trees to provide the right habitat and food.  The island has been run by volunteers since 1984.

We were extremely lucky to see most of the endangered birds - this is a Tui.

And this is a Takahe.

We saw other endangered birds but were not able to take photos as the birds were too quick for us.  We saw Robin, Rifleman, Stitchman.  But not the Little Spotted Kiwi as this is a nocturnal bird.

These are Patekes (Brown Teal) - it is one of the worlds rarest ducks.

This lighthouse is also on the island - all the way from London.

Views from the island.

And this was our ride home.

Leaving the island.  Another great day out over.