Thursday 29th November
Well after finishing up at Shelina’s house on Wednesday night, we only had really short while before we had to go to the airport to pick up Rishul. It was just a little after midnight when we arrived and leaving Bhavni in the car at the pick up/drop off point I went to get him. Ahh the first guest for ages. Getting back home and getting over the excitement we went to sleep.
We said a quick hello in the morning to Rishul before Bhavni and I had to go to work. We let Rishul wonder the streets, but I came home around lunch time and met up with him (as I had a bed arriving), he had wondered through the shops in Newmarket in the morning and I dropped him back at the far side of Newmarket and he worked his way to Parnell.
In the evening after dinner, I bundled Rishul and Bhavni in the car and drove into the city over the harbour bridge to get the view back to the CBD. Rishul, although enjoying the view, was struggling to stay awake, so we drove back home soon after.
Friday 30th
It was another day with Bhavni and I having to go to work and leaving Rishul to his own devices, although it was hilarious hearing Bhavni shouting “Morning Rishul” at 6.30 in the morning. In the evening after dinner we went to the CBD, arriving near Hobson street at around 9PM where we somehow managed to find parking. We went to Apego for some tea. Bhavni and I had a nice red tea, while Rishul has a mint tea.
Saturday 1st December
Bhavni had to go to work, so after dropping her off, Rishul and I went to Drury. It was a hot but quite good day and we managed to grab the K21 and go for a 2 hour flight, getting rishul to try to fly again (by dropping him in the “deep end” – thermalling). I also had my first student here in NZ, having a request to convert one of the students to a single seater.
Sunday 2nd
The weather was forecast to be rainy for most of the north island, so I decided to drive to the one place I thought was meant to be sunny – Tauronga. We managed to leave at a decent time and stopped at the old goldmine area which we stopped with Shamil on the way. In Tauronga we had a walk on the beach which is a lovely looking beach with white sand, but the wind was quite strong and we had lots of dust flying around us. We went for a walk up Mt Manganui. The weather was really quite nice, maybe even too hot, but the views were really nice. It was amusing watching most of the tourists struggling and panting up the hill (ok we were tourists too, but not panting). After we got back down we had a spot of lunch at “The Coffee Club” before we left and drove down to Rotorua. Well the weather deteriorated as we drove there, but it was not really that bad, so we had a wonder near the lake front, and decided it was not worth going up the Gondola as it did not go very high and the weather was not working with us. I drove us back home and on the way we got some seriously torrential rain, but everyone else was asleep in the car.
Monday 3rd
I still had work, so I left Bhavni and Rishul to have a day of shopping. In the evening we drove into town and had dinner in an Italian restaurant there (we were planning to eat at the vegetarian restaurant (Bascilian) in the stables but they were closed and under refurbishment). The food was not bad. We managed to go up the Sky tower just a little after sunset (not that you could have seen it as there was too much cloud). We stayed until late watching the colours change below.
Tuesday 4th
Bhavni took Rishul to climb up Mt Eden in the morning before she had to go to sleep for a night shift. In the evening after dropping Bhavni, Rishul and I chilled at home.
Wednesday 5th
Bhavni dropped Rishul to a bus stop in Mt Eden in the morning, from which he caught the airport bus as he was going to Queenstown. In the evening I went to a gliding instructors meeting, the weather had really deteriorated, with cloud covering most of the Drury Hills.
Friday 7th
I was still at work, so Bhavni went to pick Rishul up from the Bus route in Mt Eden. His flight was a bit delayed, so when I got home in the evening they were both in a rush and still finishing up making food, so I got drafted in to help (I had made the profiter rolls the night before – though a bit large). We then chilled until James come around 7pm. Silvia was still on duty so she came around 8pm. We had pasta, Risotto, Profiter rolls and Rishuls Soufflé. We actually remembered to give Silvia her wedding present – a juicer.
Saturday 8th
We left at around 8.30 in the morning for our drive up north. We drove up the SH1 (with the usual bit around Silverdale) to Welsford, where we went into the housewares shop there. We spent a little while browsing there looking for gifts to give for the secret Santa. We got tempted by a large painting, but it was really big and I was not sure that it was going to fit in the car (3ft x 4ft), so I borrowed a tape measure. I was not convinced it would be possible with Rishul in the car, but Bhavni was convinced it would fit, so we bought it. Well it was an interesting fit, at an angle with 2 of the 3 back seats folded! Well we carried on our drive up past Whangerai to Pihia, were we checked into our hotel – The Edgewater Palms Apartments, where we had lunch (leftovers from yesterday) and some tea. It was quite a nice hotel, just was a bit of a pity that it was next to a backpackers.
After lunch and a short drive later we went to the treaty grounds in Waitangi. This is the place where the treaty between the British Crown and the Maori was signed, basically the modern New Zealand. It was quite amusing entering as NZ residents have free entry, so I was asked if I have any proof, so I started to open my wallet and the person laughed as she saw a flyby card, so yes we were obviously resident. We saw a short movie and had a walk around the grounds, seeing the large boat there and the flagstaff, which is the location of the signing as well as James Busbys house.
After we drove to Kirikiri, a few km down the road, visiting the chocolate shop on the way. In Kirikiri there is the oldest stone building in New Zealand (funnily called the Stone house). We had a walk around there visiting the old Maori village there. We ate dinner at the Black Olive restaurant in Kirikiri, sitting outside and making the most of the sun. The pizza was quite nice there.
On the way back we went to visit the Haruru falls, but when we got there the sign said that the parking was closed after 6pm, but luckily the chain was open in one of the bits, allowing Bhavni to just drive through. The falls were quite nice, but still alot smaller then the ones in Whangerai.
We got back to Pahia and had a rest for a bit, before Bhavni took us on a walk to buy some ice cream, but the countdown was closed (as well as all the restaurants), so we ended up having a magnum from a petrol station.
Sunday 9th
It was a big day. We checked out of the hotel and went to the docks where we got on a boat for a 4hour (including a stop) boat cruise around the bay. We boarded a bit late so the outside spaces at the top were occupied, so we went to the bottom inside deck. This was a blessing in disguise as after the pick up from Russell, the front doors were open and we got a good place at the front of the boat. The people on the boat managed to spot some dolphins (it was guaranteed that they would) so we sailed to them and everyone took lots of pictures.
The dolphins were quite timid and did not really play around above the water at all. Rishul found the breeze whilst sailing too much so he kept on sheltering whilst we were sailing. We got to the “hole in the rock” and it was calm enough that we sailed through it. On the way back there was a stop on one of the largest islands there where most of the people stopped for lunch, but we went up one of the trails and had a superb view of the bay from there, it really looked like a tropical paradise.
Re-boarding the boat, it was only a short trip to Russel where we got off (we got given tickets to get the next ferry to Pahia). This is where Terry’s family lives normally. We had an explore around looking at the old buildings and the old church there, before a spot of lunch at one of the Cafes there. Just before boarding the boat we went and got some ice-cream. I chose chocolate and chilly, which I much preferred to boysenberry that Bhavni had.
We got the car and then drove to the west down the SH12 on the way to the Kauri forest. On the way we had to pass Opononi, and as we came up to the town Rishul and I were amazed at seeing large sand dunes there. So much so that we woke Bhavni up and had to take some photos. Carrying on to the Waipoua forest we climbed a lot and stopped near the one of the walkways there where we had a short walk to see “Tane Mahuta”, the largest surviving Kauri tree, which is over 2000 years old. It is huge!
From there we carried on down the west coast, which is a much slower road than the SH1, eventually arriving in Auckland as the sun was setting – 6 hours of driving today and Rishul’s last night in New Zealand. Bhavni fried some pouri’s for dinner with dry fry potato shaak.
Monday 10th
While I was at work Bhavni and Rishul went to Mission Bay in the morning, but met me for lunch. We went to Cornwall park and had a picnic of the leftovers from yesterday in the beautiful heat there. I inisted that we went to the top of one tree hill for some photos before they dropped me back to work and Bhavni went back home to sleep. In the evening I dropped Bhavni to work and had a couple of hours at home with Rishul before we had to leave at 10pm to drop him to the airport. Our first guest who jumped the queue!!
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