We were busy getting lost in Auckland, trying to find the drop off point and meet Anthea & Mike. When we called Anthea to get directions, spookily enough we had just over taken her on the highway.
When we got to the depot, it was closed, and we had had to drop the keys in this flimsy postbox. We thought anyone could access the post box, the keys had the car reg on, and the car was parked next to the post box. We dropped the keys in, and as an experiment, tried to break the keys out again, but gladly couldn’t. Besides, this is New Zealand and not Liverpool ;)
We went back to Mike and Anthea’s place – They live on a deer farm. You get some great views, with deer walking in front the sun setting over the sea.
As we were here for 5 days, which wasn’t long enough to do everything, such as Bay of Islands, as this was too far to drive. Still, we made the most of our time here. Anthea kindly lent us her car, as she had a work car and Mike was going away for a few days fishing and hunting in Queenstown.
The next day was spent in Auckland city, wandering around all the tourist shops (all run by Chinese) looking for souvenirs. We came across Nandos and had lunch, and tried the New Zealand dandelion & burdock drink. We had a wander around the docks, and watch people do controlled free-fall from the Auckland Tower.
The afternoons entertainment was quad biking – Anthea and Mike have one on their farm for checking on the deer paddocks, so we went out for a spin. Marc went zooming off into the distance, under clear instruction to take the gate on the right. In all the excitement he went for the open gate on the left, and startled a few deer and made Anthea chase after him. Oh Dear!
When we got to the depot, it was closed, and we had had to drop the keys in this flimsy postbox. We thought anyone could access the post box, the keys had the car reg on, and the car was parked next to the post box. We dropped the keys in, and as an experiment, tried to break the keys out again, but gladly couldn’t. Besides, this is New Zealand and not Liverpool ;)
We went back to Mike and Anthea’s place – They live on a deer farm. You get some great views, with deer walking in front the sun setting over the sea.
As we were here for 5 days, which wasn’t long enough to do everything, such as Bay of Islands, as this was too far to drive. Still, we made the most of our time here. Anthea kindly lent us her car, as she had a work car and Mike was going away for a few days fishing and hunting in Queenstown.
The next day was spent in Auckland city, wandering around all the tourist shops (all run by Chinese) looking for souvenirs. We came across Nandos and had lunch, and tried the New Zealand dandelion & burdock drink. We had a wander around the docks, and watch people do controlled free-fall from the Auckland Tower.
Afterwards we went for a drive and stopped of at a cute little suburb, Ponsonby, and decided to have a walk around. We stopped in at another touristy shop before having a drink at one of the up-class pubs – surprisingly enough the football happened to be on.
As we were invited round to Mike’s parents house for dinner and to stay the evening we made a move. Mike’s mum is from London and she made us a lovely dinner, we drank wine and reminisced about life. As we dinned upstairs we thoroughly enjoyed the amazing view over Mission Bay.
Anthea invited us to join her as she was meeting friends for a DVD night. This turned out to be a real fun evening, with a few drinks and catching up We almost felt at home, doing something normal and taking our minds off the fact that we were travelling.
Next day Anthea showed us one of the craft markets to continue our search for souvenirs. As always anything we brought ended up being for us rather than family ;) Some real nice stuff, which would look far better in our cupboards than families ;)
Athena then went off to do her own thing and we headed back to Mission Beach for the Antarctic aquarium. This had a penguin enclosure and shark tunnel (not together), something we’d wanted to see for ages. After, we found Starbucks, and had our usual Chai tea lattes on the beach.
Anthea played guide again the next day, and took us for a tour around the peninsula. We went for a walk along the black sand beach with the dogs, and took a trip up to the old lighthouse. Then headed down to Graham beach for a little swim with the dogs. You could see Auckland city from across the bay.
As we were invited round to Mike’s parents house for dinner and to stay the evening we made a move. Mike’s mum is from London and she made us a lovely dinner, we drank wine and reminisced about life. As we dinned upstairs we thoroughly enjoyed the amazing view over Mission Bay.
Anthea invited us to join her as she was meeting friends for a DVD night. This turned out to be a real fun evening, with a few drinks and catching up We almost felt at home, doing something normal and taking our minds off the fact that we were travelling.
Next day Anthea showed us one of the craft markets to continue our search for souvenirs. As always anything we brought ended up being for us rather than family ;) Some real nice stuff, which would look far better in our cupboards than families ;)
Athena then went off to do her own thing and we headed back to Mission Beach for the Antarctic aquarium. This had a penguin enclosure and shark tunnel (not together), something we’d wanted to see for ages. After, we found Starbucks, and had our usual Chai tea lattes on the beach.
Anthea played guide again the next day, and took us for a tour around the peninsula. We went for a walk along the black sand beach with the dogs, and took a trip up to the old lighthouse. Then headed down to Graham beach for a little swim with the dogs. You could see Auckland city from across the bay.
The afternoons entertainment was quad biking – Anthea and Mike have one on their farm for checking on the deer paddocks, so we went out for a spin. Marc went zooming off into the distance, under clear instruction to take the gate on the right. In all the excitement he went for the open gate on the left, and startled a few deer and made Anthea chase after him. Oh Dear!
We went on somewhere away from the deer, and had good fun zooming about. Anthea, showing her skill, went up to the top of the hill, which involved going over a sandbank. This looked easy and as Marc couldn’t be out done by a girl & being all macho, decided to go full steam ahead. As Marc was having his fun, Anthea & Evelyn sat on the side of the bank chatting. After a while the girls realised they couldn’t hear the engine of the quad and Anthea reckoned that Marc got stuck. The girls chuckling to themselves decided to wait and see how long it would be before Marc’s head popped over the bank to ask for help – and no sooner had the girls decided this, Marc popped his head over the mound looking rather sheepishly :)
When Evelyn & Anthea finally reached the quad, they packed out laughing at the sight of the quad being wedged between sand and a fence, with poop splattered all over Marc & said quad…
When Evelyn & Anthea finally reached the quad, they packed out laughing at the sight of the quad being wedged between sand and a fence, with poop splattered all over Marc & said quad…
It took some muscle – from the girls not Marc ;) to get it unwedged and Marc almost rolling the quad, was saved by Anthea yet again. Throughout Marc kept a brave face, laughed it off and continued his adventures (minding the big cow splodges :)
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