Tourist Sites

Well, that was a strange day!! We started off in Auckland where our flight was early evening on Wednesday 7th and had a good day updating the blog and sitting in the Domain grounds in the sunshine. We then had a 12 hour overnight flight which crossed the International Date Line and ended up in Los Angeles at 10.30am on Wednesday 7th!!! This meant we basically had Wednesday all over again - very bizzare!!

Still, we made the most of it and went on a tour of Hollywood, Beverley Hills, Bel Air and Sunset Boulevard (well, it's got to be done hasn't it!!!). Of course we saw all the big houses of the rich and famous and even Simon Cowell driving out in his Bentley!!! We also were taken to a viewpoint to see the famous "Hollywood" sign but as you would expect with our recent luck - it was partially obscured by the haze - a well known problem in LA.

As the title of this blog suggests, we have gone from the sublime New Zealand where everything is unspoilt and old fashioned, to LA - where everything is all glitz and glamour!! We have seen all sorts here - as you can all imagine!! Within 24 hours we have had the red carpet out - no not for us but just across the way from our hotel, at the Mann's Chinese Theatre for the premiere of Music and Lyrics - a new film starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. We actually stood and saw them arrive - albeit at a great distance - not like in the UK at Leicester Square where you get up close to everyone. It seemed just a media exercise as the likes of us were only allowed across the other side of Hollywood Boulevard and four lanes of traffic!!!! Never mind - didn't want to see them anyway!!!

It's all go at the Kodak Theatre next door as they prepare for the Oscars in a few weeks time and down the road preparations are in full swing for the Grammys. Everywhere we go seems to have something happening. We spent today in Downtown LA where it seemed that around every corner there was a camera crew and we saw various TV series being filmed - none that we had heard of though!!! (Bob insisted in asking each one what they were there for!!!)

We managed to find our way round the Metro system and had a good long walk round Downtown LA (unheard of by some who visit LA!!!), saw the newly built (2003) Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels, the famous County Hall and the shortest railway line in the World (apparently!!) called Angel's Flight. (Not like LA to claim to have the smallest of something!!!).

We also went to the Flower Market, the Toy District and the Jewellry District, all preparing for Valentines Day as only the Americans can, but I didn't manage to get Bob to put his hand in his pocket (nothing changes!!!).

A hashing friend of Bob's (Mighty Atom) has recently returned to her home in LA after doing research in Oxford and she gave us a call and some advice on places to go. Hopefully we will meet up with her before we leave California.

We are picking up a car tomorrow and heading to the coast at Venice Beach where Bob is hoping to flex his muscles along with all the other posers!!!!

Well, the last couple of days have continued in the same vein weatherwise with a mixture of small amounts of sunshine interspersed with clouds and heavy downpours. Stilll, we did manage to do a few hundred km to the north of Auckland taking in the great views from the Waitakere Ranges.

We then went on up the west coast to Helensville and across to Dairy Flat (we love some of the names of their towns!!!) and Albany before ending up in the north shore suburb of Devenport. We had hoped to meet up with some English friends who now live here, but as it was a bank holiday weekend (Waitangi Day) they had gone away for a few days before the children start back at school today.

The evening threatened heavy downpours, so we stayed close to the Motel and ended up in an Irish Bar (called "The Bog"!!!). To keep us entertained we took part in their weekly quiz - giving ourselves the name "The Not So Barmy Army"!!! This went down particularly well as England vs New Zealand was on the TV at the time!! Unfortunately our knowledge of NZ was not too hot, and although we didn't disgrace ourselves, we ended up last!!! However, we did get a certificate for this achievement and a free drink!!

Our abiding memory of New Zealand will be one of a land of contrasts with many amazing geographical phenomena, wonderful wildlife and sealife (apart from penguins!!) and friendly, cheerful people. Unfortunately the weather did not live up to expectations, but it has still not spoilt many wonderful moments we will store in the memory banks and look back on with pleasure.

We are now waiting for our flight to Los Angeles. Hopefully the States holds more spectacular experiences of one sort or another!!!

Having stayed in Wellington overnight, we headed back up the North Island towards our overnight stop of Wanganui.

On the way we managed to contact more friends who were in NZ - Dave and Phil Beasley of B-Line fame!!! They happened to be travelling to Palmerston North and we arranged to meet up for a drink. They couldn't understand our bad luck with the weather - they had had sunshine most of the way during the last few weeks and whilst we were with them the sun did manage to shine once more!!

It was good to meet up with them and to hear from Phil, who had been in Sydney at the same time as us. Phil was, as usual, trying to stop Dave doing any wheeling and dealing (a thankless task!!!).

We then carried on northwards to Wanganui, passing through a town called Bulls. Here they had entered into the spirit of fun by naming most of their public buildings with "bull" associations!! Hence there was a pharmacy called "Cure-a-bull", a library called "read-a-bull" and even the police station had joined in with "Const-a-bull"!!!! Great fun!!

Wanganui was a lovely town on the river where we witnessed a regatta with several local rowing teams participating. We also enjoyed our first "stonegrill" meal where we were given hot stones and raw meat and cooked our own dinner!!!

As we set off from Wanganui towards Hamilton it was all blue sky and we admired the wonderful scenery and rolling hills as we headed towards the National Park and Mount Ruapehu.

Unfortunately, as has happened so many times in the last few weeks, the clouds and mist came down along with the rain and our chances of a sighting of this still active volcano were blown apart!!!

When we reached Hamilton we had hoped to visit their wonderful gardens but unfortunately the heavens once again opened, so we spent a quiet evening in watching the cricket (again!!).

Today we have made our final journey northwards to Auckland where we will hopefully be taking in the sights for the next couple of days before flying out to Los Angeles on Wednesday (7th).

Having spent a couple of restful days in Christchurch we headed further north to Kaikoura where we had booked a trip to go whale watching, if the weather was okay. We arrived to find that the trip was on, but they were recommending we take seasickness tablets - not a good omen!!!

However, once we were on our way, we discovered the sea was really quite calm and although overcast the visibility was good for whale watching and it wasn't raining!!!

Fortunately the trip was successful as we spotted two giant sperm whales on the surface taking in air, spouting water and then diving gracefully back to the depths, with their customary wave of their tails as they disappeared!!

The whales were named by the local guides as Tiaki and Noodle, two almost permanent residents in the depths off Kaikoura. It was a magnificent sight so close in to the shoreline - made possible because of the massive drop in the ocean bed - from a depth of 200m to 1500m in a very short distance where the whales feed on squid (1000 a day!!!), sharks and anything else in its way!!

With a vast abundance of sealife along the Kaikoura coast with seals, dolphins and all manner of birds (probably including penguins but we didn't see any - again!!!) there were trips for everything, but unfortunately at a cost, so we just drove round to the peninsula and saw most of it for free!!!

Having spent the night in Kaikoura we then took in our final views of the South Island as we headed for Picton and the ferry to Wellington, arriving there to find a huge amount of hussle and bustle as an International Rugby 7's Tournament was taking place, much to the excitement of all Kiwis (they don't seem get out much!!!). The only other entertainment we have seen advertised on our travels has been an Evening with Pam Ayres and a Burt Bacharach Concert!!!

So it was farewell to the South Island with its less than favourable weather but wonderful scenery nonetheless!!

We now head back north from Wellington to Auckland over the next few days.

We set off for Mount Cook not too hopeful as the weather forecast for the West Coast and Southern Alps was not looking good (again!!!).

The nearer we got to Mount Cook, the more our hearts sank as the clouds came down and any glimpse of the sun was overtaken by the rain starting to fall. Undeterred we made the 50k detour to the Mount Cook Reserve at the end of Lake Pukaki. By the time we got there the mountains were well and truly obscured and the temperature had fallen considerably.

We decided to sit it out for a while and went in to the local cafe (where there was a roaring fire!!!) and tucked into a bowl of hot soup!!! The sun tried its best to break through and we eventually got a partial glimpse of about half of the mountain!!!

At this point, Bob lost the plot!!!! I think all this driving round to see potentially beautiful views (according to Bob and Bonnie's photos we had viewed before leaving home) only to be thwarted by the clouds and rain had got to him at last!!! He was a man possessed with a mission to get to the next stopping point as quickly as possible (and the next and the next .....!!!!) and in that day we actually covered 484km!!!! During this time we flashed past Lake Pukaki, Lake Tekapo , various other lakes and the townships of Fairlie and Geraldine, before he eventually ran out of steam in Ashburton!!!

Ashburton proved to be a lovely place and the motel we stayed in was great!!! The owners, seeing we arrived in a somewhat fraught and tired state, immediately rushed to the Expresso Machine and made us a welcome cup of coffee!! As this was on the East Coast, the sun was actually shining brightly, which helped calm the nerves!!!

The next day we woke up to a beautiful clear sky and sunshine and had a more leisurely drive to Akaroa and then on to Christchurch, where we checked in for two nights. We even had enough time for a trip down the River Avon on a punt and a tram ride around the city. The lady who punted us down the river was Hayley and the name of the punt was Grace - a coincidence as Bob used to work with Hayley at ALT and her sister is Grace!!!

Continuing with our attempts at relaxation, and given that amazingly we had a second day of sunshine, we decided to have a day by the coast and travelled a short distance to the suburb of Sumner. Here we were amazed to see thousands of mussels growing on the rocks all along the beach.

We then travelled northwards to New Brighton and had a walk along its pier, watching the surfers in action and admiring the sand art.