A midweek bank holiday

Unlike the UK, NZ has a couple of bank holidays that are not "Mondayised". That is they are observed on the actual date rather than moving to the nearest Monday.

Today was ANZAC Day. The NZ and Australian equivalent of Rememberance Day. It honours the fallen at a World War II battle at Gallipoli.

Miraculously we were both off. So the day started out with a walk from our house around a newly upgraded track in our local Tawatawa Reserve.

The 3.5km walk took us up to the Te Rauparaha monument, high above Owhiro Bay.

As you can see, it was a glorious day, if a little windy. But it wouldn't be Wellington without wind ;-)

We followed this up with brunch at our friends' house after we'd worked up an appetite. And then there was a doggy play date for Maddy with some more friends and their new dog.

A relaxing day before we're back to work tomorrow. It's odd having a midweek bank holiday!

(Last year, ANZAC clashed with Easter Monday so we didn't have a separate holiday for it)

South Island Road Trip

As our friends Annie and Dave were visiting, Annalie decided to take a well-deserved break between jobs to go on a tiki tour with them. After spending a day showing them around Wellington wearing its best glad rags, we set off on the Interislander ferry for some South Island magic.

First stop on the way down was our favourite stopping point, The Store. This little restaurant was recommended to us on our first ever visit 2.5 years ago, and it still is a great stopping point. But Annie and Dave demanded wildlife, and as the East Coast of the South Island is well known for it, we duly found some at Ohau Springs.

This is a spot famous for baby seals as they shelter from the Pacific swell upstream, while mum fishes out in the ocean, regularly visiting the stream to nurse her young. There were probably around 50 young seal cubs hidden around the 10 minute walk, which finished in a majestic waterfall.

We then trooped on to Kaikoura stopping to view yet more seals, of the fully grown variety! This dude was hanging out solo on a rock and happily posing for photos.

The next day, Annie and Dave did what all respecting visitors to Kaikoura do, and went on a whale watch cruise. They weren't disappointed, with six sightings plus a pod of hundreds of dolphins to accompany the journey.

We managed to grab some lunch and, seeing as Kaikoura literally means "eat crayfish" it would have been rude not to sample some. We found a great value place that was recommended by Lonely Planet. It was literally a shack by the roadside but it meant for a lovely view and great value seafood.

The afternoon was then spent cruising around the Kaikoura hills on quad bikes. Seeing the East Coast from a very different perspective!

From there we headed to Nelson as an overnight stop on our way to Golden Bay. On the way through, we decided to stop for some dinner in Havelock, the mussel capital of NZ, where we had to sample some of the local fare. This trip was quickly developing into a seafood tour of the country!

As Annie and Dave are from Stoke, we thought it would be a great idea for a lunchtime visit to the Stoke brewery for some beer sampling! Thankfully (for Annie and Annalie!), Dave wasn't feeling great, so Annalie duly handed over the car keys and took one for the team in the tasting department!

Onwards we went, over the windy Takaka Hill, with a planned stop at Anatoki Salmon. Here you can fish for Salmon for free, under the proviso that you eat what you catch - no releasing here. So you have to be carefully co-ordinated or you could end up with a haul but an empty wallet!

Dave and I managed to catch three between us and we got Anatoki to fillet them and smoke them for us. We chose plain, asian spiced and lemon pepper, which were delicious. What was that about a seafood tour again?!

The following day we went out to Farewell Spit, which is the largest sand dune in the world! It's at the very Northern tip of the South Island. It made for some stunning photos of lots of sand!

Our wonderful - if eccentric - B&B owners had advised us to travel a little further around the peninsula to reach Wharariki Beach. They showed us the best route to take and also advised us of low tide, as this is the only time the beach is accessible.

We took a little longer than planned to get there, thanks to a missing sign, but we finally reached the beach to be welcomed by the magnificent sight of Catherdral Rocks. We'd been warned it was a landmark, but weren't quite prepared for just how stunning!

The next day we headed back to the Abel Tasman National Park. Ian and Annalie had visited in not such great weather in October. However this time was a treat. We grabbed a voucher from Grab One to get a half-price cruise along the coastline and the weather played ball!

Then it was back to Nelson to meet up with friends of Annalie's sister again (who we met in November) for dinner, drinks and a catch up. Then it was a day of brunching at Lambrettas - our favourite cafe from our last visit to Nelson - and cruising back to Blenheim for some wine tasting. Well. It would be rude not to ;-)

So if none of this makes you want to come to NZ, I'm not sure what would! Apart from the earthquake in Welly that we missed by about 10 minutes as we were still on the ferry!

Neither Home, nor Away

This is something for the British contingent!

As we're staying in the Northern Beaches area of Sydney, our friend, Leo, thought it would be rude not to take a drive up to some of the other beaches further up the coast.

The last beach may be recognised by some of you Brits as it is the home to a very popular Australian soap that ha its heyday back in the 80s and 90s.

The fictional location is Summer Bay, better known as Palm Beach locally. And in reality, it is the weekend playground of Sydney's rich and, well, rich!

But it is, of course, the outdoor filming location for Home and Away. It's about 40 mins north of Manly and fronts to the Pacific Ocean. Like many of the beaches along this coastline, it is a popular surf spot. Although there wasn't much surf to be had today.

Whilst up there, Leo took us for some yummy fish and chips with a view. And also with a rather splendid way to arrive (or depart)!

Sydney by night

Just thought you might enjoy these...

When in Rome...

Out doing our first bit of exploring around Sydney, we have been told to have a look around the historic The Rocks district.

As our visit coincided with lunchtime, we decided to partake in a recommendation that our friend, Leo had given us. So we had a Kangaroo Pizza!

To be honest, it tasted a lot like steak! But pizza is always good. It wasn't until after that we spotted the saltwater crocodile one on the menu!

Hello Sydney! Nice to meet you

Well it's taken us nearly 18 months, but we've finally "hopped the ditch" to visit our pals on the other side of the Tasman Sea.

We've come to Sydney as we know a number of people here so free accommodation is easy to find!

And just getting to our accommodation involved a 30 minute ferry ride which have us a preview of some of the sights we can look forward to.

A sample of Wellywood

As some of you know, Wellington is home to Weta, the fascinating company that was set up to help film director, Peter Jackson, achieve greatness.

It's specialists have brought movies like Lord of the Rings, Avatar and Tin Tin to life. And The Hobbit is currently in production locally (Stephen Fry is a regular visitor at the moment).

This weekend they had one of their sculptors publicly creating a one-off piece that he'd dreamed up in the middle of the Weta Cave museum. In keeping with some of the semi-mythological creatures created in the Weta workshops, when we visited, the sculptor was part way through building a robot fighting a centaur.

He was working from a "sketch" - a miniature version of the final work. Comparing the two models, it was apparent that he'd taken some artistic licence to change the statue as he went.

The robot's right arm had been changed from a strangulation hold to a more animated, extended position.

The artist explained a very technical reason for this change, relating to how your eye is drawn by the shape of the sculpture, and his desire to create a spiral flow around the two figures.

But, in closing he added: "I also had to find some way of getting the teddy bear in there..."