Sunday 20th Jan 2008

You are not going to believe what I did today!! Andy, take note! I kayaked and not just in some little pond...but in the real Pacific ocean and on my own.. well with a little help from our friends....and we have the photos to prove it. Tom did it too but that doesn't count cos he's done it before, although not in the Pacific. Not only that but we were up and on the beach ready to go by 8.00am on a Sunday morning. (Palm Beach, which is the bay shown on the previous entry.) And we were in the company of a famous (at least in New Zealand ) author, Tony Ward, who also signed one of his books for us (look out for Whacker McCracker's cafe). It was a fantastic experience even if I did end up under the water when I came in to land!!

After a quick shower and breakfast we hit the road and did even more touring of Waiheke which is a wonderful island. We ended up at Stony Batter which is a wartime underground fortification being reconstructed as was; at present you go in with torches as there is no power. It is on land owned by someone who has developed the area as a winemaking concern. You can only drive so far onto the property and do the last mile on foot to the site.

Then on with some more sightseeing with a stop off at Passage Rock Winery for a quick tasting but no lunch as they were full. We ended up once more at Onetangi at Charlie Farley's cafe for food. People here are so friendly, you strike up conversations everywhere and often find some common ground.

On our way round, there were so many WOW moments as the scenery is just incredible - one spectacular view after another. The cameras have been on overdrive and we'll never remember half the places we have seen just today.

To those of you who are following our progress on Google Earth, you probably get a better overview than we do as the roads are so full of twists and turns, you never know what direction you're heading - especially as the sun is the wrong side of you!!

Anyway, after the senses have been overcome with sights - this was all by 3.00pm - we came home for a siesta ( a term they don't use over here) and although we had planned to go out to a jam session in one of the local pubs, we were all so tired we stayed in, had a curry and watch 2 films on TV!!

Tom's sorting out the photos as I write this so it's now over to him to fit them in the right place.
Speak to you all tomorrow.