After nearly a week in NZ I now understand why people say it's a lot
like Scotland. It's very beautiful with lots of lush green hills, the
people are friendly and it rains all the bloody time. Really it's
supposed to be summer here. You'd think they could turn it off for a
day or two. Thankfully there's no ozone layer here so when the clouds
move you get fried instantly by the sun.
The Kiwi accent has to
be heard to be believed. I knew all the jokes about "fush and chups"
but really it's more like the English policeman in Allo Allo trying to
speak French and getting all his vowels mixed up to hilarious effect. G
and I nearly lost it on the ferry when the announcement came that
"pissingers with pits and vehicles should go to dicks 4 and 5".
We
had a nice time in Auckland, although we didn't get a chance to meet up
with Big R. We didn't have a lot of time in the north island unfortunately
and had to hurry around it. But I still got to see a fair bit in the
short time we had. We'll have a lot more time to explore the south
island which I'm told is even more beautiful.
Christmas is going to be spent in Kaiteriteri, which is on the north coast of the south
island right on the Abel Tasman national park. We're staying at a
Christian campsite. Of course we didn't realise this until we had
booked in, although you could say it's a miracle (no pun) that they let
us in. I had rejected an earlier campsite that made a stable look attractive and
we rolled up to this one with the windows down and, lets just say, less
than appropriate music playing. But we've been made very welcome
despite lack of donkey and pregnancy. Gman is on best behaviour. Christmas Day should be
interesting. Especially after a few sips of the old duty free....
Thanks for all the lovely Christmas messages. I won't email you individually, I'll just wish a very merry one to all of you and yours. I miss all of you very, very much. xxxxx
