Auckland again and Christmas Number 2!

Back in Auckland, Kate & I did some Christmas shopping and had lunch at the Viaduct. That night we went to see Casino Royale at the cinema which was a good film. We helped Huw get ready for our second Christmas, which was at his daughter Ruth (& husband Chris)'s place. We also made another Yule Log!

On Christmas morning, we picked up Kate's boyfriend Rod from the airport at 5am! Rod bought Christmas presents from home so Kate & I sat and opened them. Huw gave us both lottery tickets but neither of us won!!

By mid morning, we were off to Ruth & Chris's and had a really enjoyable day (despite that fact that it was warm!) The men tried to show their macho sides and put up the new climbing frame for Reagan (Ruth & Chris's son). You couldn't get Reagan off it!

Missed having Christmas at home, in the cold, but could get used to having a hot Christmas!

Bay of Islands - Paihia, Cape Reinga & 90 Mile Beach

We did a 4 day trip with Stray to the Bay of Islands before Christmas. We stopped off at the Parry Kauri Park in Warkworth to see 200 year old Kauri trees. We did a 'hunga' to the tree (rubbed our noses against it) for good luck! We then went to the Native Bird Recovery Centre in Whangarei and saw a talking Tui called Woof Woof and got to stroke a Kiwi called Sparky. We also got to stroke a small baby Blue Penguin. We headed up the coast to see Hundertwasser's Kawakawa Toilets which were very funky! That evening we arrived in Paihia and got chatting to some of our fellow travellers - Jules, Louise & Bridgit - over a pint or two!

The next day we took a trip up to Cape Reinga, stopping along the way at some of the smaller towns. The weather today had decided to be very British and it was blowing a gale! We walked to the lighthouse at the end of the Cape and nearly got blown into the sea! We headed to a nearby beah for lunch and Kate, Jules, Louise & Bridgit decided to go and stand in the sea (I wasn't that mad!!!)

Next we headed to the Te Poki stream for some sandboarding. As it was raining quite a lot (and I'd already sand boarded in Peru), I decided to pass and take photos of people instead. They looked very funny when the arrived at the bottom of the hill covered head to toe in sand!

We then took a drive down the 90 mile beach (that isn't actually 90 miles long!) and drove over sand dunes. On the way home, we stopped for fish & chips in Mangunga.

The next day we (me, Kate, Jules & Louise) took a trip on the R Tucker Thompson, a pirate ship! We sailed out through the Bay of Islands and used the sails to drive us. Kate & I climbed out to the front of the ship. We stopped for lunch and went onto one of the islands for a little walk. Back on board the ship, we saw Bridgit (who was on a catamaran). She told us that her boat was better than ours - that was until we got out our little cannon and fired at her ship! Her face was a picture!! On the way back the boat broke down and we had to take the small spped boat to the harbour (it was amusing trying to clamber up when the dock was meant for a larger ship!)

We spent an afternoon at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, where the treaty was signed between the British and the many Maori tribes. We watched a documentary and took a guided tour around the place which was fascintating.

That afternoon, we took the Stray bus to Whangarei and then Graham (Kate's dad's cousin) took us to Whananaki North where he & Jo were camping for Christmas. Their tents were basically on the beach! The next day we took a short walk around the area and went to a deserted beach where I made a sandcastle (very surreal considering that it was the 22nd December!) That night we took the Stray bus back to Auckland.

Auckland - the City of Sails & Christmas Number 1!

We spent a couple of weeks in Auckland staying with my dad's cousin Huw (we needed to spend some time relaxing after the hectic schedule we had in South America).

We caught up with Susan, Martin, Karen & Kayto from our trip in Peru and had dinner in Occidental, a Belgian bar, before heading to the Viaduct and to one of the many pubs there!

We got on the Auckland Explorer bus and did a tour of the city. We went up to Bastion Point and got some great views of the city. We walked along the bay and saw why Auckland is called the City of Sails - there are so many sailing boats here! The road here is lined with Pohutakawa trees - the NZ Christmas tree. They have bright red flowers which are in bloom over Christmas.

We headed up to the Cathedral and saw the smaller St Mary's Church, which they had moved from the other side of the road (on rollers!) We then went to the museum. That night we met up with Kate's dad's cousin Graham and his wife Jo and went for dinner with them.

The next day we did the Coast to Coast walk - a 16km walk across the width of the city. We walked through Auckland Domain (a massive park), up Mount Eden and One Tree Hill and finally to Manukau harbour.

We also went to Rangitoto Island, which lies in the harbour. We climbed to the crater (it is an extinct volcano) and took the coastal track back. The views of the city were great.

At the weekend, we had an early Christmas celebration as Huw's son Gareth and his girlfriend Denise were leaving for the states. Kate and I had made (or rather decorated!) a yule log and put up the Christmas tree and decorations. There were about 10 of us for dinner and it was strange celebrating Christmas when the sky is blue and there is no need for jumpers!!!

Santiago

We had a busy couple of days as we stopped in Santiago on the way to New Zealand. Due to the delay in stopping en route at Sao Paolo, we arrived late in the evening so got a taxi to the hostel. We told the driver our Spanish joke about the duck and the bar (thanks Jimmy!!) and ended up getting a Spanish lesson from the driver to assist us. Althougth I don't think I'll have much use for 'traffic lights' or 'motorway' whilst walking around the city!!!

We did a mini tour of the city on our first day including Palacio de la Moneda, with its two courtyards - Plaza de la Constitution and Plaza de la Liberatad, Cerro Santa Lucia (formally a giant dirt mould until they made it into a lookout point of the city), the main square (Plaza de Armas), the Cathedral, Mercado Central (a giant fish market) and to Pio Nono to see the statue of the Virgin Mary on the top of the hill.

The next day we did a vineyards tour - they took us to see Vina Aquitania and Vina Undurraga. We were taken around the fields and shown how they make their wine. We also got to taste some as well (the best part of the day!)

The final day we flew to Auckland and lost the 8th December due to crossing the date line!

Rio de Janeiro

We arrived in Rio and went straight up to Sugar Loaf Mountain. We took the cable car to the very top, sat down with our beers and watched the sun set over the Big JC and Copacabana beach. It was a great sight!

The next morning, Kate & I went off to Ipanema Beach where someone had made a giant Santa statue from sand. It was very surreal! We alsowent to the Hippie Market which was a massive craft sale. We then did a tour of the Favela's - Rocinha & vila Canoas, which was fasciating to see. We met some of the locals who had done art work and made jewellry. We also saw a local school where children go until their parents are home - its an initiative to try and prevent the kids roaming the streets and getting caught up in the drug industry.
That afternoon, we caught the bus and went to the Big JC. We took the little train up the hillside and then walked around taking tonnes of photos of the views of Rio, as well as of the Big JC. We caught the little train back and headed into the city for dinner.

The next day we spent the morning shopping before flying out to Santiago. The flight was the most interesting that I've been on - we had to stop in Sao Paolo but when we got there, there was a massive storm overhead and we couldn't land. As we were running out of fuel, we flew back to Rio. After re-fuelling, we flew back to Sao Paolo, landed and then carried onto Santiago!!! The map on the plane showed us circling Sao Paolo several times!