New Zealand – 4th Nov 2008 - Day 12

Rain greeted us this morning. All the Americans had left the previous day. Leaving just the two of us. We ate breakfast with Robin, our host discussing our planned NZ itinerary. Robin has travelled extensively over NZ, so her comments were well worth it.

We had begun to suspect that 8 weeks in NZ, would be too long, especially as the good weather does not really arrive until January. Robin’s comments and suggestions confirmed our thoughts. After much replanning we decided to change our flight from Christchurch to Sydney so we could go to Hamilton Island. This island has good snorkeling and warmer weather as well as a host of other activities.

We phoned Qantas Airlines and much to our surprise, they agreed to bring our flight forward at no extra charge. We phoned Hamilton Island and they confirmed they could accommodate us for six nights.

However, when we phoned Qantas back to book the Sydney – Hamilton flights, the price had doubled. We searched the web and found a far cheaper alternative. So, after an hour of phoning we were booked in and all flights were changed. Now we return to Sydney on the 7th of December, fly to Hamilton Island for six nights, return to Sydney on the 14th of December, allowing us 6 nights in and around Sydney before flying back to the UK on the 20th of December.

Robin allowed us to use her phone card, which resulted in all the calls to Australia and the airlines costing next to nothing. We plan to get one of these phone cards as they allow us to phone both the UK and NZ at approx 2 pence a minute.

We said our goodbyes, jumped in the car and headed for our next destination, Taupo, via Rotorua. We are staying at Brackenhurst B&B 16km North of Taupo.

The weather was not great with rain and cloud. As in many other places we have visited this year, the early summer weather in NZ is very cold and cloudy!!! Many parts of the North Island look like England, so it’s really like driving through England on a cold, rainy day, a bit disappointing to say the least.

We visited a volvanic visitor park on the way, as we plan to walk there tomorrow, weather permitting. After a cup of tea/coffee, we drove to our next B&B, where we met our hosts, Ray and Barbara. Very hospitable people indeed. Within a few minutes of arriving, we had a glass of Wine and Beer in our hands and were chatting away.

We settled into our room and were about to make our evening meals when half the lights went out. Ray and Barbara’s freezer’s had also gone off. An electrician was called and within half an hour everything was back on. We watched a Harry Potter movie and went to bed, listening to the heavy rain hitting the tin roof. We don’t like tin roof’s.