New addition to the travelling duo.......Meet Vinnie

Hey lovely people!

Meet Vinnie, (yes, I am one of those people who names cars), our new home after Christmas for the next 4 months. She's not quite your deluxe camper van or even your basic camper van, but the seats go back into a kinda bed with some lumps and bumps! We've decided to travel around the Islands in the New Year using Vinnie, a tent and some camping stoves......should be interesting. Does mean that while we are staying in Plimmerton we can go of for the day/weekend for an adventure. There are already a lot of dents and scratches on the car which is all good for me as I'm sure I will be adding to them. I'm too scared to park it yet as it feels like I'm driving a truck!

The last week has been a very good one. Feeling better by the day and my body is starting to feel like my own again! No Sarah, I actually listened to what you said and stayed off the Yoga for the time being! We have been doing some lovely coastal walks and thanks to Angie discovered a gorgeous walk, The Taga-Papu Track which takes you up the hills backing Plimmerton (crazy amount of steps, my lungs were not happy when we reached the top), through dense woodland, which looks tropical, and over more hills and through farm land. After the steps a well deserved rest on the bench, It's so peaceful and calming. I do have the theme tune from Weeds a lot while being here. The little boxes on the hillside are not the same though. All the houses are made out of wood and really random, none the same and all different shapes and sizes. I did meet a few friends on the walk, one who took a bit of dodgy liking to certain parts of my body!! It kinda looks like I'm enjoying it-Wrong!
Another coastal walk to Pukerua Bay on the west coast, was really cool. Lou B Lou, you would have loved it. A cove packed with drift wood, from the smallest smoothed down pieces to huge tree trunks. It was such an amazing sight but something about it was a little eerie, not sure why, maybe the amount of drift wood compared to the size of the beach? We have also managed to have a little sail, well not really us sailing, someone else did all the hard work while Angie and I sat there. John from the previous hostel has a tiny wooden sail boat that takes no one than 4 people. Really grateful it was so small and we didn't have to do anything, I would be crap at the sailing thing. The one task I was given I couldn't do and John had to take over. We spent 3 hours in the Cook Strait (the sea in the above photo) sailing round the coast lines and close to Mana Island which was home to Maori and European settlers. A brief stop of at the beach opposite Plimmerton, where Kupa, one of the first Maori navigators arrived and his wife. The Maori name for New Zealand, Aotearoa came from his wife.... enough now, sounding like a teacher!! John freaked me out when telling us a story about an encounter his friend had with a shark some time ago in the same waters and in the November!!



Hope this is not too boring, please let me know if it is and maybe I will take some video footage and put in on the blog!! How exciting that would be for you all!!
Had an amazing day in Wellingtom yesterday, spent most of the day in the Museum of NZ, Te Papa. I really do like Wellington, the city itself seems to have so much character and randomness, it's not been 'cleansed' if that makes sense. The business and shop areas are all mixed in and spread out. There's lots of independent shops, cafes, theatres and plenty more that I have not seen yet. Te Papa itself was amazing, it's
View from the boat

huge. We managed in 6 hours to do 1 floor of 6!! As a museum it really is outstanding. The different mediums used are brilliant. We got as far as the Awesome forces exploring earthquakes, the fault lines etc... Our space was cool, 2 rides that take you underwater and one that shows you the cool sights of NZ. It's a simulator kinda of thing, I have to admit that Angie and I screamed at the bungee jump part, it was really scary! There was a crazy wall where you can design your own pictures from downloading images from their collection and take images/videos of yourself to put on the projector wall, hours of entertainment-especially me videoing giving Angie a wet willy!! (not as bad as it sounds!). There is so much to see, I'm sure we will need another 5 visits, there is loads on Maori history and the social side of NZ. The museum starts with the natural landscapes, animals plants etc and works it's way up to the people and social history. I will keep you informed.

As you can see we are doing very well and loving Aotearoa. I hope you are all well and life is treating you all kindly. Sending much love and hugs. xxxxxxxxxxxx