Hello Hong Kong!

We decided as we had very little time in Hong Kong that we'd take an organised tour of the highlights! ... somehow I ended up on not one, but two boats! ... the first being like this ...
(the second one was the famous star ferry)






... the notice on board said maximum passengers 9 .... there were 18 of us on the boat ... and not a life jacket to be seen!







We sailed past the world famous floating restaurant, but unfortunately didn't get to eat there!.... we ended up in a restaurant called 'Manchester United'! .... and it was floor to ceiling football themed ....very odd, just when we fancied some nice dim sum and chickens feet! ... ( I AM joking about wanting to eat chicken feet! - but it was on the menu!)

We braved the MTR system and did a little window shopping!... Hong Kong style!

The Metro was so clean I was amazed, the trains were SO full and rather fast.... it was a case of hang on!.... and TIGHT!! ... I managed to get a little pole dancing in too!

The jewellery for sale is amazing! - though I'm perplexed as to why someone would want to wear a huge pig suckling piglets around their neck!?! ... but whoever did want it would need an awful lot of HK$ ... (with 11 HK$ to the pound this necklace was more than £12,ooo!!! ouch!)...



.... I bought a little bit of something for myself .... I couldn't resist all that gold!, so a new ring and a necklace too!

Hāere ra Aotearoa (Farewell New Zealand in Māori)

Sad to leave but sure we will return ... you never know eh!

some other places along the way I forgot to mention!

hang on I'm working on that bit!

and so the adventure continues....

coming soon!

Meeting up with new friends and old!

I finally got to meet up with Kathryn! (4Goodness cake to flickr pals!), we had a quick coffee and a good old chatter before we continued our journey through Auckland. I promised Kathryn that I wouldn't post a dreadful picture - of the few we snapped this is about the best! - the better photographer by far is Kathryn, and Nige is hardly David Bailey!



... nor is the waiter that took this photograph for us! (cutting off our feet so that he got the pub name in the picture!)
We met back up with Mike when we returned to Howick for our last night at the Cottage, we had 7 years worth of catching up to do so had a beer or two and an lovely meal at Balsalt in Howick.

Say CHEESE!

I was fascinated by Mike's meal! .... ... not least because I was sitting next to him and was concerned that I'd either go home stinking of fish (no rude comments please!) or that I'd be splattered by the cooking! .... that cooking stone was darn hot believe me! .... My salmon was a little underdone so at least it meant I could rectify it myself!

back to auckland

coming soon!

Revisit Kawakawa

Kawakawa - mind the crossing!!!

I suppose its an alternative to roofing felt on a shed!....

... follow the yellow brick road ....

.... back for a toilet stop at the Hundertwassser toilets!

... in better weather!

our accomodation so far....

coming soon!

Gotta love this caravan!

Apparently decorated by Tresile Cooper (or at least in her style), to raise awareness and funds toward a breast cancer charity here in NZ - we saw the caravan on the local news and as we passed by a camping site I saw the caravan parked up and had to yell 'STOP!'... so that I could photograph it! .... I have to say I didn't have a clue who Trelise Cooper is but she appears to be an NZ version of Cath Kidston!

I just loved the interior! - very Cath Kidston and so pretty! - the darn thing was so small Nige couldn't actually stand up straight in it without banging his head!.

We left a dollar or two for the good cause and enjoyed our unexpected toilet stop!