A dream come true - dolphin encounter.

I can't believe it is already December - time is going so fast for our last 6 months here in Aotearoa- and there is so much still to pack in!

On Rhian's birthday - 7th Nov - we hopped on a plane across the ditch to Brisbane for a week (yes I hear you say 'Not another holiday!!'). We stayed with old friends from Singapore days - the Betts family. super to see them all and catch up with many years of news. We landed in an amazing Thunder storm and at first were not allowed off the plane into the airport because of the lightning strikes!

 

Friends here in NZ had told us about this amazing island resort on Morton Island just off Brisbane where wild dolphins can be fed from the beach at the Tangalooma resort.Shona has had a dream of seeing dolphins like this since she was a student and heard about Monkey Mia in Northern Australia - so off we went.

The resort is big and attracts a lot of Asian tour groups, but the whole experience was very well managed and a real highlight of our 2 years down here.

Tangalooma Dolphins

 These two are Echo and Nari, who are older male dolphins, on Echo in the foreground you can see where he has been attached by an orca! Echo has a really interesting story, which you can read on the link above if you want. You can also see how very gentle the dolphins are where even small children can hold out a small fish and they gently take the fish without touching the child's hand.

We had 10 dolphins came in to visit when we were there including Tinkerbell who brought her baby in to meet the people - she was about a foot long and has only been been seen the week we arrived - soooo special.

The island is the 3rd largest sand island in the world after Fraser and Stradbrook islands nearby. The sea, sand and palm trees were beautiful and all within distant sight of downtown Brisbane!

  Here are a few idyllic beach shots - it was lovely!

 As you can see Aussies like to drive their cars on beaches where there are no roads - there were even speed limit signs on the sand!

It was not just the dolphins that were friendly at the resort - the Kokoburras, pelicans and herons were also showing off!

 

 After leaving the island our good friend Janine then lent us a car and we went off up the Sunshine coast staying in Noosa beach. It is a lovely rather upmarket place with nice walks out on to the headland. It must get very busy during school holidays though!

 We stayed in a lovely motel just near the beach with this lovely view of the river.

 Views from the headland walk - we saw Black Cockatoos while we were walking.

We also visited Rainbow Beach, a bit further north -where again you have to watch out for cars on the beach! and there a colourful range of sand cliffs.

 

 

 We also enjoyed staying in a traditional 'Queenslander' timber house. The lady who runs the backpackers is a real character with a very precious puppy dog! - it even had a nappy on as apparently it was scared of walking down stairs to go out!!

 See the nappy??

 Malcolm again very relaxed reading the paper on the balcony on sunday morning!

 

On the way back we stopped for a lovely walk at the Glasshouse Mountains and had gorgeous sharing plate lunch at a café/microbrewery called Wild Rocket in Montville - kanagaroo bruchetta, emu spring rolls and crocodile fish cakes!- all superb and washed down by the local ale!

 

We finished our week staying with Janine and having a day on the gold coast - quite a different character to the sunshine coast and a lovely day in Brisbane.

 The coffee culture is just as strong in Oz as it is in NZ - thank goodness.

 A lovely break and a dream come true.

 

 

It's official - ABs are the best in the world!

Gosh what a nation obsessed! - And what an exciting time for us to be here, the whole country is still celebrating a week on from the final.

Not only did the food change colour (our first BBQ of the season included black rolls - edible charcoal I was assures!) but the Air New Zealand livery changed too!

At Prendos an All Black morning tea was provided on the Friday before the match - for everyone wearing black!

We watched the final live at 5am in the Esplanade Hotel bar which was packed - the atmosphere was more tense than in previous matches, and the audience a bit different as the Auckland marathon was starting from just outside the hotel at 6.10am for the marathon runners and 7.10am for the half marathon runners, so many were in the bar to watch.

Outside where the runners were assembling before dawn a huge screen showed the match too. It was so tense that the organisers found it hard to get the runners to start the race as they all wanted to see that last few minutes of the game! we went out to see the final cup ceremony on the big screen.

Yesterday the heros returned and went straight to a welcome at Victoria Park, where thousands gathered and many schools lined the route despite the rain!

These players been so professional, they have been away from their families for months and must have been so tired after the flight but still gave their fans all their time. The stories of inviting their opposition teams into their dressing room after the matches and Sunny Bill Williams and Milner-Scudder's kindness and generosity are just some examples of how decent these chaps are.

We were both proud to wear black! But roll on the 6 nations and we will be back to Red and Navy!!

Darling Devonport

Walking around this pretty little 'village' I feel as if it comes straight from a Mapp and Lucia book!
I thought it would be fun to show you round some of the interesting places, splendid buildings and colourful gardens.

The houses here are all wooden villas, built mainly from the original Kauri trees which grew here. The main reason that Auckland became important after Captain Cooks visit was to collect Kauri trees which were used as tall straight masts for the naval vessels of the time.

 A typical street

 There are many beaches all round the thin peninsula. on the East side they are sand on the West it is mud and mangroves.

Devonport is on the end of a peninsula of land across from the CBD, it was originally called Flagstaff as this was where flag signals were put up to let Auckland know that a ship was coming into the harbour.

The area has 2 extinct volcano hills - Mt Victoria & North Head, Auckland itself is built on 50 volcanoes - the most recent addition is Rangitoto Island just off Devonport!

 This is North Head and Chelsea beach from the Officers Mess at Narrow Neck Beach

The main street is down a hill from the quirky cinema/theatre to the ferry terminal opposite the Esplanade Hotel where we have watched several very early World Cup Rugby matches in the packed bar over coffee.

 This is looking up the hill from the ferry terminal behind me towards the Cinema at the top.

 There are many bars, coffee shops and restaurants - very like Knutsford!

Some buildings are definitely in need of some tlc! this is a boat house near the marina where we went sailing last weekend.

 

The flowers and gardens are gorgeous at the moment and there is lots of wild jasmine in the hedgerows, which adds a wonderful scent to our local walks. Shona has started walking once a week with our landlady Am who is from Thailand and her friend Margaret from Singapore, the latest one included coffee and donuts at Little and Friday - the 'best' coffee shop and bakery ever!

 lavender and fushias

 This is a bottle brush tree!

We are so lucky to have landed here!