Travel

[PockWhite]

Terrific report about NZ above from Mr R.
Enjoyed reading it, sounds like you had a great time!

[dlw10]

Off to York on Monday for a couple of days, love the city. Dinner at The Ivy on the first night but basically just pottering about might go to the Railway Museum on Tuesday.

Enjoy mate, you know my thoughts on York, fortunately for us, it’s just down the road.

I enjoyed the railway museum, but we went in the holidays and they were doing little trips on Thomas The Tank Engine

Did you meet the Fat Controller?

Funnily enough, I’m sat with Dave in the Pavilion now. He’s not fat though.

Naye lad, I'm not THAT fat .... and I'm not that old..... and both my shoulders are fully functioning.... me feet are fine ......and I don't look like a walking advert for a polka dot vest! Seriously though, hope you are on the mend BB. Of course we all know the real reason we won on Saturday and we know what has to happen every week from now on.... John has to wear those lucky Leeds United coloured underpants every week! Your turn to check he's got em on v Wolves BB LOL!

[Mr Russell]

Terrific report about NZ above from Mr R.
Enjoyed reading it, sounds like you had a great time!

Thanks PW, yes it was a memorable trip in a fantastic country

[birkybullufc]

Great read Mr. R.
Loved the detail in the report. I struggle to remember what I did yesterday. :Do
Checked out the Panhead Brewery. Tasty beers.

[Mr Russell]

Great read Mr. R.
Loved the detail in the report. I struggle to remember what I did yesterday. :Do
Checked out the Panhead Brewery. Tasty beers.

Cheers
hope your enjoying your trip to NZ, where are you heading next or are you staying in Auckland?

Panhead have lots of awards for their beers and although i have only had a couple of theirs when i was there as i wanted to try some of smaller breweries, they are worth checking out and their Supercharger APA was voted number one in the NZ GABS awards for 2018.

[birkybullufc]

I'm heading home now. Waiting for my flight from Auckland now. Started and finished in Auckland.
I hired a car for 2 weeks. Drove down to Waitamo Caves to see the glowing maggots.
On down to New Plymouth after. Amazing to see how beautiful the scenery is on the way down side how it changes.
The next day I climbed Mount Taranaki. 2500m. The views were amazing. Clear blue skies meant you could see right across to Mount Ruapehu, over 200km away.
Drove down to Wellington after. Spent the night there. Sampled the ales in Goldings Bar and a stone baked pizzas from the restaurant next door. It was a Friday night and it was buzzing.
Saturday I got the ferry across to Picton. The Malborough Sounds are breathtaking.
On to Nelson, where I stayed overnight. A nice beach town. The rains came overnight and weren't relenting so drove on down to Franz Josef glacier. The rain was torrential and made for some interesting driving. Fortunately I got through before some of the roads were closed. Hiked around the Glacier on different trails for a couple of days. Was beautiful even though still a bit overcast. Kept the trails quiet though and the helicopters grounded.
Drove down to Wanaka then taking in the lakes and waterfalls on the way, then up to Aoraki /Mount Cook. Walked the Hooker Valley trail. It was beautiful but was so busy with tourists, it made me feel anxious so drove on to Lake Taupo and stayed there overnight. Sky was clear that night so the stars were out in abundance.
On to Christchurch then. Nice little city and interesting to see the rebuilding still going on after the 2008 quake.
Kaikoura beach the next day and on upto Blenheim before getting the ferry back to Wellington the next day.
From Wellington it was on upto National Park and more trails. The Alpine crossing and a couple of others.
Up to Rotorua and a well earned soak in Kerosene Creek (Hot water river that smells of fuel). Definitely soothed the aching muscles.
The following morning it was the Te Urewera trail to Te Rata Bay where the water was hot from springs under the sand where the streams flowed into Lake Tarawera. Also saw a wallaby in the wild for the first time. Apparently they introduced them to the area around 100 years ago for hunting.
The next day it was on to Raglan and Te Kopua beach. The wind and surf were really getting up with the after effects of Cyclone Gita. Thought about learning to surf. Maybe another time.
Stayed overnight near Hamilton before driving back to Auckland taking in some of the beach towns from Mangawhai on down. Dropped the car off the next day and planned on slowing down then but must have walked over 20km each of the days I was in Auckland, taing in the beach towns and islands. Waiheke Island was beautiful.

[Mr Russell]

Sounds like you had a blast in NZ as well Birky, glad you also got to see the sights that the country has to offer, love the glowing maggots reference made me have chuckle.

i would have loved to have done my trip via the car as a cruise does not give you enough time to see the sights as you are on a timetable.

Have a great flight back to the UK

[PockWhite]

Another great report, by Mr Birky above, of what sounds like a great trip to NZ.
Safe journey back to these shivering shores Mr B.

[Selby White]

Thanks Mr R and Birky for the reports, enjoyed reading them.

[Selby White]

Spent last weekend in London (Thurs to Mon).

Friday :- We visited the Olympic Park, had a short walk around but mainly at the Copper Box watching the World Team Cup in Table Tennis. Was Lucky to see the last group matches (4 ladies & 4 mens) and first up England Ladies went out in the group stage to Singapore 3-1. Wasn't surprising as they only qualified as host nation and were lowest ranked.
England men faired better beating African champions Egypt 3-1 to reach the last eight.
Later that evening they managed to reach the semis beating Brazil 3-1 but every match could have gone either way.
Some of the other matches went to the wire we were sat close to France versus South Korea which was excellent.

Not there Saturday to see England go out 3-0 to World Champions China, no surprise there.

Saturday - We spent the day walking through East London along the Thames path from Woolwich to Greenwich, passing such things as the Thames Flood Barrier, the Dome and Cutty Sark. Nice day but was getting a bit cold by the end of it.

Sunday - Jumped on the train to Tring for lunch with Mrs SW's son and his wife. He is opening a restaurant there and we got a bit of a tour, its currently resembling a building site but doesn't open until end March.
Returned back into London late afternoon and visited the West end.

Plenty of Food & Wine each evening made for a good weekend away.

Train home Monday just beating the bad weather and all the cancellations.