Waitomo

Our journey to stop number 2 didn't go as smooth as we hoped, we had a 7.30am start ( no one likes to see that!) and broke down 4 times and eventually had to roll to a garage to get the coach fixed....

....it was a slow morning/afternoon.

But eventually we arrived at waitomo ready to do our cave activities.

 

Our second stop in the bus was waitomo, made famous by the waitomo caves, there are over 400! However public are only allowed in a few, there were many activities offered here but they came at a lot of money :( luckily we had no interest in doing the expensive ones! Climbing tiny caves in the dark for 200 bucks.....each!.....not our cup of tea! We opted for the 2 hour walk through one which was just as interesting! If not a bit chilly inside! It was great to see the inside of the cave and learn all about it and learn all about the glow worms,

After our trip we went back to the hostel to settle in, we had a private double room which was defo slumming it, but it was comfy :) we were staying two nights here. The group were staying 1. 

We spent our second day chilling out in the sun, and putting together the rest of this New Zealand trip, booking accomodation etc and taking in the stunning views that surrounded us....

.....it was a really nice couple of days for us, just to chill and check out what we were doing for the next couple of days :) we enjoyed it :) whilst we were here we enjoyed a lovely pizza from the hostel it was absolutely huge and we also ordered wedges thinking it would be a small portion and it wasn't it was huge! It was safe to say we were well fed that night! We also made our own meal one night :) to save the penny's :) 

All in all we really enjoyed waitomo and the relaxing atmosphere that surrounded us :)

Kiwi experience - first stop hot water beach !

So today's the day that we start our tour of New Zealand with kiwi experience, we were pretty excited to see New Zealand, we were off to a bit of a s**t start with some serious problems to our bus pass :( it was not what we expected it to be and not as easy to hop on hop off as we had been told, Infact I believe we were pretty much misold it from our company in England, we were unaware of the wide variety of company's that do these sort of tours here in kiwi land and wish we had picked another one :( we had all sorts of probs but the main one being that even tho we had planned our trip very well and had given kiwi experience plenty of notice to get onthe buses we wanted (they say 24hours notice is fine, we were giving at least a week) we were told that one our buses was to full to take us and that we would be on standby ! We had booked all of our hostels so this was causing us a lot of stress :( and the kiwi customer rep on the phone said to me "I don't know what you want me to say" ! Amongst other things, she was so rude, when I called back she apologised to me! Dam right! Anyway we soldiered on and just did what we could. We boarded our big green bus and got on our way....

......the journey to hot water beach was good, Luke's backwards was still playing him up, so we stopped at a pharmacy to get him some pills, and were told that we cold have codeine and paracetamol which is great I knew that would help him! But in actual fact they only sell tablets with half dose codeine in! Which isn't a lot compared to what we are used to! But he does t take pills often so they helped him :) we stocked up on food to cook along the way and set off again

We arrived at our accomodation "top ten accomodation, hot water beach" it was a lovely holiday park :) we were pleased as we had four nights here 

, we had got,ourselves an executive cabin, it was really cute and very different.....

.....we chucked our stuff in the cabin then joined the group for a hike to. Cathedral cove! The guide said it was a 45 minute walk but I don't think I was personally prepared for it! It was defo a easy 45 minute hike up and down some serious hills, half way around I was seriously considering going back! But it was worth it in the end the view and beach was amazing......

 

 

 

 

.....just stunning :)

We headed back to the our cabin and decided to cook ourselves some tortellini and chill out in our cabin watching films! As we had our own tv which was a privilege ! 

The next few days were spent chilling out by the beach, digging holes in the sand to get hot water! The water was absolutely boiling! It would literally burn you, luckily the sea was absolutely freezing so you can just add hot water from that to your little pool! ......

 

 

 

......it was great fun :)

We spent the rest of our time here chilling catching some rays and having some much needed giggles..... Not to mention the best fish and chips and vegi burgers ever from the small cafe at the holiday park :)

 

 

 

 

 

We also met the most cuddly dog....George :) a old black lab, that had been well looked after and was pretty fat! He just waddled around the holiday park getting cuddles and food from customers! He loved it! When you went to stroke him he rolled onto his belly wanting more .....sooooo cute :) ..

......gorgeous :)

Unfortunately Shortly after arriving to hot water beach I had some bad news.....my nanny had sadly passed away, we knew she was ill, and knew it would happen but still a shock and horrible thing to here when you are so far from the family, spending a few days by the ocean was good for me, it was my Nan's favorite place the seaside and it allowed me time to think about her :) I felt terrible that I couldn't be there for my mum, and that we were all in different parts of the world, they were currently in Florida with my sis and fam, so it was quite hard for all of us and the rest of the fam in the uk, I knew that my nan would not be there when we got back but I still couldn't understand she was gone, and that we all would not see her again, my mum had been updating her on our trip and showing her pics which was nice, luckily I have Luke here to help me through this difficult time, I love my nan and can't believe she is gone, but never forgotten, forever in my heart, I love you nan xxxxxxx

New Zealand ! - Auckland :)

So after settling in in our hostel and checking out the facilities we decided a nap was the only options as we could not keep our eyes open! They say sleeping is so bad for jet lag but when your so tired you just don't care! We ended up sleeping for 6 hours! We got up (dragged ourselves up!) and went out to find ourselves some dinner we walked up and down ponsonby road and decided on a small bar, we ordered far to much food ! And couldn't eat it all, and then went back and tried to sleep but could not sleep until 3 am :( defo should not have had that 6 hour nap!

We woke at around 10am and decided that we would go find breakfast/lunch as by this time it was 12 midday! We found a lovely bakery on the ponsonby road got a sandwich and cakey and the set off for a walk into the city :) it was around a 25minutes walk, and just entering into town there was a Denny's !   A fave of mine from USA! We. Would defo be eating there! We decided to go up the sky tower today, it was a lovely sunny day and the views would be great :) and they were.......

 

.....we then got to stand over a glass platform which was pretty scary it was a long way down! 

The rest of the afternoon was spent wondering around town, tea in the park and then dinner in Denny's :) a good day :) ....

We decided the next day we would wander further into ponsonby to find a postoffice to send some card etc we had to send, and came across a lovely little selection of ships and this small town had a love feel to it I defo could imagine myself living here :) we got the bus down to the town to find a hire car company, we went in few different ones got a few quotes! And as always went back to the first one! Like everyone does! We got this old Nissan sunny automatic! Luke wasn't to impressed he like quality and new things! But as it happens it was a good little car and we quite enjoyed having it, Luke got the hang of driving it and driving it around auckland! 

We spent two days driving around going to various volcanos, view points, a shopping outlet and over to devonport a couple of times, we had some fun. We also spent some time driving around checking out the scenary! 

Mount Eden...

 

......our bat Mobil ! This is what I renamed the car!

One tree hill.....

 

 The car that I thought was ours that I filmed and took lots of pics of! Which we could not stop laughing about ! What a blonde! 

We spent bonfire evening at devonport island over looking the city's skyline, as we were told there would be fireworks from the sky tower, we got takeaway dominos which was super cheap ! And sat in the car to watch them, the only trouble was there was a big storm over us and it was chucking it Down, so we didn't see many fireworks :( we saw a. Few but none from the sky tower :( we stayed for a while then decided to go back for the night. The second time we went to devonport was an afternoon it was sunny on the way over so we got good views from the Auckland bridge :) but then on the way to where we were going it started to rain again :( we got to the lookout points we were at at bonfire night but the rain was so bad that you could barely see the skyline, we retreated into a New Zealand navy museum which was actually really interesting :) then we had a run to the car because it was chucking it down :( after having fun in the car we had to take it back and get the bus back to the hostel! 

 

 

 

......we really enjoyed auckland it was so different to the other cities we had been in, not busy, everyone is laid back :) just what we needed after the rush of asia, lovely and calm and right up our street :)

The longest journey.......koh samui to New Zealand

We knew we had a loooong journey ahead of us to New Zealand, it didn't start to well with our taxi from koh samui arriving half hour late! But once we were at the airport we were settled :) upon arriving to samui airport we were pleasantly surprised!.......

.......it was liked no other airport we had ever seen! It was outside with all the shops either side of this tiny road which was just used for airport Buggies :) it was so pretty. We boarded our tiny plane with propellers and hoped for the best.......

......we arrived safely to bangkok and went to our overnight hotel......

 

 .....which was really nice, it had a lovely pool and the bedroom was a little odd but still very comfy.

......we arrived to bangkok airport checked in ensured seats together and went on through to departures to see this "amazing" airport that a lot of people have said was great and we were disspointed it was stupidly big and you couldn't find anything, it was made of just glass so it was like a huge green house with no air con ! And there was no proper restaurants they were all fast food, and it was just not very organised, we were a bit disspointed :( but continued our journey to singapore.

We had to catch a connecting flight from singapore to auckland and it was the first time we had ever done this so was a little nervous about it, we only had two hours to change flights and singapore was a big airport! We arrived didn't have to pick up our luggage as this was going to be taken to the next flight for us ! So we got off the flight and had no idea where we were going and nothing was sign posted so this caused a little stress! Eventually we worked it out! We had to get the sky train to another terminal and then walk for 25 minutes to our gate, we were so hungry and had only half an hour by this time, we walked to the airport desk that was way past the food court as we thought we may might have to do some sort of check in but we didn't have to so we just walked around 25 mins to the desk and it wasn't needed so we walked back to the food court! And grabbed a quick Burger King! Something I havnt had for years! Obviously I didn't eat the meat! We then went to our gate just in time as everyone was boarding!

The flight was good, no turbulence, a nice big plane it was fine :) I watched 3-4 films and couldn't sleep, Luke slept a little still suffering with his back :( I wasn't sleepy until about 30 mins before we landed when I kept falling asleep :( then I was super tired, it was such a loooong flight 10 hours :(

Anyway we landed and we hoped and prayed our bags had made it! You hear such stories about bags going missing on connecting flights! But by the time we got through all the security our bags had done 2-3 laps of the conveyer belt ! We were pleased :) we went to arrivals, attempted to get money put of a ATM but none of them would take any of our cards :( but my friend Charlene had given us some currency for each country as a pressie so we had $10 ! Which we could buy water with! She was a life saver :) we were so dehydrated and tired we just wanted to get to the hostel and sleep! We quickly found our shuttle, struggled to stay awake the whole journey we really wanted to look at the scenary but It was so hard!....we finally arrived at our hostel......

......"ponsonby backpackers" it was lovely, on a nice street, with all amenities close.....perfect.....our adventure in New Zealand begins :)

Missing boo and poppins :( aka chester and Millie !

So we have come up to the end of our tour in Asia and are having a last FaceTime session with our niece and nephew (and sister!) we are not sure what the wifi is like in kiwi land so don't know if we can FaceTime, I am missing them terribly as is Luke :( it's so weird because you would never think that an auntie or uncle would miss there niece and nephew like this but I have Such a strong bond with both of them it's really hard :( I have been around so much since they were both born as has Luke and we just adore them :)) we used to love having chester over to stay it was such fun :) it was such a laugh! Luke loved it! And having Millie for the day :) this particular day when we facetimed i found it a bit emotional, chester was super hyper as he always is when we FaceTime he literally bounces off the walls! But he was a little naughty and had to go to his room so my sister told him to say goodbye, and he stood up stood by the door all innocent! And said "bye I love you" in the cutest little voice! It bought tears to my eyes :,( it was like saying goodbye at the airport all over again :( I struggled after that call to not start sobbing! There just such a huge part of our lives and not being around to see them grow for a year is going to be harder then I thought! At least we have the internet and FaceTime and my sis sends me pics and keeps me updated :) so I may just about cope! Love you chester and Millie :)

Koh samui - a birthday treat for Luke :)

Our time in Phuket was coming to an end we were a little sad but couldn't wait to get to our villa in koh samui with our own hot tub :) we arrived at the airport and were called for boarding......we walked towards this tiny plane with propellers not big wings with engines......propellers ! To say Luke wasn't impressed was an understatement ! He didn't particularly like flying at the best of times! It was so small the plane there was around 45 people on it and just two rows of two seats with a tiny isle ! It was the smallest plane I had ever been on! But the flight was ok thank god!

We arrived at this tiny airport in koh samui found our transfer and got on our way, it was a lovely drive lots of lovely scenary. We arrived at the villas at around 2.45 we thought the room would be ready as check in is at 1pm but unfortunately we didn't get to our room until 4pm :( slightly annoying but anyway.....I also noticed that we had been overcharged for our transfer which I confronted the staff about and they tried to give he an excuse but in no way did it make sense! So it got refunded, we were given a wifi code for our room for free as I had join us to the centara club. We arrived to the room.....first impressions it was lovely.....

......we had this gorgeous bath tub with lovely shower over it, we were pleased :) but unfortunately we had many many problems when we arrived to many to name but in the end we had to get the manager we were so unhappy about it, we had payed a lot of money to stay here for a special occasion, and were just unhappy, the manager heave us free dinner and a massage each, but it wasn't about the free stuff it was about getting it right in the first place! Anyway it didn't spoil our holiday but it just wasn't what we expected from a 4 star hotel, one night we had no hot water at all, none in the hot tub or anything, 11 o'clock at night later they said it was a big job and did we want to change rooms! That late at night I didn't think so they had already offered us another room the first day and it was terrible! Anyway after a while we felt we just couldn't complain anymore so we just enjoyed our time there.

The first couple of days we rented another bike....

 

....,,we rode around the whole island In about 2.5 hours it was really fun, we stopped for lunch at a lovely part of the island called fishermens village and had the nicest tuna baguette :) we then continued to the rest of the island stopping to take pics, it wasn't like Phuket where there were lovely beaches everywhere there weren't many beaches that weren't privately owned By hotels but we knew we had a lovely beach waiting for us at our hotel so we weren't bothered!

Our hotel gad dome lovely sea views and it was so peaceful we had a fab time there (except when the good old Asian rain storms randomly came over in about 2 seconds with no warning! )....

 

 

We saw a couple of the sights on the bike.... The mummified monk.....

 

....which was a little weird!

The rude rocks of koh samui.....I can't actually remember what they are called!....

 

We met lots of lovely dogs, very placid and down to earth especially the hotel dog! ...

 She was super cute. And is actually sitting next to me as I write this :) she loved all the guests and used to follow everyone at night that took a stroll on the beach :)

Our hot tub in our villa (after the hot water was sorted out ) was lovely and we spent a few evenings in there with so e drinks just enjoying doing nothing.....

 

 

.....even in the rain!

We spent Luke's birthday here and we had a lovely day I arranged a romantic breakfast on our terrace and a morning full of spa treatments :) then we spent the afternoon by the pool drinking cocktails, followed by an evening meal at The hotel :) it was a lovely day like enjoyed himself.......

 

......we also had lots of laughs with the underwater camera in the pool......

 

 

 It was such fun :)))

All in all we enjoyed our stay in koh samui :) this is just a snippet of our time here, we really enjoyed settling in one place fora. While instead of moving around all the time, the food was great, the scenary was amazing and we enjoyed spending time together in a relaxed environment. We enjoyed many many cocktails :) and of cors the weather :)) I will leave you with some pics of the beauty that is koh samui :) .......