Te puke, or not te puke...

Priorities

Life out of a car boot

So here's to the high life! We've got an old Mazda to pootle around in, and we're topping and tailing in a 3 man tent. We're trying hard to convince ourselves that we wouldn't rather be in an all-mod-cons camper van, but the reality is that even if we'd booked one months ago, it would still have been too expensive for all 4 of us. Met a couple today who've found it cheaper to buy a camper outright and sell it on at the end of their trip, than to rent it over summer. The weather's been great here so far (all 4 days of it), t-shirt warm with low humidity and gentle breezes. Fingers crossed it continues...

Kiwi Christmas Tree

After a week in Sydney we wanted a change from cities, so headed straight out of Auckland. Currently on the Coromandel Peninsula in the North Island, which has stunning ocean side drives past scenery that reminds me of Ireland - an abundance of green, in every shade and shape. Our first night camping was in a basic site in the middle of National Park forest, where we skinny-dipped in the river for our morning wash. We're following the coast for a day or two (beautiful beaches and sweeping views from mountain passes), before heading inland on our way south.
We've seen lots of the tree in the pic above here, it's known as the Kiwi Christmas Tree because it only blossoms in December. The bright red flowers might not show up too well above, but they stand out against the green hillsides here and look very festive.

Michael Jackson up ahead?

We're heading off to New Zealand today. We wanted to hire a campervan but prices have shot up as it's peak summer season there now. So we've booked a car and will pick up a couple of cheap tents instead (hopefully). Sydney was great, and having never been interested in Australia before (we only stopped here because we had to change flights anyway), I'd now like to see more of the country. Is it too early to be planning our next trip?
Here's hoping for good Kiwi weather...

Wishing you...

Told you the wind would change...

Trying on latex masks in the Rock market.

A good day today, we rode the open topped tour bus around Sydney, hopping on and off at various points. We've oggled the Opera house, mooched around the market, and chowed-down in Chinatown. Finished the day with carols sung in front of a giant neon Christmas tree in Darling Harbour, which felt surreal not only because we were sitting in T-shirts but because of the flying-fox bats circling the tree overhead.
Sydney still feels very relaxed, especially as this is the peak shopping/party time. If only Oxford St in London was this quiet 3 Saturdays before Christmas.
Annie succinctly summed up Sydney's mix of modern and quaint architecture, chilled vibe and nautical flavour by describing it as "like Bristol, but with sunshine".