New Zealand 10th - 28th July 2009

Haka! The All Blacks, Kiri Te Kanawa
Sam Neill and The Split Enz
Once were Warriors,
Shortland Street!
Famous Kiwis we all know,
The Piano, Jona Lomu and Russell Crowe.
The ambassadors from NZ give face to this sheepish country.
I've always wanted to visit here and of course
there's Marc and Heidi.
The green, the serene, the majestic Southern Alps,
the deers, the sheep, the seals, the penguins
wales and dolphins we never got to see,
the charm, the sunny winter 3weeks.
Didn't see many Maoris,
you could mistake it for England in yesteryear,
if you are not careful to look.
We're not adrenaline junkies either
bungees take a running jump to tranquil and still.
Thrashing seas and mountain peaks,
picturesque falls and mirror lakes.
Sly & the Family Stone is your theme tune, our one CD everyday,
“Yeah yeah yeah yeah yea-eh yea-eh yeah yeah!”

Auckland

From Tahiti to Auckland you loose a day,
though the flight is only 5 hours long,
that was Thursday gone.
We also lost the 35° bliss to the blissfully cold
an encore for our ski jackets encore!
Auckland is our visit to see Heidi, Marc and baby Ellis,
7 weeks old and cute as a button, Ellis is.
Et comme belle et beau sont maman et papa,
la meilleure famille d'Auckland a mon avis surtout la plus gentille
avoir les bandits caromarshapiedautourdekiwi
les chouettes copains merci.
Here is a city of naughty cakes and desserts
like waffles with banana and pomegranate.


A soya cappuccino also not a problem here.
Not gawky the city of Auckland,
pretty groovy as far as it goes,
the sky tower and bridge if you wanna dangle from elastic
we take a ferry to Davenport, views are super fantastic
where we spend a beautiful sunny afternoon on the hill
then on to Mission bay for sunset on the sand
et le soir, to the centre at Corner bar or Deschlers for a drink
C'etait grand. City capitol A.
Sunday we all go out to the beach with black sand
windy roads took us there Led Zep tunes led the way
a windy day out with Marc Heidi Ellis and May
the rain came so we drove to a lovely cafe
for more outstanding cake.

Christchurch

So what's in Christchurch?
So where do we go?
Took the plane to here to start our tour of the south island.
Hired 4 weels 4 2weeks 4 this 2 girl band.
Stay in town for a few days to catch our breath.
The Art Gallery, really impressed me.
The architecture and the art works are fresh easy to digest
We liked it a lot.
So where do we go cause its the 14^th of July,
we need to find la France! Christsearch all the evening long,
till we finally find in a petite quiet alley le petit coix
it's confit de canard to comfort de Caro
the arrogant frog is nul vin, tant pis
thrown in for good measure is trou Normand (green apple sorbet with cognac) for free.
So what's in Christchurch?
So where do we go?
Do whatever you want and stay at Hotel So.

Akaroa

Our first glimps of the beauty of the countryside on the South Island,
is the town of Akaroa.
It's claim to fame being that the French settled here in times past.
No sign of France here now though, safe for in names alone.
Everything closed at 3pm and we got there at 5mins past.
A quiet town, surrounded by mountains and a bay where dolphins swim,
but only before 3pm and we got there at 5mins past.

Hanmer Springs - Mount Lyford – Kaikoura & Oamaru

We sweep through Hanmers' hot Springs 'cause the weather was too freezing
for outdoor bathing and venture to Mount Lyford, a small station to go and ski.
But it was a it too much for us.
Our pink Toyota Vitz, in chains, made it to the top
but dropped straight in a hole.
Had to get a 4x4 to pull us out.
There were barbecuers with sausage skewers,
this mount is no good for new beginners,
or people without 4x4s, you need all your own ski gear to boot.
But beautiful bright sunshine and 1m high of snow,
made Lyford Caro's favorite souvenir.
Then to Kaikoura, no whales but sea lions and seals.
Sea thrashing waves crashing
and at Oahu falls, baby seals splashing,
back flipping in a wonderful forest waterfalls.
The cutest sight, seals playing in the stream 15mins walk from the sea.

Takaka Beach - Farewell Spit - Pupu Springs - Pancake Rocks

Names aside, our journey round the northern tip of South Island
was miles of golden sands.
The Spit was a bit misleading which lead us to a beach.
More seals playing in a pool we spy, crossing over the dunes.
Over to Pupu Springs the cleanest in the world.
The clearest, the calmest waters fresh.
The pebbles are pristine.
Then Pancake Rocks and blow holes rock,
spitting water on your face.
A walk though fern forest
gets you to great views of these crepes.

Glaciers to Queenstown

We drive from Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers.
To be honest, the mints are more impressive.
Yes they are massive but we were not up close and personal. Personally they needed a bit of a dusting
plus we want to go skiing.
First Wanaka and Caro's not convinced,
so off to Queenstown and the Coronet Peak.
Caro's dream to ski is realized,
but the weather conditions were bad.
I was freezing for my first ever lesson
of wedge shapes in moon boots and Michelin man suit.
Then they closed the lift to go up the piste,
which piste Caro off though she was freezing too.
We both enjoyed our 1^st taste of southern alps,
looking forward to take two.
PS: Do the Deer Park near The Remarkables,
where the animals scared the monkey out of me!

Dunedin, Moeraki Boulders & Oamaru

Milford sounds sounded great and we started on our way
but as we past lakes and more sheep,
we fell out of love with this detour and
the southern towns got samey till we got
back into the swing at Dunedin student city,
on to the Moereki boulders like alien eggs on the shore,
a giant marbles game anyone?

And the penguins we were promised appeared in Oamaru.
On a cliff was Heathcliff I named him waddling through the Kate bushes,
not more than 1m from where we were,
was the most handsome yellow eyed penguin saying hi.
We were high as kites with glee.
We saw blue penguins too but they were cooped up
and mating in tiny boxes
not as free on the beach like Heath.

Springfield back to Christchurch

Don't think that was the end of skiing
or the end of Hotel So,
Our faves got a second time around
Porters, near the town of Springfield were we stayed,
was The Simpsons with fish and chips.
A days skiing the big Mama slope for Caro
and the big baby slope for me,
Caro skiing vertical and me horizontally
after my 2nd lesson Caro sees progress and suggests I
go off the flat and I land splat on my rear
after the second turn, sprain my thumb
and call it a day and re recoup and recall all our fun
back at my favorite spot in wwwdotHotelSodotcom

Tahiti - 24th June - 9th July 2009

Depuis toujours j'ai rȇvé de venir à Tahiti. Cette étape était donc bien sur obligé de faire partie de notre tour du monde. Et en bonus, nous venons visiter mes cousins qui ont décidé de changer d'air il y a 25 ans... et on comprend pourquoi.


PS : Black & Blue & Green & Yellow & mellow & dear
Dear Tahiti we love you, we are longing to come back to the
Black & Blue & Green & Yellow & mellow & extremely dear

Papeete

Nous avons été acceuilli ici comme des princesses. Notre chambre surplombant la piscine dans la maison de JJ et Brigite à Pamatai (Prononcer “Pas ma taille”). Ils nous ont emmené partout, nous faisant faire le tour de l'ile, nous emmenant à la plage, aux cascades, au trou du soufleur, traverser les rivieres en Landrover, voir les plages de sable noir, admirer les couchés de soleil magiques, prendre des verres dans des hotels de luxe. Bref notre séjour n'aurait été d'égal sans la gentillesse de nos chers cousins qui ont réussi a nous supporter 15 jours. Spéciale dédicace a Sab et a Mumu qui nous ont fait passé de supers soirées endiablées. Chapeau!

PS : Black sand, black pearls, black is beautiful here, bread fruit is a god fruit, on bountiful Papeete, thousands of mercis to our famille in Tahiti, we felt at home from the first moment. From lunches all together, and soirées to remember, they deal in pearls here.

Jojo le Requin

Cette petite perle d'histoire pour enfant a ete illustre et retravaille par Brigitte. Inspiree par son petit-fils Kahiki, Brigitte vous emmene en voyage dans le lagon ou tous les poissons y sont representes. Ceux qui ont ete faire un tour sous l'eau avec leur masque et tuba n'auront aucun mal a les reconnaitre et surtout auront plaisir a les identifier. Les enfants aimeront a coup sur toutes ces couleurs pastels arc en ciel de la mer, et auront surement envie a leur tour d'essayer de les dessiner. Cette histoire pas si traditionnelle que ca, donne aux parents et aux enfants une lecon de vie moderne. C'est a ne pas rater.

PS : Brigitte Lorillou illustrated this children's book, she dedicated to Kahiki to put a smile, "faire un sourire" on all children's faces.

Moorea

Nous partons passer la journnée à Moorea, direction le ferry pour 30 minutes de traversée. Marsha n'aime définitivement pas la mer qui bouge man... Notre premier point de vue sur le lagon, waow, c'est beau. Visite des terres gorgées de champs d'ananas, ascension de la montagne avec une vue de l'ile imprenable, stop touristique dans un grand Marae, ancien site religieux polynésien, petit crochet chez Jean-Claude, un copain de JJ, qui nous ouvre grand les portes de sa villa et nous offre l'apéro. Puis nous allons manger un espadon à la vanille au “Petit Panier”, resto sur une plage de rȇve, les pieds dans le lagon. Petite sieste digestive sur les transats, à l'ombre des palmiers, avant de faire trampette et d'admirer les “kites surfers” qui s'en donnent à coeur joie en nous faisant le show.

PS : Green is the mountains, 15 km from Papeete, the view from Sabine's balcony, this green silhouette of the isle du "lezard jaune",
pineapples grown here,
makes your mouth watering tingle,
sun sparkles on green palm leaves,
and coconut trees the lush of the mountains,
kite surfers in flights as we lunch
and laze on the beach for a day
to make you green.

Bora Bora

Mélange de couleur, authenticité qui cotoit le luxe des hôtels, ici sur le motu, vous faites face au lagon bleu marine turquoise, indigo roi, pastel azur, pacifique curacao, enfin c'est bien dur d'éssayer de le décrire, puisque mȇme sur les cartes postales, cela n'égal en rien la beauté de cette eau limpide et pure. Mais c'est bizare, il n'y a pas de vagues et pourtant le bruit de l'océan est bien là. Si vous vous faufiller à travers les cocotiers de l'autre côté du motu, c'est ici qu'il se cache et entre vous et le majestueux et puissant océan, un platier de corail, à perte de vu, qui contourne toute l'ile. C'est l'heure d'aller voir se qui se trame dans ce lagon. Armé de palmes masques et tubats de toutes formes, tailles et couleurs, nous faisons notre première exploration sous l'eau, à la découverte des poissons. Ce n'est pas qu'il y en a trop, c'est qu'ils sont partout, et pas farouches pour deux sous, le spectacle est magnifique, vous ne savez pas ou donner les yeux de la tȇte car il y en a tellement, de toutes formes, tailles et couleurs différentes que vous ȇtes obligé d'etre émerveillé. Mȇme le petit requin pointe noir qui est passé au loin, bien effrayé, ne m'a mȇme pas traumatisé. Le chic s'est de se déplacer en bateau, c'est la premiere fois que j'ai l'occasion d'user un peu mon permis, merci JJ, et comme but de notre petite promende lagunesque, nous avons fait du “raies spotting”, très fun. Apérot les pieds dans le sable, couché de soleil de mille feux, c'est vraiment un coin de paradis.

PS: Bora Bora gives you the blues,
the aqua marines the true,
the agua is so clear
as you share under water space
with manta rays and parrot fish,
and schools and schools of dainty fish.
You wish you were in paradise,
and you are.
Coucou a Laurence et Marou,
locals friends we met
on this honey moon isle,
I'll never forget Caro's smile
as she rode the boat on the blues.