Time flies when you're having fun! (Now with photos)

Doesn't it just. I can't believe 3 weeks have passed and I haven't updated the blog. Appologies to all concerned but its been a little hectic here.

Following on from our car purchase we decided (on the Saturday) to nurse our bruised bodies by driving (rather than walking) around the countryside looking for Lord of the Rings filming locations. Needless to say Hollywood makes places look fabulous on the big screen but they are somewhat difficult to recognise in reality. We travelled from place to place occasionally recognising the odd rock or tree but very little else.

This is 'Rivendale' apparently

Whilst in the beautiful park land we decided to go over this rope bridge, as you can guess Wendy wasn't to happy about it!

After travelling most of the day we found ourselves over the Rimutaki mountains to the East of Wellington. The roads were deserted and Wendy decided she wanted to have a go in the new car, as it's an automatic and she'd never driven one before. It's also substantially bigger than the mini, so now was a good time to practice. As you can see the only other thing on the roads are live-stock.

We drove around Lake Wairarapa and it started to rain. Soon we were on our way back over the mountains and then the weather closed in. You can see the approaching storm in the above photo. Now as many of you will know Wendy is a little affraid of heights, so driving a big unfamiliar car on a very narrow twisty mountain road, in a gale with sideways rain and zero visibility wasn't the best idea. We slowly made it back to the motel to be told that around an hour later the weather was so bad they closed the road to all traffic. Apparently during winter this is a regular occurrance and people often have to spend the night in Featherstone.
The rest of the night was a wash out with gale force winds and heavy rain so we stayed in, watched some tv then went to bed.

Sunday morning we decided to have a lazy day around the appartment as the weather was so awful, we didn't even bother opening the curtains until 11am.

The sight we were met with was a beautiful spring day (high summer to us!), almost no clouds in the sky, and a gently breeze.

We quickly got a few things together and headed straight out for Wellington and its surrounding beaches and coves.

We headed for Miramar and stopped for an ice-cream at Scorching Bay, and were amazed that on a cracking Sunday afternoon with the weather so nice we were able to park the car easily, and for free, and there were so few people about.

Its a real change to Exmouth seafront that's for sure.

After ice-creams we carried on round to Lyall Bay next to the runway for Wellington airport. This is the main surfing bay and was again surprisingly quiet. Its an ideal spot for learning to surf as it has a great mix of waves for all abilities. You can also wave at the aircraft as they take off and land!

We finished off driving up Happy Vally Road and onto Wadestown, the district we hoped to be living in shortly. We had to finish the day early as Wendy started work the following morning and had to get back and dig out her work suits and iron some shirts.