New Zealand, Sydney and Wodonga

I left you pondering the mystery of the international date line. Well, two things happened. Firstly, we lost a day. Just like that. One day it was March 17th and the next day it was March 19th. Spooky. That was just about manageable until about a day later when we realised we hadn't actually reached 180 degrees from UK. So, sad sacks that we are, we sat watching the screen as the longitude seconds ticked by (I was ready to sing "Auld Lang Syne but was dissuaded...). As luck would have it, the screen flicked to something else at the crucial moment, so the best I have to show is this, seconds away from confusion. One second heading west, the next second, east.

Next stop was Auckland and what a lovely place that is. It was clean, bright and friendly - very refreshing - and we had a great trip to a winery and a brewery. Even managed to see a bit of an air show going on nearby. We had a bit of trouble finding somewhere to eat, even in the early evening. It seemed as if everyone was out on the streets. We were docked right in the middle of town again so here we are at night.

Next day, we arrived a little bit round the coast at Bay of Islands, famous because it is where the Waitangi treaty was signed between the Maoris and the Brits, giving the Brits sovereignty of their lands in return for recognition of their lands and rights. Needless to say, the Brits reneged although the Maori we met seemed strong and aware of preserving their culture and language. We had a tour of the lovely park and gardens in the treaty grounds then were treated to a show of singing and dancing by the local tribe, Ngapuhi.

Mike tried to get a pic of me with one of the scary young warriors but as you can see, he just looks a bit stunned. It's the Gaga effect......

We loved New Zealand and will definitely go back.

On to Sydney and the end of the cruise. Joy unbounded, we are free at last. We had an open-top bus trip round the city and saw places we hadn't seen before and other places from other angles.

It seemed amazingly busy after 3+ weeks at sea and it is just such a vibrant place. We went to the amazing Powerhouse museum where we saw everything fron the nose cone of the space shuttle to an iron lung. It was very interactive, even for us big kids. I risked life and limb in a zero gravity simulator but still don't know which way is up!

Bringing you all whizz-bang up to date, we arrived in Wodonga yesterday for our Oz tour. Mags was there to meet us though Bill had gone to the Melbourne Grand Prix. We heard it over the mobile........ Brrrrrrrm

We had a great day today - we went to the Hume Dam, which has lost 30% of its water

then on to some small local towns, Yacandanda and Beechworth. The buildings date from the late 19th century when there was a gold rush there.

In Beechworth, we saw the jail cell where Ned Kelly and his mum were held - men on the left, ladies in the right. Mags and I tried them for size but opted for the wide open spaces....

We also sent a real telegram to our two favourite little people, Ellis & Caitlin - you'll get it in the post at some stage!

We then visited a cheese tasting place - followed, of course, by a wine tasting place so guess what we are eating and drinking tonight!

Mags has just come back from walking Haggis & Neeps (the dogs) so I'll leave you now, mes petits chums. A bientot........