The Beautiful Far North of the Coromandel

I'll keep the words brief on this one folks because I reckon Matt's photos don't need much introduction...

Labour weekend can be a mixed affair weather wise but we were determined to chase down the sunshine to get our Kiwi summer started so headed up to the very Far North of the Coromandel of the weekend, to explore an area accessible only by gravel roads and home to some stunning scenery.

The gravel road stretching ahead into the distance

This is the life!

One of the beaches en route to our campsite

Great Barrier Island in the distance

The end of the world (or at least this part of it)

Blue sky, blue sea

Hope you're all still enjoying these!

What a spot to park up!

Carrie in her element

An evening stroll

And a day hike along the coast

I know I wear this t shirt a lot -
but it sums things up pretty well!

He let me take one photo!

More gorgeous scenery!

Just one more...

Suffice to say, we loved this little corner of New Zealand, a blissful few days. And a good 'recovery' weekend to prepare Matt for his first cycle race of November - the K2 (billed as the Southern Hemisphere's toughest one day cycle race). Of course he absolutely nailed it, completing the savage 190km of ridiculous hills in a speedy 6 hours 45 minutes. My marathon wasn't as successful the next day (injury has meant a rather non existent training programme) - but a brilliant two weekends all round and a good warm up for things to come!

The big 3-0!

Oops! Where have the last two months gone? Things have been a little busy over here in Kiwi-land which has left us a little behind on the blog. Official complaints have been received so in the spirit of keeping our fans (my mum!) happy here's the first of a little spring series - our 30th birthdays!

Mine was back in September followed swiftly by Matt's in early October. We'd decided we would surprise each other with weekends away to celebrate the special occasion, starting with mine on a rather windy and bleak Friday afternoon! Matt whisked me up to one of the North Auckland regional parks (Shakespeare) which it just so happens is very near to the ferry to one of Auckland's extra special attractions - Tiri Tiri Matangi Island - a predator free wildlife reserve teeming with native bird life.

Excited to have guessed what is in store for my birthday!

Friday night dinner. No one is coming round,
we just had four bowls between the two of us

Up early on the Saturday and after a rather rocky and wet crossing we landed on the island where we were greeted by a micro climate of sun and blue skies (nothing like the weather on the mainland). Not being bird watching aficionados we didn't really know what to expect but were treated to more birds than you can shake a stick at! And some lovely walking and scenery too.

A lovely plump kereru (wood pigeon)

Not a pukeko it turns out, this is a takahe

A different view of the iconic volcano Rangitoto

Walking off the edge

Ferns

Frond unfurling

A pair of beachcombers just chilling

The very noisy tui

Returning to the campsite and a chance to model my birthday presents, including a lovely new scarf and VERY posh sunglasses from Matt. Bring on the kiwi sunshine!

Just two short weeks later it was my turn to surprise Matt. I had planned a bit of a nostalgia tiki tour, returning to some places we had visited previously and really enjoyed, with an extra special surprise thrown in at the end.

We kicked things off with a visit to the Karangahake Gorge, home to a gold mining complex at the turn of the century and still full of tunnels to explore.

More use for our matching head torches!

Darkness and light

The tunnels are now mainly home to these delightful creepy crawlies - the weta.

Educational hand to illustrate the size of these critters!

Having fully explored the gold mines and fitted in a rather wet hike, we hot footed it to Mount Maunganui where we rewarded ourselves with some lovely craft beers and a meal courtesy of Matt's grandma (birthday treat!). Thanks Grandma Cope, we very much enjoyed!

Yum

Carrie at the bottom of the 'Mount'

The next morning we both headed out for some exercise along the sea front before I navigated us to ... Cambridge of all places. Now this Cambridge isn't exactly like the British version. Let's just say its a small town with... well not much happening. Except the recently built Avanti-dome - a full sized velodrome just waiting for Matt to tear it up!

Matt was super excited, and to add to the surprise of the occasion on arrival in the car park we were greeted by Matt's cycling partner in crime Jody (and Hannah, my spectating partner in crime). Both boys enjoyed an hour's introduction to track cycling including a teensy bit of racing (pretty nerve wracking to watch!)

Starting out on the apron

A bit of leaning

Definitely worthy of a montage!

Back to the campsite and it was time to crack open some drinks and head out for a party night.

The only photo of the night,
I will leave the rest to your imaginations!

Before long it was time for the weekend to end, and a final goodbye to our twenties. Thanks for rounding it off with us Hannah and Jody and to everyone for their lovely messages. What a decade it has been!

Melbender - Part 2

August was pretty amazing - filled with 10 days in Fiji (blogged here), a four day trip to Queenstown skiing with Hannah and Jody and finally a long weekend in Melbourne - Part 1 here, and Part 2 is below! 

It turns out that taking all that holiday in one month means that those rare, and ultimately quite frequent, first days back at work were a bit manic. All completely worth it, but even we were looking forward to having some good desk time for a bit! 

Previously, in our Melbourne Weekender (Melbender), we spent a quick 2 hours going round a wildlife sanctuary. That took us 4 hours. Eventually we left as our hire car needed returning. There's always time to stop in at the Chandon Vineyard (of Moet & Chandon fame) for a quick tasting of their range though... 

Didn't taste like beer. 

The vineyard was set in a beautiful Yarra Valley, not bad for a view with a glass of bubbles, eh?

Sweet as.

Zoom zoom back into the city in Will the hire car (congratulation's to Clare Cope, this week's Guess Why The Car Is Called What It Is winner. Clare (8, from Lincolnshire) noted that the number plate started I AM, and the trendy reference to Will I Am.)

Anyway, Will made double quick time so we headed to the beach for a bit before dropping him off with a minute to spare. I left Sarah paying for the fuel whilst I sped up the road to drop it off, fully topped up.

Spring sunshine

So we started two days in the city. Melbourne is famous for it's melting pot of cultures and it's lovely little laneways, the thin lanes connecting up the main streets. This mix of cultures has created a great collection of restaurants and music filling the laneways.

Enjoying some Aussie bubbles with a good Italian dinner

The food and drink adventure continued in the morning at Melbourne's Victoria Markets, the biggest open air market in the Southern Hemisphere. We stuffed ourselves silly with good bread, fetid cheeses, peppery meats and stuffed vine leaves. Yum.

MINE!

Followed by a trip to the shops (NZ doesn't have GAP, UniQlo, Topman, Topshop or H&M) - some purchases were made. Some Melbourne fashion was too avant garde even for this little trend setter:

Hashtag Dork.

Melbourne's Skyline

And the sun started to set on Melbourne's tramways...

Victoria State, home to Melbourne, is Aussie Rules Football obsessed. The league had just finished, but the knockout stages for the grand final had just begun. We got straight in there on draw day and competed against the rest of the Melbournians to try and get a seat for one of their many local teams.

Catching the city loop to the big game

The game we saw was at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a huge ampitheatre for 100,000 people - absolutely incredible. The game is fast, the scoreline changes frequently,the pitch is full of players and refs, the guys are fast and the hits are pretty big. Sarah also noted their vest tops and short shorts. Well worth catching a game if you ever get the chance. And Aussies know how to spectate - with plenty of beers and meat pies for good measure.

Up in the rafters - but the atmosphere was amazing

The MCG

Waking up on our last day, we headed to the Melbourne Museum - when I visited 10 years ago the old Neighbours set was in the museum on display. A photo of this was my way in to impressing a 19 year old Neighbours loving Sarah. We had to go back...

Melbourne's Museum

Sadly (!) the exhibits had changed in the last 10 years! But the new ones were good...

Why does England have lions on it's crest?

Time for one last tram trip...

Before one last riverside beer...

And maybe one more snag...

Before saying good bye to one of our favourite cities we've visited, and one of the most fun-filled months ever.