Hot, hot, hot by Dean

So i thought i would give Megan and Emma a night off from the blogging. You might not be surprised to learn that it is not always so easy to get them to do it. This is especially the case when Australia's Got Talent is on the gogglebox or Emma's particular favourite...Australia Border Force. New Zealand telly is pants! One of the quirks that we have enjoyed in Australia and New Zealand, isthe lack of imagination when it comes to naming animals, bays, mountains, plants etc etc. It is a bit like Catchphrase ....say what you see. So many things are named so literally; like the lizard that has a very blue tongue, yes the Blue Tongued Lizard. I could go on and on and on. Anyway back to the blog. Today we went to a beach that legend has it, has 60 degree c water running underneath it. Guess what....it is called Hot Water Beach. You have to get there one hour either side of low tide, and our luck was out as today that was 9.30am and we are a two hour drive away. So we dutifully got up at 6am to be on the road half an hour later. Our motel supplied us with spades that an Irish navvy would be proud of. When we got there, we saw a few other people digging in a spot so we headed down beside them. It took us two attempts, but we quickly found the hot water. It was actually scolding in places. We dug out a nice little bath, and had a lovely relaxing lay down.

It really was quite surreal. The girls got too hot very quickly, so went off to build a cooler one for themselves.

We stayed for about three hours, by which time Katy and I were too hot to stand it anymore. So then we went to Hahei Beach, which was nice. We hung around for a bit, had some lunch and then after a nice walk to the rocks I got bored as usual.

So we we then went to Cathedral Cove, which was a hour or so walk.

Once again, as per usual in New Zealand, it was view after view after view.

It was a lovely little spot, and if you know the Narnia films well then recognise the arch. That's another film we will have to see on our return.

After that we have come back to our motel. I am now sat on our terrace enjoying this view.

You won't hear from me on this blog again (the girls will blog from HK) so I would like to say a few words....ahem. Like Australia and all the countries in Asia that we have gone to, New Zealand has done us proud with great weather on our last day. Tomorrow we drive to Auckland to get ready for our early flight to Hong Kong the following day. New Zealand is the most spectacular place, and just like Australia has very friendly people. It's been wonderful to visit it, and we feel blessed. I am pretty sure Katy and I will be back one day. Speaking of Katy....what a fatastic wife I have. She has planned it all to perfection, and we just would not have gotten half as much out of the trip if it had not been for her meticulous research and preparation. I keep telling her there is a business in there somewhere, but she won't listen to me. Thanks Katy for working so hard on this, we owe you a lot. Thanks to our kids too who have made it even more enjoyable, watching them making the most of it. I have a memory etched into my brain of the girls diving down to stroke a turtle on the Great Barrier Reef that will be with me until I pop my clogs. They have been so well behaved (well occaisionally they have needed the odd quiet word) and been up for adventure so much that they have put me to shame. I hope they remember it.... So Katy and I leave New Zealand soon with heavy hearts that our adventure is nearly over. Megan and Emma on the other hand are desparate to see their granparents on both sides of the border. I fear for my Dad when he meets us at Manchester; I think he will get winded. Would i do it again....absolutely.....I will treasure our family memories forever, and promise to bore you all to death when we get back. Worrying about the pension etc can wait a bit.... Until we do it again.....