We have stopped for a week at an house sit just outside of Christchurch. Yesterday we did a trip out to Akaroa. This is supposed to be a French influenced town. We arrived right on lunchtime and were surprised to find everything open. So much for being a French town.
This is one of the training walks o and I undertook while house sitting in Kerikeri. Not only was it a training exercise for walking but also an exercise for mapping the route, recording way points and setting up a procedure for uploading this blog with the tracks and photos taken on the walk.
Hopefully all will work out OK while we are in France, if not I will end up with a lot of posts with blank maps.
We are currently house sitting i Kerikeri, not our Buddy house, this is looking after 2 cats.
As the weather is fine and we are supposed to be in training for our walk in France, which is niw only a month away, we decided to go visit a waterfall.
As we started off I set my phone to track us. I have just downloaded a new app as trackmytrip had stopped working.
Off we went with our loaded backpacks, well this is s training walk. The house is just over 500 mtrs from the main road a pleasant road walk to stsrt off. Then there is the 2 km of msin road. Although not as busy as roads in the UK there is a constant flow of traffic. Having walked into town there is another km of road walking before we find the track. (Good job I had looked it up before leaving).
That is one thing missing in most towns good signage for walkers.
The start of the track is along a grassed area, with a stream on one side of us and a walled off housing development on the other. Just after the stream does a u-turn and we round the corner, a track leads off down the hill and into the bush. After about 20 mins. walking we finally get to the waterfall.
As we haven’t walked far enough yet we decide to carry on walking to the old stone house. So we meandered through the bush alongside the river.
Until we reached our destination. Well our halfway point really as we had to turn round and walk back.
After a quick stop and a sandwich we were on our way again, retracing our steps back to Kerikeri.
We are house sitting in Keri Keri again and although this is  only a short walk for us, after Buddy has chased after his ball up and down the beach several times, he ends up walking over 3 times as far as us.
This walk is a pleaseant stroll over the rocks to a beach and then onto more rocks and the headland to the north of the bay.
Keeping up with the fitness theme it was off to the gym this morning and a walk in the afternoon.
Our walk today was up the river, away from the city, and towards the Hamilton gardens. This is a nic easy walk with the prospect of a coffee at the cafe. As we approached the gardens all seemed to be quiet with very few cars to be seen. We were however mistaken and the grounds were busy with families everywhere. A look over towards the cafe enforced the thought that coffee was not going to be on my menu today.
So it was a quick walk around the lake, stopping to watch the fish and turtles, before heading back home.
Well Christmas is over and done with for another year and after being merry and jolly it’s time to suffer the consequnces.
We are both up at the crack of dawn, well 7.55, but that’s close enough and out for a walk to get some steps in before breakfast.
Then after breakfat it’s off to find a coffee. Where else but along the river cycle path to Bryce and Jean’s.
Then it’s back to our house sit for lunch.
For some time now I have thought seagulls were not too intelligent. The ones I remember from when I lived in the UK seemed to be large and thuggish. More brawn than brains. I had no way to prove this until today.
Sat looking out across Opito Bay in the north of the North Island of New Zealand I was finally proved correct in my thoughts.
The owner of the house we are house sitting at the moment has put out some sweet water for the Tui’s to drink. Now these birds also look a bit scatty. When they fly they seem to have no direction and flutter randomly across the sky. But the know a free lunch when they see one. After taking a drink of nectar from the flowers in the garden they top up with a nice sweet drink.
After them the common sparrow shows that he too also recognises a good opportunity to refuel. Having seen the Tui have his top up Mr & Mrs Sparrow also descend on to the drinking bowl and take their fill.
All this time a seagull has been watching from the roof top above. He swoops down gracefully hovering over the balustrade and finally lands both feet in the feeding bowl. He takes a look around to see what the others had been up to. He fails to see the free drink available, so flies off still thirsty and with sticky feet.
We are house sitting in Keri Keri again and although this is  only a short walk for us, after Buddy has chased after his ball up and down the beach several times, he ends up walking over 3 times as far as us.
This walk is a pleaseant stroll over the rocks to a beach and then onto more rocks and the headland to the south east of the bay.
I emerge from my slumber.
Mike, can you hear that.
No I’m asleeep.
Mike, wake up, there’s someone upstairs. Now fully half awake I listen for some strange sound but I can’t hear anything. Jo gets up and takes a listen from the adjoining room.
We’re currently house sitting in the middle of nowhere and Jo thinks we have a burgular, surely the dog we are sitting would have something to say if someone was breaking in. Maybe not, his owners did say he was frightened of bangs and bumps.
Jo returns. There’s definitely someone moving upstairs, go take a look. But put some clothes on first.
I slowly get out of bed, put on my shorts and make my way up the first flight of stairs. The dog emerges from his bed tail wagging. If there is someone about he doesn’t seem that bothered. I continued up the stairs to the lounge door.
At last I can hear something. There are a couple of bumps and a noise similar to a winch motor. It must be from someone outside on the boat ramp. But we didn’t leave the patio doors open so how come the sound is so clear.
I go to open the door. Jo’s nervous voice behind me tells me to stop and not to go in. I slowly open the fly door, then slightly open the lounge door. The dog plods in. I open the door further an can see a flashing light. I reach in and turn on the light, the dog has sneeked onto his bean bag. Is he hiding from the intruder.
I slowly enter the room and take a quick scan round, the patio doors are still closed, so the winch theory is wrong. I quietly step through the doorway and there on the carpet is the culprit. The terrifying burglar that has come to murder us in our beds. He is rotund and fearless, going about the living room as if he owned it, the robot hoover was going about his nightly duty of cleaning up the floor after us.
After the long hot and humid days in Hamilton the weather final broke and the rain started falling just as we were about to leave for our latest house sit in Kerikeri.
The house we are due to stay at is situated opposite the beach at Opito Bay in the Bay of Islands. Hopefully the weather will improve by the time we get there.
We decide to leave Hamilton at 10:00 a.m. and as per usual without much planning we had managed to get packed and loaded the car just in time to be able to pull away on the stoke of 10:00. I’m not sure how we manage it but no matter how long we leave to pack and get organised we always seem to fill the time to the last minute.
On the way we had to stop off quickly on the outskirts of Auckland as we had to drop off a camera lens we had just sold. Even with this stop we made good progress and with another stop for a leg stretch and coffee we still made it to Kerikeri by 4:00 p.m.
Gary and Roes are both very nice and provided us with dinner. Buddy there dog is cute and will keep us occupied while we are here.