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Well, I’m back….
… you guys and gals have two weeks without me from tomorrow….I’m off on my New Zealand holiday tomorrow evening, with the wife and kids of course…getting a bit worried now tho, this morning it was -2 deg c at our accommodation… I thinks I’m going to be a bit cold. Here’s me without thermal underwear 😳 …..
I’ll try and resist the temptation to check in at an internet cafe, just so you guys can have a break :lol1:
My daughter had already asked ‘ how much longer before we get there’ 😮 I’m sure I’ll get ‘are we there yet’ in the taxi to the airport 😕
The positive side is that it is only a 3 1/2 hour flight. How many ‘are we there yets’ can the average child ask? I’m hoping not many…. 😕
Take care all
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hope you all have a great time Shane, what will we all do without you!
Nick.
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Have a brilliant time Shane, wish I was going too could do with a good holiday. 😀
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Have a good one Shane, go easy on the Kiwis, no sheep jokes!!!!
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Have a safe trip!
We’ll try to hold down the fort without you Shane.
Won’t be easy tho.
love….Jill -
"ARE YOU THERE YET" 😀
Sorry shane – have a good time
John
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Have a good one Shane 😀
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Shane, you didnt say which island.
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Enjoy your holiday Shane. It will be strange not seeing any posts from you for a while 😕 Just dont forget where we are on your return.
Oh and dont forget our postcards and sticks of rock 😉
😀
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Hi Shane, have a great holiday-you certainly deserve one!
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quote Shane Drew:… you guys and gals have two weeks without me from tomorrow.:pink: :cheer: HOORAAAAY!! :pink: :cheer:
Shane I jest! You and the family have a great time, two weeks is a nice time to chill out.
All the best
Martin 🙂
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have a ball mate, I went travelling there with mates in 98 for 6 months and returned 2 years ago for a month on our honeymoon. My wife and I would gladly move out there if it wasnt for friends and family here (and the football!!).
where are you off to? north or south?
all the best
graeme -
have a brilliant time with your family Shane will look forward to the pics,
Lynn
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Shane have a great time you have certainly earned it.
While you are there see if you can dig up any contacts for the Mini kit car( I know how you like to talk) produced in New Zealand, Mini De Joux. I believe the moulds are still there and I would love to get my hands on them, or a car, but there were very few made. Any help wopuld be appreciated.
Dave
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Have fun Shane!
and don’t forget to relax!
-Marek -
Enjoy the time off mate.
…remove brain and chill.
Dave
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the odds on shane to sign-in in are close to even’s.
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hope you have a great time mate… as has been said. remember and relax… i know i know, thats rich coming from the guy that sat everyday on the net on my holidays :lol1: :lol1:
safe journey…. oh and keep away from the stingrays eh? 😕 :lol1:
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Go for it Shane, if any one deserves a break, its you mate, you have well earned it this year,
Have a great time with your family
Peter
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Have a good one Shane :wave:
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Have good time mate, when you get back you can tell us all about NZ.
L J
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have a great time me maty 😀 😀 😀
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Yeah, enjoy yourself Shane.
After the tribulations you have endured, you deserve a break.
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If I’m not too late, have a good break Shaney. Try to avoid injuring yourself for a few days. 😉
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Have a great holiday mate, good time to get stuck into the local tucker, fush & chups, and of course kiwi bear.
Some of the scenery is spectacular! LOTR photo opportunities abound.
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Hi all…
I’m back… Thanks for he good wishes too… I appreciated that….
Had an absolute ball… Rediscovered my love of photography, saw some amazing sights…. drove about 4000 klms in all, discovered my daughter gets car sick tho 😕 , and the ”are we there yet” was replaced by ”how much longer” after about the 75 klm mark 😛 I bought both my kids a digital camera before we went, so they could take their ”own” memories…. didn’t count on replacing the batteries so often tho….
I’ll post some picks later if you’re interested….
… never seen so many sheep, and they were lambing too, a great many with twins and triplicates…..
Experienced many weather conditions… all in the same day! 😉 ,
Resisted the temptation to log on tho (read: the wife gave me THAT look at the suggestion), when I felt the urge to log on, we were in the middle of nowhere, and when I found an internet cafe’ I was always in a rush to be somewhere.
Had some quality 1 on 1 with the wife and kids tho. I worked right up until midnight on the night before we left, had to be up for the airport bus at 4.50am so it was a bit of a rush in the end. Left dad to tidy up the mess I left behind, but it gave him something to do whilst I was away. :lol1:
He tells me tonight I’m already booked out for the rest of the month so I’ll have to jump in the deep end in the morning.
Cheers again friends… I missed all of you….. did you get my card? 😮
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Great to see you back Shane, nice to hear you had that ‘family quality time’ something I need to do with the missus. Sounds much like Scotland which is what they say ofcourse.
Back to the grind now, don’t forget to post some photos.
Cheers
Dave
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welcome back Shane glad you had a good time and a rest
Lynn
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Welcome back, Shane, dont worry I haven’t caught up with your post count just yet. :lol1: :lol1:
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yep welcome back maty 😀 😀
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Welcome back Shane, 😀
Sounds like you had a great time and quality time with the Mrs and kids is always good.
Martin
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Welcome back to the mad house buddy, we kept your straight jacket warm for you 😀
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shane who? :lol1:
welcome back mate, youve been missed. 😀
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I’m glad you enjoyed your holiday Shane – a well deserved break. Welcome back 😀
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Nice to see you back Shane.
L J
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Welcome back mate, glad you had a great time.
Bet you are looking forward to getting your credit card bill :lol1:
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Welcome back Shane, were are the kiwi jokes then?
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Hey welcome back!!
Glad you ad a good break 🙂
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Thanks all….
Harry, with 40 million sheep around the place, even the Kiwis are telling better sheep jokes than most of us in Oz 😉
Not that we met many Kiwi workers tho. Our Queenstown Hotel had Brazilian Kitchen staff, Irish cleaners, English and Japanese Reception Staff, Russian and German Concierges, Aussie Valets…
The local restaurants were staffed by Italians, Russians, Japanese, Dutch, German, Irish, and Brazillians.
The banks that changed our money were nearly all ex pat Aussies.
The tour company that we spent a bit of money with had Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Canadian, Irish, Welsh and English guides – only 1 Kiwi amongst them, and he had just returned from a stint in America.
The workers on the snow fields were mostly English and Canadian.
I asked one of the few Kiwi guides we met in the 2 weeks how many kiwis worked in the resort we were visiting. After giving it a lot of thought he came up with two – the garbage man and the dishwasher.
We made some enquiries there, and we were told that the south island is so desperate for workers if you apply for a work visa for Queenstown, they’ll rush it thru in 48 hours.
They are looking for 20,000 workers for a 10 week period around april next year to pick kiwi fruit if anyone is interested. 🙂
Other cities on the north island had a better kiwi/non kiwi mix, but every kiwi we spoke to had a brother/sister/mum/dad living in Oz. Most of them were in queensland too.
Even the Kiwi’s refer to australia as the ‘west’ island :lol1:
Getting my pics sorted… I’ll post some here soon..
Cheers all….. and thanks again
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Welcome back shane.
If yu really want to go kiwi hunting mate come to the UK 😀
As fo the weather…are you sure you wern’t in Melbourne 😀 😀
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Hi Shane, welcome back – it´s been dead quiet without you, and then Marcella around. Now I´m away till next week, so you´ll all have a rest from me too!
Be good!
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Don’t keep it a secret Lorraine, where are you going?
L J
cancel that………..just seen your other post…….have a great time.
L J
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here’s just a few snaps
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Dunno what all the fuss is about Shane, I’ve got better views out the back of my unit 😮
Beautiful mate, some cracking shots, Natures a wonderfull thing ay 🙂
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quote Martin Cole:Dunno what all the fuss is about Shane, I’ve got better views out the back of my unit 😮
Beautiful mate, some cracking shots, Natures a wonderfull thing ay 🙂
Thanks mate. Got 500 photos to sift thru and pick the best for printing some large pic to frame. I love my photography!
I’m told NZ is a lot like Scotland, which would explain the high scottish population in the south island. 😉
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Looks like you had a wonderful relaxing time
Did your daughter enjoy it in the end after all those road miles? -
Hi Shane,
What superb scenery, was that bit right Shane: 7/8 Meters of rain? -
Thanks Shane lovely pic’s
Lynn
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shane, great pics which bring back many memories, I stayed in queenstown for 4 months in 1998 and recognise all those images.
wanaka is stunning, one of nicest places Ive been too, we went snowboarding near there.
the mountain range is called the remarkables eh?
I went back 2 years with my wife on our honeymoon, this time we lived in luxury 🙂
cheers
graeme -
Just a thought Shane, what was the average temp while you were taking these photo’s? (looks cold)
L J
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quote smedia:shane, great pics which bring back many memories, I stayed in queenstown for 4 months in 1998 and recognise all those images.
wanaka is stunning, one of nicest places Ive been too, we went snowboarding near there.
the mountain range is called the remarkables eh?
I went back 2 years with my wife on our honeymoon, this time we lived in luxury 🙂
cheers
graemeYes Graeme. The Remarkables were great. The drive up the top was a bit scary tho. 3 kilometres on steep hilly terrain with no safety barriers to stop you driving over the edge. It was the final week of their ski season, so no snow at the base, but the resort at the top had plenty of snow, and it snowed the whole day we were there. My kids, coming from the sub tropics, have never seen snow, so they were very excited. They covered their eyes going up and down the mountain tho. Both my kids seem to work on the theory – it will never happen if they don’t see it happen :lol1:
Thanks Lynn
John Singh – The daughter loved it as a holiday. She asked if we go back next time can we do less driving. We’ll probably go back and spend the time on the south Island next time, and spend a few days in each place. We tried to fit so much into our trip this time, we did big drives some days, and they were the ones she was sick on. Anything longer than 4 hours seemed to push her limit unfortunately. She had a great time tho.
John Simpson – yes mate. I was surprised too. The day before we arrived they’d had snow, and they told us it is common to have 15 hours of rain at 40mm per hour. A few days after we left, they had rain and snow storms that closed the roads. We were really lucky to have such a nice day that time of year they tell us.
On the overcast days, early in our stay, the hottest days were about 12 deg c, the cloudless days in Queenstown were about 16 – 18 deg c, in Auckland it got to 20-22 deg c. They day we left Brisbane it was 30 deg c and we flew into Dunedin and got off the plane at about 10 deg c. Bit of a shock! Most nights while we were in Queenstown got down to 1 or 2 deg c. You could get up to a cold and overcast day, and withing a few hours it could be cloudless skies… or visa versa
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Iv’e heard of the Yellow brick road but white grass Shane (oogle)
Did you meet up with any NZ signmakers mate?
regards
Andrew
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