Out with the old

Just realized it's finally 2009 on the dark side of the world, so a Happy New Year to one & all, let's hope it's a good one.

We're starting it as we expect to end it - on the move... the long-threatened exploration of the kiwi world beyond the end of our street commenced at first light on the first of Jan; which is to say, we left the house at ten to twelve and made it to Hamilton (120km south) in time for lunch. If I succeed in posting a photo via this phone, it'll be a marvel of modern technology and a picture of us having a picnic at the Lake Domain.

Plan is to navigate our way to Lake Taupo by nightfall, then onward to Wellington in the am, overnight there and catch the early inter-island ferry on Saturday.

If the day so far is anything to go by, I'll be grateful just to make it out of the park without ending up in the lake. We really must invest in a map. Satnav is all well & good if you know your left from yer right, and to give Nik full credit, it would also help immensely if you actually had satnav in the first place. Gmaps on the iphone is ok, but just as soon as we make our way to the shops by way of Eastern Tibet I'll give up & buy her a proper one, "with a curly binder and road numbers and everything." Anything, as long as it gets us to the boat in time...

Twenty-six degrees here today. Hope you had a warm start to the year, wherever you ended up.