Robyn and Gareth's (mis?)adventures...

Bolton - July 2007
A rainy weekend in July we headed north to catch up with Robyn's family in Bolton. Although not the most scenic of cities in England, it was where Robyn's grandfather came from and we had a guided tour thanks to Norman!

1. Reebok Stadium - a must see on the Bolton tour!!!

We also had a few hours to kill in Manchester...and got absolutely soaked doing so!!!

1. Council Buildings and Town Hall
2. Manchester Cathedral

Southwold - August 2007
We had been told that Southwold was a really nice English beach, so we decided to check it out for ourselves. Unfortunately the school holidays were still going and it was a bit too busy for our liking. The beach and village are really different from eachother and we still prefer NZ beaches!!!

We stopped at Framlingham on the way which was really cool.

Game 1: NZ vs Italy (6 September 2007) - Marseille

Gareth arrived on Thursday afternoon and found himself a few people he knew (not a surprise at all really...) So he did a bit of sightseeing, drinking, eating and sunning himself (we love the Med!).

And a funny story...Robyn wasn't meant to be going as this was a 'boys trip', but someone pulled out so she got to go in the end (and was just a tad excited!!). Flights were horrendously expensive and the cheapest option was the last flight into Marseille before the game started. Just so you know, the flights back was fine! Thanks to the excellent English weather her flight was delayed and she arrived while the anthems were being sung looking very hot and sweaty having just legged it from the nearest train station. But she made it so that was the main thing!

1. View from our seats - it was brilliant watching rugby in glorious sunshine! Robyn even got a tan!!
2. Chris Jack Try
3. Doug Howlett Try

Marseille had a wicked carnival-like atmosphere, not like anywhere we had been before for a rugby match. The whole city was behind the World Cup and everyone was really welcoming. In a nutshell, we had a great time and caught up with loads of people we hadn't seen in ages.

1. Marseille Waterfront
2. All Black Trees in the middle of town
3. This street was renamed Rue de Rugby
4. Gareth annoying a local... (why are there always model animals in the streets of European cities?!)

On the Sunday we did a boat trip down the eastern coast, which was gorgeous and made us want to stay there!

It was filled with hundreds of little bays which were crammed full of boats and people. No idea how they all got there but was so peaceful and beautiful.

Game 2: NZ vs Scotland (24 September 2007) - EdinburghA bit of a change from Marseille, slightly colder and greyer, but thousands of kiwis made their way north. We saw so many people we knew...crazy times.
No funny stories this time; everything went according to plan thank goodness.

View from our seats at Murrayfield

And I had to put this one in...

Game 3: NZ vs ? in a semi-final - Paris
Well...it didn't go according to plan. We lived through watching the AB's lose in a pub full of English cheering for the French (something you don't see everyday) and we survived all the emails and jibes. Robyn had to sell her ticket to an English rugby supporter and made a nice little profit on the side; we then had to change our tickets. So we are now going to Prague instead! Yay for us!!!!

Just a short break in Paris this time. We stayed in a lovely hotel about 1 km from Champ des Mars and ate and drank and walked ourselves through the weekend.

After our last trip to Paris (in winter) and the fact that you couldn't even see the top of the Eiffel Tower, this time it was a beautiful summers day and we decided to make the most of it!

I've got to say that after Level 2 I really didn't like being on a piece of metal a couple of hundred meters up in the air, but I got to the top and have the white knuckled smiling photos to prove it!
Point to note - if you walk up to Level 2, it's cheaper and there are less queues and if there is one, it moves quicker than all the others!

And the view is always spectacular...

Later that day (after a siesta) we took a river cruise down to Notre Dame and had the most amazing dinner. It was this little pub but we can't work out if it was actually really old or just made to look old. Anyway, we got gibbed as they saw 'tourists' coming and gave us a set menu of about 5 courses. Best bit was the starter where they literally give you baskets of vegetables and meats, a knife and a chopping board and you hack away to your hearts content.

We rolled home, but stopped to take more photos and I thought this one was a goodie.

Our other task for the weekend was to go into the Louve. Unfortunately we didn't get there until 11am and as its free the first Sunday of the month the queues were massive. Given it was about 30 degrees at the time we decided we were far too sensible to stand in the sunshine for an hour and went to leave...but then we found a side entrance (excellent!!!!). So we got into the Louve for free and without queuing!!! Managed to fight our way through to see the necessary exhibits and then left the crowds to it.

We found some nice sights on the way...

1. Musee d'Orsay
2. River Seine

This time we headed 'down under' to South Africa for a bit of sight seeing and yet another wedding.

First stop Nelspruit via the delightful Jo'burg airport. Then picked up by our fabulous tour guide (Tony) and into Kruger as quickly as the van (VW Combi - excellent!!!) will carry us! We entered through Malelane Gate on the south side of the park, with some unsuccessful game viewing on the way to our rest camp, Berg-En-Dal. As you never seem to stop when you're in Kruger, we went on a night drive which is slightly weird when it's dark at 6pm. Point to note for those who ever travel to Africa in winter - it's freeeeezing at night!!!! Apart from being bone-chillingly cold, we saw a bachelor herd of white rhino and a small pride of lionesses and cubs, one of which was only a few weeks old and very very cute but our camera is not so hot at night photos so nothing to show for it i'm afraid!

Day 2 consisted of getting up at stupid o'clock and being out the gate at 6am with a final destination of Satara rest camp (via Skukuza) which is about 150 km's away which doesn't seem like very far but when your speed limit is 30 km/h, it's a long day. Memorable sighting for the day...

A real zebra crossing (there were more - promise!!!)


This is the team lookout which was just next to our camp.

The sunsets are incredible. This was taken just before we headed back to camp before our real South African braai - delicious and meat galore!!!!

Day 3 again up at stupid o'clock and on the road. Destination today was Olifants which is about 50 km away. Memorable sightings for the day...

These guys decided to cross the road in front of us, warm up on the tarseal and head off into the grass. They are literally about 10m away!

More gruesome but apparently really unusual as they normally devour food where they find it so this one has cubs hiding somewhere.

You're only allowed out of your vehicle as certain places - like in the middle of a 400m bridge, although you have to hang out with the local monkeys.

After arriving at Olifants we took a trip up to Letaba Rest Camp, which is only about half way up the park and it makes you realise how huge it actually is. You've got Vervet Monkeys and Steenbok wandering around the camp and a really brilliant elephant museum which has loads of info about elephants, some massive skeletons and the tusks of the 'Big 6' and stories about each of them.

And after some highly unsuccessful game viewing that afternoon, we returned to Olifants where Gareth proposed at sunset, very romantic! We then had a celebratory dinner with Tony, who was in on this cunning plan as well.

Olifants is an amazing rest camp. It's on a hill top with the river running below. We had a hut (rondavaal) on the edge of the camp which overlooked the river.

Day 4 started with an early morning walk with a couple of rangers from Olifants. You basically drive for 30 minutes into the middle of the bush looking for game and when you find some, get out the vehicle and wander around on foot. We found a white rhino cow with two young and followed them for a while, but then found a bull rhino hanging by himself. So we hid behind a bush downwind and he just walked closer and closer until our guide decided 10 meteres was far too close and made some noise, then he bolted.

So after another healthy breakfast of bacon and eggs overlooking Olifants River we headed south and back towards Satara Rest Camp and would finally head out of Kruger to Nelspruit.

Other memorable sightings of the day...

We came across a batchelor herd of elephants, about 7 in size which is quite large and this guy was hanging near the side of the road.

Then slightly further on we found a breeding herd of elephants of about 24 which all decided to cross the road in front of us.

This guy was hanging out by the road and has a particularly massive horn.

Wildebeast were trying to escape the sun.

So it was time to leave Kruger and head south to East London via Johannesburg for Jen and Larry's wedding. After staying the night in Nelspruit we managed to miss our connection in Jo'burg (not quite sure how as we were in the departure lounge) but managed to get on the next flight.

Here are a few photos from Jen and Larry's wedding...

The Bury St Edmunds rugby boys - Tom Gee, Larry and Gareth

'The Kretzmans'

The NZ/UK table - sober!

Sporting decent hangovers the next day we did a bit of sightseeing as our trip to East London was pretty short. The beach is amazing!!!

For months Gareth had kept it secret where and what we were doing for Robyn's birthday. On the day we were due to fly out, whilst talking over our cornflakes and coffee, Robyn asked a straight forward question (not sure what), to which Gareth replied "we can get that in Switzerland". So after all the anticipation and excitement slightly deflated, we made it to Stansted to head away for the weekend.

Geneva may not be on everyone's must see city list, but it's quite a cool city. Really modern and very cultural, not a great deal to do but that's fine for a short weekend.

Cathedral St Pierre

Palais des Nations

Jet d'Eau on Lake Geneva