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OZ & NZ McCartneys on tour
  • Julie McCartney
  • Martin McCartney
  • Julie McCartney
  • Martin McCartney

OZ & NZ McCartneys on tour

One hour to check in for our first flight tomorrow !! Read more
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  • Trip start
    August 27, 2024
  • OZ & NZ McCartneys on tour

    LHR to Frankfurt

    August 27, 2024 in Germany ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    Pretty uneventful, first on the plane was a first but as only an hour flight, with a cold meat salad and coffee served we had soon arrived in Germany. We went to the lounge to wait for the next flight. 9.20pm we were boarding for the long leg to Singapore.Read more

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    Arrived at last, Sydney 5.10 am

    August 29, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Great welcome from Ben & Jacqui, ballon and cakes. Not so good from Qantas even being
    Priority first class with 2 foot priory tags on all our bags, they left one behind in Singapore. All my Australia clothes, can’t say when but will deliver to Ben when it arrives…
    We had 3 great flights but still can’t say laying down and sleeping helps we have still lost a day and it messes with your body clock..

    We’ve just been to take Bens dog for a walk and it’s only 10.30 am, they’re catching up on the football now, the men that is, the dogs are knackered.    Read more

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    Day 3 in Oz

    August 31, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Lovely walk along the Bronte Beach, 10k steps all round the top beach path, through the cemetery, and then had breakfast before retracing our steps back to the car. We're back home now watching an NRL game. Out for dinner tonight 😋 then early night as we're off to the blue mountains tomorrow so it's an early start.Read more

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    Day 4 - The Blue Mountains

    September 1, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    We set off early as it's about a 2 hour drive to the Blue Mountains in Katoomba from Randwick, where Ben lives. Breathtakingly beautiful, along with fun, sky train, steepest mountain train in the world, and a cable car. Then we stopped at the Hydro Majestic Hotel for afternoon cream tea and wobbled out of there. Ben drove us all back to Callum & Mhari's for a beautiful Sunday roast lamb dinner. We were surprised then by an 8.45pm appearance of my missing suitcase from Qantas, only 90 hours late!!Read more

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    Day 6 - Adventures in Sydney on the tram

    September 4, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Jacqui dropped us off at the team stop down the road from their place and within minutes we were on our was to Sydney, Circular Quay on our adventures. Looking at the Opera House and Bridge again, reminded us both of 2023, our world cruise waking up to the same view and waiting for Ben to pick us up as we stayed with him for the night and he took us everywhere. Anyway, we walked Mike's today, saw round the botanical gardens, up to the town hall had lunch and jumped back on the tram . Ben picked us up and we were home having tea at 4pm. Now to pack for our trip to Hunter Valley all 6 of us, Me, Martin, Ben & Jacqui, Callum & Mhari. Excited 😊 🤪Read more

  • OZ & NZ McCartneys on tour

    Hunter Valley- Kalamatra Retreat Villa

    September 5, 2024 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 22 °C

    We set off at 9.30 am, dropped Bobby the dog off at Jacqui's friends for the weekend, and headed to the beach cafe for lunch. Wow, what a place, great food, great wines & great views. With an hour & half to go, we carried on to Pokolbin and our Villa for the weekend. It was better than the pictures we had a look around and Ben and Jacqui left the oldies with a cup of tea and went to do the shopping. Callum and Mhari turned up at 8.30 pm.Read more

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    Pokolbin, aqua golf, BBQ & wine tasting

    September 6, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Well, with the disappointment of not being able to go on the baloon flight, we did decide to stay local. We went to the local pokolbin centre, I toured the shops and the others did pitch and put and aqua driving, driving the ball into the water. Everyone had fun, we then went for lunch followed by a vineyard tasting 😋 😀 All learnt a few things and left with 6 bottles to drink over a bbq expertly cooked by Ben. We finished a great day off with several games of Cluedo and a few hands of Uno. Considering the disappointing start to the day, we all had a great day.Read more

  • OZ & NZ McCartneys on tour

    Homeward bound- leaving Pokolbin

    September 7, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Sad day our long weekend with Ben & Jacqui, Callum & Mhari in this beautiful Villa is over. We are heading home. Stopped for a lovely breakfast at Enzo's, said our goodbyes to Callumhari and drove home. Jacqui's car played up and now needs the garage on the week she has to go into the office everyday next week, typical. Back at Jacqui's we're now packing for New Zealand on Tuesday. Ben is taking us to the airport at 5am.Read more

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    New Zealand Days 1 - 3

    September 10, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Well Ben dropped us off at 05.30am and we went straight to drop our bags off. I asked them to make sure they both come with us 🤣 Answer was of course we never lose luggage (Emirates) that was. But followed up with there is a delay though. We arrived at the gate to find the crew sat waiting, we did think not a good sign, but @ 20 mins and they started to board and it was quick. We arrived in Christchurch in the sunshine 🌞 pickup only took a few minutes to arrive and took us to the waiting Motorhome! OMG it was a sharabang, Martin told him we're not staying in that for 3 weeks. It wasn't what we had paid for. Anyway we think they were trying it on as when I said what can you do for us, he said I can get you a new one but not till Thursday. So change in routes and after a nights rest in the Christchurch camp site we had booked we got up and out in the morning to Arthur's Pass WOW it was beautiful. We booked into a campsite on the way back to Christchurch to change Vans the next lunch time. This one is 100% better and we got going to Kaikoura as it was a 3 hour drive. We arrived at the camp site and unpacked. We went into town for something to eat. Yum, yum slow roast brisket & Ribs at the Strawberry Inn. Knackered now we went back for a sleep and up at 8am again for another full day 😴.Read more

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    New Zealand Days 4

    September 13, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

    Leaving Kaikoura, we headed up to Mouteka on the way we stopped at a seal colony, and we could have stayed for hours watching their antics. They are so many different colours, taking turns to dive into the rock pool, then swimming around each other was fascinating. Lunch next in a small cafe on the beach was perfect, not to mention the orange drizzle cake, scrumptious. The last activity of the day was my promised trip, wine tasting at the Cloudy Bay vineyard. My favourite wine of all timr and we were there where it all comes from it was heaven. We stayed the night in Mouteka, planning our next destinations.Read more

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    New Zealand - Day 5

    September 14, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Off to TAKAKI, I think google maps thinks we are mountain goats as we've climbed up and down mountain roads for 3 days now! Depending into Tekaki we find a fabulous cafe called "The Wholemeal Cafe" flat white and cake, plus people watching. We are unable to believe the number of people in the cafe without any shoes on!! What's that all about? We read in the cafe about Te Waikoropupu Springs, the largest freshwater springs in NZ and they are the largest cold water springs in the southern hemisphere. They were a great find truly amazing. Just a few miles now to our camp for the night in Pohara Beach. We have a pitch right on the beach, fantastic.Read more

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    Pohara to Westport NZ

    September 15, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Martin Birthday, we were told not to rush today we can leave when we're ready. But after deciding on going down to Westport next and it being a 5 hour journey, some over mountains again, so we got up and got going. Round and around the mountain again. Stopped at Kohatu for a lovely coffee and cheese scone. Carried on and came upon a brilliant picture stop at Kilkenny lookout overlooking the mighty Buller River, we then followed the river almost all of the way to Westport. The camp site is right on Carter's Beach. The waves were high and we had a lovely walk along the back sands, before starting on the spag bol for tea.Read more

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    Westport to Franz Josef NZ

    September 16, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    Up and on our way at 9.30 am we wanted to get to Punakaiki by 11 as high tide is the best time to see the Pancake Rocks and Blow holes. This we did and boy we were not disappointed, the views and sheer force of nature was amazing. We dragged ourselves away from there after a coffee and the biggest blueberry muffin you’ve ever seen. On to Hokitika famous for its gorge walk and its name in driftwood on the beach. Although it was only 2pm when we arrived the weather was breaking and after we had finished lunch the rain started, so as we had walled along the beach and seen the towns name, Hokitika in driftwood we decided to get going on to Franz Joseph. We had, had an email saying our 1pm flight had to be cancelled as the weather did not look good enough to fly, but they had transferred us to the 9.45am flight in the hope we would get to fly.Read more

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    Franz Joseph, Fox Glaciers

    September 17, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    Wow, what a day, I think I've bored you with the video as I wanted to show you all, and they had wifi at the helicopter office. We really couldn't believe the beauty of it all today. A young couple on our helicopter got engaged up on the glacier, one knee, and a huge great diamond ring. How romantic, she said yes! The rest of the day was quite dull by comparison to the morning.Read more

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    Franz Josef - Wanaka

    September 18, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    What a difference a day makes, rain, sleet, snow, and very low clouds today. So glad we chose yesterday for the glacier trip. We managed to find all of our points of interest today. We didn't get to do the lake matheson walk as it was pooring it down. We grabbed a coffee and trundled on the the Haast Pass falls. 1. ROARING BILLY 2. THUNDER CREEK 3. FANTAIL. Again, when we found the Blue Pools, the heavens had opened, and the 90-minute walk was a no-go. We arrived in time for more grocery shopping and a fuel top up. The Wanaka camp site is modern and so we did a bit of washing and tried yo cook chicken in the oven at the communal kitchen. Sad it didn't work, so we went out to eat 🤣.Read more

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    Wanaka - Queenstown NZ

    September 19, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    First stop after leaving Wanaka Camp Site was to see " That Wanaka Tree" at the southern tip of Lake Wanaka, the tree grows alone in the water and is a very popular tourist attraction. Couldn't resist a peek. From there we went over the crown pass to Arrowtown, a historic gold mining town and you can still pan for gold today!! The town was established in 1862 during the height of the gold rush. It hasn't really changed much since then. 20 Ks into Queenstown, we checked in to a unique campsite called Creeksyde, the world's 1st environmentally certified holiday camp. Everything we need but very quirky.Read more

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    QUEENSTOWN 2 NIGHT STOPOVER

    September 20, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌫 6 °C

    We spent the day in queenstown, had a lay in, and then visited the skyline gondola first before the rush. It was fantastic the view from the top, we did manage a panorama pic, but this doesn't do it justice.Read more

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    QUEENSTOWN TO CURIO BAY

    September 21, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Sadly, we woke up to the news that the road to Milford Sound was closed and, due to severe weather conditions, was likely to remain closed for the weekend. We had no option but to cancel our night in Te Anau, the gateway to Milford Sound. We also had a boat trip on Milford booked, so we cancelled that too. All refunded, we set off for the Catlins and booked a night on the beach at Curio Bay. A place to possibly see yellow eyed penguins and dolphins 🐬. Waves 20 feet in the air, but no wildlife.Read more

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    Curio Bay to Dunedin

    September 22, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Found an old railway station in Kingston and enthusiasts were firing up the engine. Privilege to watch, we went on then to Slope Point and here even the trees slope! The most gorgeous empty beach was next, Taytuku Beach a peninsula of the Southern Ocean.Read more

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    Dunedin to Moeraki Boulders

    September 23, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Great drive up from Denedin, not that far, considering the length of some of the journeys we've done. Nature is definitely on the agenda today. We headed for Katiki Point Lighthouse and walked along the headland. We were told that we may see yellow eyed penguins, fur seals, and even a rare blue penguin if we were lucky. Well, we were amazed with the colony of fur seals basking on the sand and camouflaged on the rocks, we watched them for ages until it got a little cold, that is. The next stop was Moeraki Boulders beach and walked the beach path, just as we were going to step on the sand a fur seal scooted up and bared us from going onto the sand, she was sunning herself and was not going to move! We found another way round and wow the Boulders, never seen anything like it....Read more

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    Moeraki to Twizel

    September 24, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Nor much happened today. We moved camps but not too far away and went grocery shopping in the way. We stopped for lunch by a dam and were excited to see the ssnow-capped mountains come back into sight. Twizel is just on the outskirts of mMount Cook, and tomorrow we are staying right under the mountain range, ready for our Glacier Explorer, boat trip on Thursday.Read more

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    Twizel to Glentanner (Mount Cook)

    September 25, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    Lovely relaxing day, spent in the mountains. We sat out reading in the sun for a while. A couple of other travellers joined us for chat. Had lunch and followed the instructions into our camp for the night. Nestled between mountains and Lake Tekapo, we're in a lovely place. Ready for an early getaway on our glacier boat trip to the Tasmin Glasier in the morning.Read more

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    Glentanner to Lake Tekapo

    September 26, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Well yet another disappointment we were due to be at the hermitage hotel at 10.15 in mount cook to go on a glacier experience boat trip but at 9.30 the office rang to say due to adverse weather conditions all boat trips had been cancelled for today. Sadly then we had 5 hours to find something to do as we could not arrive before 3pm at the next camp. Lake Tekapo. The weather only got worse, torrential rain and extreme winds so we hunkered down in a local beauty spot for a few hours, had lunch and made our way to Tekapo around 2.15. No problem, got our alloted pitch and put the kettle on in true British style. 🤣Read more

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    Lake Tekapo to Temuka

    September 27, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Not far to go again, we went to a local beauty spot and had our coffee, no sunshine this morning, so we didn't sit outside. Great view, we could have looked at all day! Did our research on Temuka and decided to get going. Well, we could have been at home. The high street was either closed shops or charity shops. 2 old buildings lovingly restored and now museums. The sun was out by now and 17 degrees, so we checked in and sat outside the van for a while. We were cold by 3 pm, so it was inside for a cup of tea.Read more

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