Ups and downs!

It is exactly 6 weeks today since we left a very snowy Yorkshire, where has the time gone.

We have had very few 'downs' except the inevitable air travel and airports and these steps!

Well we got up them so we had to get down, I was terrified just taking the photo!
This is Wat Arun across the river from the Grand Palace and one of the reasons to go there is to get the view, so of course you have to climb the steps. We had a lazy morning as check out wasn't till 12.00am but had to make one more trip up the river. Before Wat Arun we went to Wat Pho, just behind the Grand Palace to see the giant reclining Buddha and lots of other Buddhas of different sizes.

The rest of the holiday has been amazing; what to highlight? Definitely Lake Tekapo; Milford Sound; Mount Cook; Abel Tasman coast and Marlborough Sound in the South.
Napier and the Geothermal centre of North Island and the Bay of Islands.

Unforgettable: the glacier blue lake at Tekapo and the morning mist; the still of the morning on Milford Sound and the crested Penguins; flying over Mount Cook; the sounds and smells when walking in the rainforest with those amazing birds and silver ferns; sailing in the silence of no engine in the Bay of Islands; the Hobbit homes in Hobbiton and beyond New Zealand the Blue mountains and seeing the Lyrebird in Sydney; the tiles of Sydney Opera House glinting in the sun; the star ferry and Thai Chi in Victoria Park in HongKong and last but not least the heat and the smells of Thai food in the floating market here in Thailand.

The very best has to be sharing time and experiences with a very good friend; meeting up with old friends and making new 'across the world friends' through blipfoto.

One thing I will always remember is the welcome made to us by Kiwis, 'virtual' friends and complete strangers. Kiwis have to be the friendliest and most genuine people in the world and we feel we have been very lucky to have had the privilege to meet so many of them.