LIBBY GREENHALGH

Big thanks to everyone here in New Zealand who has helped make my stay a really fantastic time. Firstly Sandy - thank for having and all the extended family for taking good care of me up in the Bay of Islands- I will be back Secondly and most recently thank to Mike and Prue for showing me around Auckland to a city I had previously been told not to hang about in wonderful place wonderful food and again I look forward to returning Thirdly to the really cool people in the experience taupo info place foe hooking me up with some wicked things to do including the fly fishing Today was my last day of my holidays and I am now at the airport waitign for my flight afte having a lovely a tour of Auckalnd including One Tree Hill, Newmarkey- the Priministers and house and little trip out on the water. There is so much more to Auckland than first meets the eye and whole heap more for me to discover another time x

Last day in Lake Taupo and squeezed in my first attempt at fly fishing. Thanks to a very good guide 'Fishy Steve' I managed to catch 4 fish.....twice as many prawns as I had caught the day before- but absolutely wicked fun. I am quite sure there were moments where he despaired at my casting skills but after a while I was doing ok and then I just kept catching them.....love it love it love it  Fully reccommend it to everyone as well. Look how smiley I am - I did put all the fish back So today I am heading up to Auckland again to see Mike and Prue (Mum and Dad's friends) and hopefully they will show me aorund Auckland before I fly home to a cold and icy UK- I hear the snow has already gone!

I had a relatively relaxed day after my trek yesterday with a few things planned and not many acheived. First of all was wakeboarding after a leisurely breakfast- and basically a rude awakening whish resulted in the loss of contact lenses and for those spectating some pretty comical wipeouts!!! I then returned to shore and things that you can't get hurt at. First up shopping - who let me go in the jewellery store.....oooops. Then some prawn fishing Now this I was very excited about use to go 'prawning' as we called it as kids so thought I am an old hat at this and here was what I had to show for it!! I would like to first point out the implement with which I had to catch the tricky little buggers...... Yes a bamboo poles with a thin line and hook  on it....no net...no scooping Never- the- less I had them cooked in a bit of garlic and proudly ate my two prawns which I thought were large. Apparently some German dude caught a 44cm long one in October - clearly not a pr...

Whiel the UK is covered in snow and many are relishing in the unfortunate situation of being unable to get work I set out to find some snow over here! Not really, I actually did the Tongariro crossing which is 19.4KM of hiking plus a 3 KM detour to one of the summits So the bus collected a whole bunch of us at 0540 and by 0740 we were at the start of the crossing and in fair bit of cloud. Anyway I went to summit just for you all back home so I could send you this snowball and not miss out! I have never really done any hiking and did a 3 hour thing up Bluff Knoll in Australia but 7 hours is slightly different especially with things labelled Devil's Staircase!I have to say I am not sure it has really won me over as a hobby. This all makes for one sleepy Libby in need of a shower and a massage ahead of planning tomorrow which I think will require minimal walking maybe some prawn fishing with a difference and hopefully some wakeboarding Take care and enjoy the snow x 

I am sure it works if you scratch and sniff the screen you can smell the muds of Rotorua- which despite three showers (yes a very unusual amount for me!) I still smell of the mud and the sulpher but pretty cool. I got up this morning and the wind had changed the smell was fairly prevalent all I could think was thank god I am not hungover. I went white water rafting this morning down the only commercial grade 5 white water ride in the world - or is it the most popular- worth doing but slightly overated I suspect a slightly busier grade 3 or 4 would have been better with more paddling- but all good pictures to follow and a 7m waterfall to drop down! After that I went to the bubbling muds which my mother had filmed for me back in 1997/1998 when her and dad came over but they are much cooler in person. I am off on the Tongaria crossing tomorrow- 0540 start - night x

I am not sure I could ever live outside of the UK....at least I have always said that...... but then there are many places I have yet to go, of which, until this week, the Bay of Islands was one Firstly thank you Sandy for looking after me despite pointing out my beautiful muffin top you didn't hold back on keeping me well fed and watered particularly in the ice cream department and thank you family Kiff for my day on the water in the Bay of Islands amazing. Having got to Auckland jumped off the Tower I headed to the Bay of Islands and have been hanging catching some surf, going to ninety mile beach (which is actually only 64 miles long) watching someone break their collar bone sand boarding shortly before I threw my self down the dune and I am now in Rotorua having been to a Maori Hangi...... Tomorrow I off to whiteraft a grade 5 - the highlight being a 7m waterfall and then to discover the sweet smell of Rotorua bubbling muds- fear not Mum I won't come back with hours ...

So I am just sat at the airport again getting ready to fly to the Bay of Islands and catch up with Sandy whoop whoop. But between flying in from Perth and heads up north I managed a little trip into Auckland and a jump off the tower. Absolutely amazing views from up there and gives you good perspective on the size. Now for some downtime- as I am minor lobstered from the beach yesterday x Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

So I completed my tour of the SW of Australia yesterday- well part of it. We went Perth-Bussellton (sadly the jetty wasn't open)- Nygli Caves- Margret River (wine tasting)- Augusta- Bicentenial tree-swam in the Southern Ocean- climbed Bluff Knoll - a 3 hour hike and I can really feel my legs today A chilled day ahead for me on Cottesloe beach- sadly no surf but will get some swimming in avoiding the sharks.

Another busy day in touring world. Today I climbed up treetop lookout it was 75 m high and there was not a lot holding you there. Incredible view. I also swam in the cold waters of the southern ocean- probably about UK temp in the summer 2 days until new Zealand x Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

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Travelling began for me today - though in a rather hungover state. Won't be doing that again. Racing finished yesterday under mixed conditions and I am now one day into my south west tour. Pictures to follow I have seen bussellton jetty been wine tasting, to a chocolate factory and to Margaret river. No time to stop x Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

There is still a day left of the regatta and things have sadly taken a turn for the worse weather wise I even had a spot of rain fall on me today. Yesterday saw an afternoon of no sailing and this morning has presented a mixed bag There is a lot of starting and 1st leg practise happening over the last few days and not a lot of complete racing which makes for a fair few frustrated sailors and also gives everyone a bit of time on their hands Today I have been spotting more wildlife - name the crab if you can -and also working on my belly tan which you can see is coming along nicely!

As we progress through the regatta and looking ahead to the end conditions are getting hotter and hotter and the wind is getting lighter it seems. The strong NE offshores seem to be hanging in for longer - allowing the early starts a fairly good racing but the 1300 starts a wait around until 1400-1500 for their racing. I was hanging out with 470 waiting for the wind when not only did we see a fair few flying fish but I also caught on video my first dolphin!!! The sun out here really is fairly fierce and the factor 45 is just about doing its job but given that we will be back in December next year it is going to be considerably warmer!

So day two of racing today and delays greeted most of the sailors and long days on the water in the sun makes for many British lobster here in the Australian sun! In honesty everyone is pretty good at doing the 'slip, slop, slap' but it is fairly easy to get caught out More 9am starts tomorrow and therefore 0530 start for me as many are off and away by 0700 - however there is likely to be little wind and another delay which is marginally frustrating. I would be lying if I was to try and claim that today I had my first ice cream but I did go to a good ice cream shop today. you pick your ice cream flavour and then add things like chocolate brownies oreos chocolate buttons and they mix it all together- glamour

There is plenty of chat about sharks here in Australia and as someone who was hoping to go surfing it does make me a bit twitchy but equally I am always slightly sceptical. However, not anymore! Shortly before I got here to Fremantle there had already been a shark attack not that far away from here diving with dolphins something I was considering. Follow this up with a dead whale of Rottnest Island attracting sharks into the local waters and suddenly the fear of capsizing on the course area leaps up three fold with the sailors and taking a dip in the Indian Ocean doesn't seem so appealing!! You can just see the Perth Fremantle coastline in the background We are just into the measurement and registration phase of the event with the first racing starting tomorrow at 0900 for the Lasers Happy Days x

The Sea Breeze coined the 'Doctor' here in Fremantle is beginning to show its face and put the sailing conditions on the edge. There are a few reasons it is named the Fremantle Doctor- for those that live along the coast it brings a welcome relief to the high temperatures and if you are sat in Perth it appears to originate from Fremantle. One of the other reasons is based in history when a colony was first established and the wind would blow away the stench of the local crematorium at Catherine's Point For whatever the reasons we have had and are looking set to have a good few days of the 'Doctor', which is basically an ideal sea breeze which builds significantly here in Fremantle due to the desert land that is the majority of Australia We are staying in a lovely hotel here in Fremantle - pictured above. The buildings here are not high rise and I would say very oldy worldy, very much like the movies almost something out of a western!!! I am up in the penthouse on th...

While I am well aware that everyone is getting well and truly washed and blown away back home in the UK. The weather is having a pretty good go here in the Fremantle at washing and blowing us away tooooooooooo! Most of the comments to me today have been as follows 'this wasn't in the brochure' 'What are you doing bring the rain here Libby' (though I am blaming it on Ben as he has only just arrived and therefore responsible for bringing it from home!!!) 'When is the rain going to stop we have got a golf tee booked!' Wendy came out on the water with me today- unfortunately usually land bound and office based I can safely say to those back home that it isn't always glamour!! And speedboating around - or not as is the case with my driving- in a lot of rain and reasonable wind isn't too pleasant. But we braved it in a bid to increase our weather knowledge of the area and try and identify some local weather stations! However it is a washout for any tennis ...

I have been out here in Fremantle now for 5 days and I think nearly all of the team our team are now here. People are getting out on the water gradually getting over the jet lag and enjoying the warmer weather- though I am jealous of the surf and wind back home!!! The fun and games to be had here has been in the wheelbarrow racing and firemans lifting had at the morning boot camp sessions! Struggling to move today

Well that is meant to say 'Hello Home' from my first Australian beach that I have a visited and if they all look like this it is no wonder the pictures look so amazing. So I have been out here now for 4 days or so nearly all the team are here and things are slowly but surely beginning to get busier. We have had our first gathering and people have been hitting the water today getting to grips with the choppy and windy conditions and for some the most traumatic experience is trying to get back in in the lee of the harbour wall. It has been a good few days with me mainly get to grips with the Fremantle area catching up with sailors to discuss the differences in weather conditions being upside down here! As well as managing to sneak a peak around the local markets and get my little tooties in the Indian Ocean today.

With all the current plane trauma going on with the Airbus 6380- I feel fairly fortunate to have had a incident free journey out here to Fremantle. Though it has been a while since I have done a long haul flight and it is the first time I have been to Australia and it is a long long way away! We arrived to cloud and rain but still plenty warm enough - now we are looking for the 'Doctor' to kick in and some good sailing conditions I had a night out last night here in Fremantle and soon discovered that the exchange rate doesn't work so well in our favour with it being the best past of £7 for a pint- expensive times! Been checking out the immediate area a little bit today with a trip to the supermarket and a ride on the free bus they have here!!! Very bizarre to have travelled so far and reach a country where there is no language barrier- very easy