By Susan Walker from Berkshire

In Feb/March this year (2007), my husband and I had a fantastic trip round the world. We stopped at Hawaii, New Zealand, Sydney and Singapore.  They were all absolutely fantastic, and all new experiences as we had never visited any of these places before.

In New Zealand we stayed for four weeks, spending two weeks exploring the North Island, then another two weeks exploring the South Island, all by hire car. We did a glacier walk at Fox's Glacier, had a helicopter ride above glaciers. We also completed a rather arduous but very worthwhile six hour traverse of the Tongarira Crossing, through a beautiful National Park, with snow-capped mountains, moon-like landscapes, and mesmerising green lakes.

We stayed mostly at backpacker hostels, which was a new experience for us - they were first class! By booking ahead on the internet we reserved a double room with en-suite at all the stops. There were always big, clean, modern kitchens with lots of cookers and utensils, where everyone cooked in the evenings. We met some really interesting people from all over the world, and as retirees were pleasantly surprised to discover that we were by no means the oldest residents in these establishments!  We also used Homestays, where we stayed with families in super locations, and benefitted from their local knowledge and experiences.

We saw seals, kiwis, gannets, possums, wild horses, otters, penguins and dolphins. We did a trip to ninety mile beach, where we body-boarded down the sand dunes, and saw a Mercedes sunk to its rooftop in quicksand! We visited the Treaty House and learned about New Zealand's vibrant history. We went to a Maori dinner and dance show which was fantastic. We couldn't quite fit everything in, for instance, it was the wrong season for whale watching, so we are hoping to go back and do it all again sometime!  

But the best part of the holiday was a visit to my uncle and aunt's house in Hastings. They emigrated about thirty seven years ago from Kenilworth with their young family. One of the deciding factors was that my uncle, as a sheet metal worker, was not welcome at the golf clubs in the Kenilworth area, who in those days did not allow “blue collar” workers to join. My uncle had heard that he could take his whole family to New Zealand for ten pounds, and that he would be able to walk into any golf club and join. He did exactly that, and thirty-seven years on, he and my aunt are still in the same house that they originally bought when they emigrated, and he still belongs to the same golf club that he joined. He took us to play as guests, and before we teed off, he handed us a dozen “practice balls” which were actually hard green tangerines from his garden. We used them on the driving range and they flew as true and straight as the best golf balls! They are bio-degradable and you don't have to collect them after a practice session!

He grows such an abundance of fruit in his garden that now that there are just the two of them left in the house, they cannot eat it all. He has grapefruit, kiwis, oranges, satsumas, clementines, grapes, apples and lots of soft fruit too.

On the next leg of our trip to Australia, Sydney lived up to expectations, and we walked the bridge and visited the Opera House. We had a great day on Bondi Beach under glorious sunshine.

In Singapore we visited the night zoo, and used the “Hop on, Hop off” bus to visit the various areas like China Town and Little India. The food was one of the great attractions there!