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John R
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Hi there mate,

Firstly, sorry to evryone else for the irrelavence of this topic.

Anyway, I'm thinking of going/coming to NZ in September/October for 6-12months on a working visa. I'm just wondering the best place to go (Has to be near a majr airport) Preferably near a good beach with plenty of jobs going... And what's the climate like over there? I presume wet in the winter and humind in the summer?

I really havn't got much of a clue, so any help would be appreciated. I've been looking into this for a while and it seems that the cost of living is cheaper in NZ than Australia... so I'm trying to weight things up.

Cheers in advance,

John.

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for the reason that it is unrelated to the MR2 section of the forum, it's being moved.

I moved it to the general section. You could have simply PM'd him tho.

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ohhh look at jimlad acting like a moderator now!.....:P

Keep up the modding Jimlad

Modding as in Moderating and modding....

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I suppose I could have PM'd him, but I presumed that Bibbs, an Australian may be able to give me some information (Who drives an MR2) and I only ever see Kiwi post in the MR2 forum (Because he drives an MR2).

So that's why it was in the mr2 forum.

Did it really cause you so much of a problem that it just had to be moved?

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Dunno mate .. NZ is MILES away from Perth ..

Perth to Sydney is the same distance as London to Moscow .. to put it in perspective ..

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Cheap .. very cheap .. but you do get paid less ..

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yes - remember seeing a porgramming about pople going to live in AUS..

They were very disppointed with pay they got.. but after a while they relised they didnt need as much money... so they pretty much lived the life they lived in england - they werent "rich or anything"

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makes it easy to get out there .. hard to get back ..

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Hi there mate,

Firstly, sorry to evryone else for the irrelavence of this topic.

Anyway, I'm thinking of going/coming to NZ in September/October for 6-12months on a working visa..

Ok where to start!! Im sure I remember reading somewhere you were a bobby?? if so our police force is SCREAMING out for more cops.....we took in something like 50 police from the UK around 8-9 months ago, all ranging from new recruits right up to inspectors etc. Anyway what sort of work are you looking for?? I take it this is a working/holiday trip??

I'm just wondering the best place to go (Has to be near a majr airport) Preferably near a good beach with plenty of jobs going..

Hmmm.....well that really means EITHER Wellington (Capital city at the BOTTOM of the North Island) or Auckland (Wannabe capital about 3 quarters up the north island, and the BIGGEST & most populated city in NZ) Obviously Im a bit biased to Wgtn as I live here but it's a hard choice. Both are by MAJOR airports, both have good beachs....especially the Kapiti coast (Wellington upwards about 100-200 km's west coast) but Auckland get's hotter.

And what's the climate like over there? I presume wet in the winter and humind in the summer?

I DON'T really like the weather up there...it's nice and warm but it's REALLY muggy, stuffy sort of heat, and much to the suprise of the nation they had mopre rain than Wellington last year :) Wellington is known as the WINDY city...it CAN get quite windy, actully there is usually some sort of breeze down here most of the time but that keeps it quite cool in the summer...hot in the sun but often a nice refreshing breeze.....on the other hand 90-100 KPH northlys aren't un-common, and during winter COLD southerlys are pretty regular. Less FROSTS down here but most definitly colder in the winter. Auckland is HUGE....there is the main city an then like 10-15 small towns/suburbs spread out over 200 km's, I HATE that...SO easy to get lost and the traffic is REALLY bad....takes a couple of hours to get across town sometimes. Wellington gets bumper to bumper on the motorway ONLY at peak times, I live 60 km's out of the city and drive in and out 5 days a week, hour to get in, 40 mins to get out. As I mentioned above work will depend on what your intrested in but bothcity's have plenty of jobs.

I really havn't got much of a clue, so any help would be appreciated. I've been looking into this for a while and it seems that the cost of living is cheaper in NZ than Australia... so I'm trying to weight things up.

Now that's a hard one...VERY similar living cost's between the 2 countries I think....either way It's a damn lot cheaper than the UK...but as Bibbs mentioned you earn less so it sorta balances out, however bringing your $$ here will be nice.....x3 basicly!!

Ask me some specific questions on living cost's and I can tell ya what i spend etc (me and the missus are RENTING a 2 bedroom place with a single garage in a pretty flash suburb and we pay $220.00 a week rent)

What else ya wanna know?? IF you came to Wellington im sure I could help ya out etc, you could possibly stay with us untill you find a place etc...i assume you will want to flat in the city etc?? anyone comming with you??

Cheers

KiwiMR2

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I suppose I could have PM'd him, but I presumed that Bibbs, an Australian may be able to give me some information (Who drives an MR2) and I only ever see Kiwi post in the MR2 forum (Because he drives an MR2).

So that's why it was in the mr2 forum.

Did it really cause you so much of a problem that it just had to be moved?

like you said in the title it was un mr2 related. Hence it shouldn't have been in the Mr2 forum section.

I did leave a link leading to the general section tho.

If you do need to ask someone a specific question , pm'ing would be the best bet mate.

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Hi there mate,

Firstly, sorry to evryone else for the irrelavence of this topic.

Anyway, I'm thinking of going/coming to NZ in September/October for 6-12months on a working visa..

Ok where to start!! Im sure I remember reading somewhere you were a bobby?? if so our police force is SCREAMING out for more cops.....we took in something like 50 police from the UK around 8-9 months ago, all ranging from new recruits right up to inspectors etc. Anyway what sort of work are you looking for?? I take it this is a working/holiday trip??

I'm just wondering the best place to go (Has to be near a majr airport) Preferably near a good beach with plenty of jobs going..

Hmmm.....well that really means EITHER Wellington (Capital city at the BOTTOM of the North Island) or Auckland (Wannabe capital about 3 quarters up the north island, and the BIGGEST & most populated city in NZ) Obviously Im a bit biased to Wgtn as I live here but it's a hard choice. Both are by MAJOR airports, both have good beachs....especially the Kapiti coast (Wellington upwards about 100-200 km's west coast) but Auckland get's hotter.

And what's the climate like over there? I presume wet in the winter and humind in the summer?

I DON'T really like the weather up there...it's nice and warm but it's REALLY muggy, stuffy sort of heat, and much to the suprise of the nation they had mopre rain than Wellington last year :) Wellington is known as the WINDY city...it CAN get quite windy, actully there is usually some sort of breeze down here most of the time but that keeps it quite cool in the summer...hot in the sun but often a nice refreshing breeze.....on the other hand 90-100 KPH northlys aren't un-common, and during winter COLD southerlys are pretty regular. Less FROSTS down here but most definitly colder in the winter. Auckland is HUGE....there is the main city an then like 10-15 small towns/suburbs spread out over 200 km's, I HATE that...SO easy to get lost and the traffic is REALLY bad....takes a couple of hours to get across town sometimes. Wellington gets bumper to bumper on the motorway ONLY at peak times, I live 60 km's out of the city and drive in and out 5 days a week, hour to get in, 40 mins to get out. As I mentioned above work will depend on what your intrested in but bothcity's have plenty of jobs.

I really havn't got much of a clue, so any help would be appreciated. I've been looking into this for a while and it seems that the cost of living is cheaper in NZ than Australia... so I'm trying to weight things up.

Now that's a hard one...VERY similar living cost's between the 2 countries I think....either way It's a damn lot cheaper than the UK...but as Bibbs mentioned you earn less so it sorta balances out, however bringing your $$ here will be nice.....x3 basicly!!

Ask me some specific questions on living cost's and I can tell ya what i spend etc (me and the missus are RENTING a 2 bedroom place with a single garage in a pretty flash suburb and we pay $220.00 a week rent)

What else ya wanna know?? IF you came to Wellington im sure I could help ya out etc, you could possibly stay with us untill you find a place etc...i assume you will want to flat in the city etc?? anyone comming with you??

Cheers

KiwiMR2

Thanks a LOT for all that!

I am in the police at the minute, but I'm thinking bout taking a 'career break' so I can have up to 18 months off to do what I like.. So I'm starting to save now.

I'd like to do any kind of work, any at all. My plan is just to eran through the weeks and spend it on living and travelling about. Mainly along the coast: Which brings me to another question.

In the UK we have a place that pretty much everyone has been on a holiday to, Cornwall... Which is the kind of place I'd like to go to. On the coast, plenty of young people/backpackers with lots of extreme sports to do. I'm not oo keen on cities. Can you think of any area of NZ that's the equivalent?

I don't mind wind, I have a powerkite... which would be good.

I really appreciate the offer of your help, Yeah I may be bringing a friend if he can save enough money. He does skydiving, he asks if you know of any dropzones around Wellington? As for where I'd like to stay while i'm there, the answer is pretty much anywhere. Not really anywhere permanent as I'd be travelling and moving around the country a lot. So I would say that I'd be staying in a mixture of youth hostels and in my tent.

Again, thanks for answering these questions. :thumbsup:

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I just came back from a holiday in NZ & if your looking for somewhere to do a lot of extreme type sports/watersports then Queenstown would be the place for you, its south of the south island. Its where the worlds first bungee jump was made. Really nice town too. :thumbsup:

I had a brush with the NZ police too, got done for speeding, 125kmh on the longest, straightest, quietest road you will ever see!! But they catch you coming towards them over there not from behind, $175 for the privledge! :crybaby:

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I had a brush with the NZ police too, got done for speeding, 125kmh on the longest, straightest, quietest road you will ever see!! But they catch you coming towards them over there not from behind, $175 for the privledge! :crybaby:

Have I talked to you on IMOC?? They can get ya from in front, & behind from there driving car, they have FIXED speed cameras, portable speed carmeras, and they often park up on the side of the road with a hand held laser. Quite a bit of crap going on over here with regards to speeding & fines etc...the general feeling is there not policing anymore there revenue gathering......most people complain they need to spend more time stopping thefts & rapes etc and less time trying to ticket people for going 5 kph over the limit!!

I just came back from a holiday in NZ & if your looking for somewhere to do a lot of extreme type sports/watersports then Queenstown would be the place for you, its south of the south island. Its where the worlds first bungee jump was made. Really nice town too.  :thumbsup:

Indeed Queenstown is the !Removed! nit however as you mention it's wayyyyy down south, it would be worth while taking a domestic flight down there for a week and then heading back up north where it's warm and more to do ;)

I am in the police at the minute, but I'm thinking bout taking a 'career break' so I can have up to 18 months off to do what I like.. So I'm starting to save now.

Fair enough.....dunno how you will get on with causal jobs...depends on how you do it. Ideally you want to have enough cash saved up to do the North island a possibly a flight down south and back, once you have seen and done heaps you can possibly sorta settle in one of the touristy holiday towns and work/play there. Either way if for some reason you did wanna do some policing assuming your resonably fit you can pretty much gaurantee a job in the Poilce force.......try and get into the highway patrol and cruise around in one of the kitted Supercharged holdens :P and then become one of the one's everyone moans about for revenue gathering ;) The problem with regards to that is the highway patrol have targets/quota's they are required to meet each month...and you cantell too as at the end of the month there out and about more.

In the UK we have a place that pretty much everyone has been on a holiday to, Cornwall... Which is the kind of place I'd like to go to. On the coast, plenty of young people/backpackers with lots of extreme sports to do. I'm not oo keen on cities. Can you think of any area of NZ that's the equivalent?

As mentioned Queenstown is well worth a visit, Lake to do water sports, mountain to ski on, and things like Bungy jumping and the fly by wire...Oh and paragliding & skydiving. EVERYONE has been to the Mount (Mount Maunganui ) that has a GREAT beach and plenty to do. To be honest you really need to buy a ****ty diseal 4wd pajero or hilux and just drive around the North island...REALLY easy to do and if you get diseal it will be cheap. There will be heaps of Backpackers and bed & breakfast places to stay at cheap places...and yeah, camping...HEAPS of places!!

I don't mind wind, I have a powerkite... which would be good.

Again HEAPS of nice long beachs you can do this.....we have land windsurfing too....like a windsurfing sail on a base with 3 wheels and you lie down in it...goes pretty fast too!!

He does skydiving, he asks if you know of any dropzones around Wellington?

There will be places in Wellington.....actully all over the country :)

He might be intrested in looking here:

http://www.piperpat.co.nz/nz/tourism/sky.html

Cheers

KiwiMR2

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All this information is great, I honestly didn't know where to start. I'm pretty clued up on the visa side but I knew next to nothing about the actual place.

About the deisel 4x4 thing, would you be able to take a rough guess at how much one would go for, split two ways, me and a friend: it might work out cheaper than using planes. What's insurance like over there and do you have to play road tax etc?

Thanks again!

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I hired a car for 2 weeks in Oz .. came to £145 quid each ..

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All this information is great, I honestly didn't know where to start. I'm pretty clued up on the visa side but I knew next to nothing about the actual place.

About the deisel 4x4 thing, would you be able to take a rough guess at how much one would go for, split two ways, me and a friend: it might work out cheaper than using planes. What's insurance like over there and do you have to play road tax etc?

Thanks again!

You should be able to pick up some type of deisel 4x4 or van for between $800 & $2000 TOTAL (So $273.00-$685.00 GBP's) Have a look on trademe:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/mcat-0001%2D0052%...r-price_asc.htm

What's insurance like over there and do you have to play road tax etc?

It's not compulsary here....if I were you and it's a ****ter beater vehicle I wouldn't bother.......however IF you go deisel there are road user charges to pay on those vehicles, you pay in 1,000km units (or multiples of 1,000):

http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/factsheets/38.html

Whatever you buy just has to have a warrant of fitness (wof......has to pass some test's, probably like your mot) every 6 months, and a current registration (rego) bought for either 3, 6, or 12 month periods ($57.00-$200.00)

I hired a car for 2 weeks in Oz .. came to £145 quid each ..

It's an option but you will spend the cost of a ****ty car in a matter or weeks as you HAVE to have full insurance, and pay rental & gas plus a fee per km etc etc

When were you thinking of coming??

Cheers

KiwiMR2

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  • 2 weeks later...

Might even have a car for ya......were importing a Reflet F for our storeman at work and he has a 1988 Honda Prelude, 2 door sunroof, cruise control....top model of it's time, it was owned buy a little old lady since new and garaged, has 130,000 km's GENUINE on the clock and I mentioned to him $1000 in november and he sounded keen.....that's like $170 GBP's each ;)

See what happens aye :)

Cheers

KiwiMR2

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  • 2 months later...

Questions time again, hope you don't mind.

We've booked our flights for the 30th November, from London Heathrow arriving in Auckland on December 2nd.

Just a quicky, what type of plug-sockets do you have out there? Just thinking we might need to buy adapters for our Battery chargers for MD/MP3 players and Digi Cams.

I read in my Globetrotter guide that you use 3-pin plugs.

like this?

plug.jpg

If so, I'll need an adapter.

PS. Any reccomendations for three young travellers, starting on the North Island? So far we have planned: Raglan, Rangitoto Island, Bay of Islands and Hot Water Beach. We're starting form the top, working down.

We have a place to stay with a skydiving friend of mine for the first week or so. We just need to find an old van (preferably diesel) medium size, big enough for surfboards. Any suggestions?

Thanks again!,

John.

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Questions time again, hope you don't mind.

Not at all :P

Just a quicky, what type of plug-sockets do you have out there? Just thinking we might need to buy adapters for our battery chargers for MD/MP3 players and Digi Cams.

I read in my Globetrotter guide that you use 3-pin plugs.

If so, I'll need an adapter.

Yep...I'd take photo's but my missus has taken the camera over to your part of the world & I don't trust my cell phone camera to take pics that won't confuse you more ;)

Our wall sockets have 3 holes in a triangle shape like in the pick HOWEVER the bottom hole is EXACTLY the same shap and size as the top two not square like in the pic. The stuff we plug into them (like discman's etc) have either 3 or 2 prongs to fit in the wall. Basicly you will need an adaptor to change your "funny" square one ;)

Also we use 240 volts so be aware...wouldn't want to surge or blow any of your gear!! You can either get adaptors at your end b4 you come or heaps of shops here sell them.

PS. Any reccomendations for three young travellers, starting on the North Island? So far we have planned: Raglan, Rangitoto Island, Bay of Islands and Hot Water Beach. We're starting form the top, working down.

The place's you mention are cool.....Rangitoto island is cool, boat ride over then nice 2 hour hike to the top with a walkthrough of a cave that lave has caused on the way up. In Auckland city the "Sky tower" is worth a trip to the top of as it will give you a REALLY good view & you can see the layout of the land. Raglan has REALLY REALLY good surf...been a few years since I had my last surf but look here for details:

http://www.surf.co.nz/regions/nz/

These are the BIG NAME, worth a stop one's:

Piha....CAN BE dangerous

KareKare....similar to Piha

Whangamata

Ohope Beach

Mount Maunganui...worth a stop just as a good holiday location

White rock

There are a bunch here in Wgtn that I have surfed quite a few times...to be honest the main driving highway really goes down the middle of the North island so pretty much any of the surf spost will pull you off to the coast and will probably involve a night stop over as you will no doubt be pretty buggered after a good surf....cound to be heaps of cheap camp grounds or bed and breakfasts however being summer time then a tent and camp grounds would be my reccomendation :)

The Bay of plenty is well worth a visit as really nice weather & good sight seeing. Down the middle Rotarua is a good place to go to...will STINK as a volcanic area (sulphur smells like farts) but you soon get used to it and there are HEAPS of volcanic wonderlands that are really cool to visit. Then a short drive down to Taupo which is the lake in the middle of the north island....if your into fishing then Trout fishing is a MUST on the lake etc. Then your a short drive to the Mountain (Ruapehu) which is worth a visit for the views etc. From there head out towards Taranaki which has great surf spots etc...or in the other direction is the Hawkes bay regin with again some ok surf and great temps but maybe a bit boring. Then down to Wellington were I am....Main city so heaps to do...night life etc and on the Ferry across to the south island and on from there :)

You might wanna head up above Auckland b4 heading down..some cool stuff up at the top & just out of auckland is:

http://www.waiwera.co.nz/

COOL water slides etc...well worth a visit and not to far from Auckland.

Whirling Rides and Waterslides including:

Twister, Speedslide, The Choobs & Black Hole

Or try all the eight Waterslides. It's the hottest, coolest wettest rides around!

We have a place to stay with a skydiving friend of mine for the first week or so. We just need to find an old van (preferably diesel) medium size, big enough for surfboards. Any suggestions?

Thanks again!,

John.

Don't buy from a dealer....buy Private and start here:

www.trademe.co.nz

One's like:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/L...on-15740618.htm

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...on-16027306.htm

http://www.trademe.co.nz/structure/auction...asp?id=15880282

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...on-16017105.htm

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/L...on-15939555.htm

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/L...on-16158474.htm

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/L...on-15946575.htm

And the list goes on :)

Hope that helps a bit.

Cheers

KiwiMR2

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Thanks for all this info, it's helping..... :D

Also we use 240 volts so be aware

Cool, so do we. No probs there, I'll just bring an adapter :thumbsup:

...to be honest the main driving highway really goes down the middle of the North island so pretty much any of the surf spost will pull you off to the coast and will probably involve a night stop over

Well we're syaing for anywhere up to a year. We plan to travel from Auckland, up to the top of the North Island, then back down Via Raglan, Lake Taupo, Rotarue etc. and then down to Wellington. When we get to the South Islan we want to head along the East coast, making trips inland every-so often to National Parks and Lakes etc.

That surf site is pretty good, thanks. I've also been reading about sharks. We don't tend to have many round these parts! I've read that the south-part of the south island has a few Great Whites.... But if there's other people in the sea. Then I don't have a problem with that. Could give me some interesting stories :thumbsup:

I wouldn't mind doing to shark-diving when I'm over there actually.

Bay of Plenty sounds like a must too. We want to tarvel on the coast as much as we can, for surfing etc. And also making trips inland for a few weeks at a time for the scenery.

We'll mostly be camping, do you think it would be easy to find remote spots just to pitch a tent? Looking at the pictures of the landscape, I don't think it would be a problem in some places to hide ourselves awya for a few nights.

Thanks for the links for vans. We'll see if we can find an internet cafe while we're over there and get looking. Why do you say to stay away from the Dealers? Bad reps?

I think that's about it, for now!

Thanks again mate,

John :thumbsup:

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Well we're syaing for anywhere up to a year. We plan to travel from Auckland, up to the top of the North Island, then back down Via Raglan, Lake Taupo, Rotarue etc. and then down to Wellington. When we get to the South Islan we want to head along the East coast, making trips inland every-so often to National Parks and Lakes etc.

Good stuff....sounds like a good plan, your gonna love it!!

That surf site is pretty good, thanks. I've also been reading about sharks. We don't tend to have many round these parts! I've read that the south-part of the south island has a few Great Whites.... But if there's other people in the sea. Then I don't have a problem with that. Could give me some interesting stories  :thumbsup:

I wouldn't mind doing to shark-diving when I'm over there actually.

Yeah only in the DEEP south for that.....Dunedin and down. To be honest it can happen up north too but they either don't bother you OR you will see everyone scrambling out of the sea....jsut follow suit ;)

Iv'e only ever been bothered by Seals & Killer whales (White Rock) however the killer whales kept a bit of a distance...the seals just bother ya a bit.

Bay of Plenty sounds like a must too. We want to tarvel on the coast as much as we can, for surfing etc. And also making trips inland for a few weeks at a time for the scenery.

Again a good plan :)

We'll mostly be camping, do you think it would be easy to find remote spots just to pitch a tent? Looking at the pictures of the landscape, I don't think it would be a problem in some places to hide ourselves awya for a few nights.

Shouldn't be a problem at all HOWEVER.....IF you wanna camp on someone's farm/paddock make the effort to go to the house and just ASK.....9 times out of 10 farmers etc would be more then happy for you to plop a tent on there land as long as you have curtousy to just ASK & close the gates ;)

Otherwise heaps of camping grounds for a few bucks a night.

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  • 3 weeks later...

7 weeks to go!

With regards to insurance for the van. We're not planning on getting any as I'm pretty sure it isn't required. Would you be able to give us a ballpark figure as to how much it would cost a 19/20 year old to get insured on an old van (as cheaply as possible!)..... would you say it was worth it to even bother?

I've got a Surf NZ book which will be handy for shark/rip warnings!

Our plan is to camp aound, chill out surfing through the summer and to see as much of NZ as possible, switching between beaches and countryside.

Then maybe as it gets to winter, head to the Southern Alps and try to get some work in the ski resorts.

Hopefully returning via Fiji or maybe through Asia, Vietnam etc!

Can't wait now. Counting the days...

Thanks for all this,

John :thumbsup:

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