It’s a bit odd, after three weeks in a small bus with 14 other people and a schedule to keep to, it is again just me. Two of the group are still in Christchurch and I am going to the airport tomorrow with one of them as we are on the same flight to Sydney, but neither of them are actually in this hotel. And … Continue reading All on my own again

Well the tour has finally finished and a lot of the participants have left or are leaving imminently. I am remaining in the hotel until Sunday when I am off to Sydney. This morning, after breakfast and farewells, three of us went into the centre of Christchurch on the bus. There is still a lot of damage from the earthquake and a lot of building … Continue reading Christchurch

Firstly, apologies to those who were expecting something from last night. The Wi-fi was not good enough in my hotel and it wouldn’t upload. You can read it now. Today we were travelling to Christchurch via the Mount Cook National Park. Absolutely beautiful. We climbed up some terminal moraine (see, the O level geography came in useful finally) to look at the Tasman glacier before … Continue reading The last day

So today has not been the most exciting so far. To start with we went to the Botanic Gardens and the University. The Botanic Gardens were beautiful and very old – started in the 1860s, about the time the town was under construction. Turns out it was an ‘acclimatisation centre’, set up to find out what plants from ‘home’ would grow in NZ. This is … Continue reading Driving from Dunedin

Still very Scottish. Every street is called something like George or Hamilton and there are suburbs called Morningside and Costorphine. There was even a 2020 calendar starting hunky young men in kilts – and very little else. This morning we were supposed to go on a heritage train ride but there were two cruise ships in and they had block booked it all day. Instead, … Continue reading Dunedin. Continued.

Well sorry there was no post yesterday but there was no Wi-fi on our boat. Yes, another boat. Yesterday morning we went from Wanaka to Queenstown. This is the outdoor activities capital of NZ, where they invented the bungy jump. The place is full of backpackers throwing themselves off and into things with added rich retirees with golf courses at the end of the bungalow. … Continue reading Doubtful Sound

Wanaka is a sporty sort of place, full of ads for helicopter rides, jet boats etc. This was our ‘free’ day which meant that Herbie came up with lists of energetic things we could do without him. This morning I went on a ‘cruise’ – actually a half hour speedboat ride across a ‘rather lumpy’ lake – to a protected island with no predators to … Continue reading In Wanaka

So this is Wanaka and I am sitting in the balcony of my room looking at this view and writing to you. Today we continued our drive down the west coast from Fox Glacier Town, starting with a stop at Lake Matheson to see Mount Cook and Mount Tasman reflected in the lake. Wasn’t perfect but not bad. We were supposed to walk to the … Continue reading To Wanaka

This morning we didn’t leave Hokitika until later than usual. We went first to a kiwi centre and finally saw a kiwi. I also saw another tuatara so you get a photo this time. I also introduce you to the Tiger Oscar fish which tidies up its tank and sulks on the bottom with a sad look on its face if it doesn’t like something. … Continue reading Glaciers

Today we have been around the Kahurangi National Park which is in the top westerly corner of the South Island. Apparently it is a rather odd place with no roads and very few hiking tracks. Plants from Australia grow there as that is where they land when blown by the westerly wind. There are also things exclusive to New Zealand such as a carnivorous snail … Continue reading Lots more driving