New Zealand

We decided to spend a day around on the Otago Peninsula, an almost uninhabited part of Dunedin.

The journey along the banks of the inlet was somewhat precarious with nothing much between us and the water!!! Jan had her buttocks clenched for the whole 28km out to our first port of call, the Taiaroa Royal Albatross Colony. This is the only mainland colony in the world, so reasonably easy to access. We were able to observe these huge (wingspan of 3 metres!!) birds gliding effortlessly around as well as some nesting on the hillside.

We then went to Lanarch Castle - the only castle in New Zealand!! This was another scary journey for Jan, this time up some steep and narrow mountain roads without a crash barrier in sight!!!

The Castle itself was very interesting, giving a good history of life in the early settlement years of the Lanarch family. We really thought we had arrived in Scotland when we were treated to a Scottish Piper at the entrance to the Castle!!!!

Bob then had the bright idea of trying to get down onto a fairly inaccessible beach to see the Yellow Eyed Penguins coming ashore from the day at sea. Having managed to scramble down some very steep sand dunes onto the beach we were confronted by a rather large sea lion. We had been warned they can be aggressive and can run quite fast on land, so decided that discretion was the better part of valour and we would beat a hasty retreat!!!! So, we never got to see the penguins but did get very sandy!!!

We set off early on Sunday morning to view the Moeraki Boulders. We had been told to get there early in order to avoid the crowds and this was good advice. By the time we left there were several coachloads of Chinese and Japanese tourists (just like Oxford) clambering over the stones. These boulders (about 100+) are unusual, as they occur along only a small stretch of the beach and no-one really understands how they have been formed and why this is the only place in the world such things exist.

We have moved on to Oamaru where we hope to be able to get a sighting of both Yellow Eyed and Blue Penguins coming ashore tonight, without coming across any sea lions or sand dunes!!!

We had an uneventful journey across the south of the Island which was 300km of fairly flat, long straight roads, fields full of sheep, deer and cattle. The Southern Alps now being left behind in the distance, the landscape changed to rolling hills and green fields.

Bob has once again been lucky (what's new I can hear you all say!!!) with a win on the New Zealand Lottery!!! Unfotunately he only got a $19 return for his $10, but still - it's better than we usually do in the UK and we will keep trying for the big one!!!

Once we had reached Dunedin (very Scottish due to it's first settlers) and settled in to our motel we set out for what we were told was one of the highlights of the city - Baldwin Street. This is recorded by the Guinness Book of Records as the steepest street in the world - and we can vouch for that!!! Bob bravely took his trainers with a view to run up it, but once he saw it, decided that due to his lack of fitness and increasing girth a gentle stroll was more in keeping!!! He managed to get to the top, whilst Jan managed half way!! (Bob is now the proud holder of a certificate authenticating his achievement, and I am sure you will all see it on our return!!!!).

We then went into the city centre to see the historic buildings for which Dunedin is famous - the Railway Station (apparently the most photgraphed building in NZ), Law Courts, Town Hall and St Paul Church. Surprisingly, we have managed to give Speight's Brewery and Cadbury's World tours a miss, at least for today!!!

We moved yet further southwards to Te Anau and yet again the weather was reasonably kind to us, with sunshine and a few clouds.

On the way we managed to see the old steam train "The Kingston Flyer" which was just about to set off on its journey. It was great to get a glimpse of such a shimmering piece of machinery in action.

We arrived in Te Anau in time to book a trip to the Glowworm Caves across the other side of Lake Te Anau (the second biggest lake in NZ). Well, talk about the sun shining out of your bum!!!! It certainly does with these creatures - but unfortunately we were not allowed to take our cameras into the caves, so you'll just have to take our word for it!!! They certainly were an interesting phenomenon, living just 200m into the caves in total darkness. They eat and shine for 9 months, only to live 2 days as flies - not much of an existence!!! The light shines out of their rear if they are hungry - and boy were there some empty stomachs there!!!

Today we have been to Milford Sound for the day - with an early start to miss the crowds on the coach tours. Unfortunately the day dawned overcast and drizzling but we had been warned that it rains every other day in Milford Sound - apparently it is one of the wettest places on earth!!!! Undeterred we made the 120km drive, booked the next boat out and off we went. Despite the weather the scenery was magnificent and the waterfalls were in full flow (one of the benefits of the rain!!).

We also went to the Underwater Observatory - a facility that allows you to go underwater and see all the sea creatures in their natural habitat!!! It seemed like we were the captors and they were observing us, rather than the other way round!!!

By the time we did the return journey the sun had come out so the views were great and the whole thing another amazing trip for our memory log!!!

On the journey back we stopped off at the Mirror Lakes where - yes you guessed it - they mirror the surrounding countryside!!! The sun was still shining so again we got some stunning pictures!!!

We will now move across the South Island to the East Coast city of Dunedin for a couple of days and then begin the journey back north.

We arrived at Haast, having stopped off for a few walks to admire several waterfalls on the way - and most of them were in full flow because of the rain!!!

Haast is rather a one horse town, but gave Bob a welcome break from the driving in driving rain!!! We did manage a walk on the beach between showers and then relaxed and did some reading and watched a video.

We were then up early the next day for our journey on to Wanaka. A beautiful town at the southern end of Lake Wanaka. The journey down started in the wet and fog, but thankfully we arrived to find sunshine. We wandered round the town and a small craft market before a visit to Puzzling World where there were several interesting puzzles and optical illusions, as well as a maze. We drove out to a few lookouts around the Lake to at last get a few pictures of the mountain tops!!!

We have now travelled on to Queenstown, an area renowned for the extreme sports and adventures that New Zealand is famous for. I got Bob to pull in as we passed the Kawarau River Bridge to watch the bungy jumping!!! Bob was actually tempted to have a go, but in the end decided the rope may not be up to the job!!!

Queenstown itself is very picturesque with two rivers, the Shotover and Kawarau meandering into Lake Wakatipu on which it is situated. It is surrounded by mountains, in particular "The Remarkables" which are what they say!! The sun has been shining for most of our time here, which has enabled us to get out and about a bit more.

We firstly went up to the top of Deer Park Heights to get some magnificent 360 degree views around Queenstown, and also to enjoy the delights of a whole host of animals roaming wild in the area. These included Highland Cattle, Bison, Llamas, Goats, Deer and Sheep, some of which we (or rather Bob) were able to hand feed. This was also the location for the filming of parts of Lord of the Rings and other films.

Today it has been wall to wall blue sky so we have taken time out to walk around the Queenstown Gardens along the lake side and sat and sunbathed near the marina, with Bob itching to have a go on the NZL14 a yacht which took part in the Americas Cup and which now offers trips around the lake for those with sea legs! Unfortunately this was not possible due to lack of numbers and he didn't fancy a solo trip, even across a smooth lake!!!

We then headed to the hills for a trip skywards on the Queenstown Gondola which again offered some amazing views of the surrounding countryside and for a bit of excitement had a go on the luge track which runs around the top edge of the mountain!!!

We arrived in Franz Josef late afternoon, and having called at the Information Centre and booked our accommodation, we headed to check out the possibility of booking a helicopter flight over the glaciers for the next day. We weren't very hopeful as the weather was once again cloudy and wet.

To our amazement the guy said "you are on in 5 minutes - the weather above the clouds is wonderful and sunny". So that was it, we grabbed a jacket and we were off with another couple from Holland.

To say it was amazing was yet another understatement. Neither of us had been in a helicopter before so we were not sure what to expect and it was with some trepidation that we leapt on board. The ride itself was really smooth, although the pilot did treat us to a couple of dive bombs just to churn our stomachs a bit. We managed to thread our way up the valley through gaps in the cloud and once we were above this we swooped up and over to the top of the Franz Josef glacier, with our stomachs left somewhere below!!!

Having flown round and given us an explanation of the glacier, we then flew up over several other peaks and down onto Fox glacier where we landed. We were able to get out and play in the snow - being careful not to fall down any large crevasses!!!

We then flew back down along the route of the glacier, banking backwards and forwards along the hillside where there was a small window in the cloud - another amazing experience!!

We were so lucky to be able to do this (surprise surprise I can hear you say) as the next day the clouds had thickened up so much and the torrential rain meant there were no flights.

With no views of the glaciers the next morning and persistent rain we headed off to our next destination of Haast, a journey of 145km. The end of this day signals our half way point on our journey - it's all downhill from here!!!

We have been struggling to decide which of our many photos to put on our blog as we were originally only allocated 25mb of space each month. However, because of the interest of all of you we have now been upgraded to 100mb per month, which means we should be able to post more photos for you to enjoy. (Less for you to have to sit through when we get home!!!!). So thank you all for your continued interest. Please keep the comments coming as we look forward to logging on to see what you are all saying!!!