Tulips Trams and Tunnels

We arrived at the final destination of our NZ tour, Christchurch, on Friday. We started Saturday with a walking tour of the Garden City, and then it was a tourist tram trip around the city centre followed by visits to the Art Gallery and the Museum. Our two evenings have been spent at a wine bar with live music (very enjoyable).

Today we spent the morning at the Antarctic Centre where we experienced a blizzard and went for a ride in Hagglunder and saw some more penguins. This afternoon we went for a drive to get our last dose on NZ scenery. It was then a short walk that included a tunnel that was built during WW2 to service gun emplacements.

Tomorrow it’s back over the ditch to the West Island (this is what the Kiwi’s call Australia)

Architecture Boulders and Birds

Our journey today commenced in Dunedin where we drove the world’s steepest street. Then it was on to the town of Ranfurly which is renowned for its Art Deco architecture. Unlike Napier which had to rebuild after an earthquake, a series of suspicious fires was the genesis of Ranfurly architectural renaissance. The hillsides on the way were covered with a fresh smattering of snow and we experienced a few spots while we were on our walking tour of Ranfurly (It was 1 degree c this morning).

It was then back to nature studies to inspect the Moeraki Boulders on the beach at Kaihinaki before travelling on to Oamaru where we are staying tonight. We visited one of the penguin colonies here before walking the streets to inspect the architecture of the prosperous colonial era when Oamaru was the centre of a gold mining and agricultural district. (If you look very closely at the beach photo you may see a yellow eyed penguin)

The locals were out boating today.

Scales, Feathers and Fur

On Monday we rolled in to Invercargill the home of the fastest Indian, Burt Munro, who was featured at the local museum along with the lizard like reptiles the tatauro that are bred there. These creatures survive from dinosaur times and one of the breeding males was claimed to have been born in the late 19th century. Located alongside the museum were impressive gardens that we strolled for a couple of hours. They included an aviary with some of NZ’s and exotic parrots.

It was more nature on Tuesday with a trip across to Stewart Island, a trip around the bay in a semi-submersible boat and then a guided walk on a nearby island to explore some of NZ’s unique bird and plant life. We saw a Weka in the wild.

Our nature studies continued today with scenic drive through the Catlins region and on to Dunedin. Along with the shags on the rocks we saw yellow eyed penguins, NZ fur seal, paradise ducks, oyster catchers, blue winged albatross, puketo et al.

We also saw some locals out camping.

Steam Ships to Jet Boats

Yes, it’s getting tough on this holiday. Another day another lake each with a local claim: the longest, the deepest, the most beautiful. Each day another means of water transport a vintage steam ship in Queenstown, a motor vessel to cruise the fiords of Milford Sound and today a Jet Boat down the river at Te Anau to Lake Manapouri.













And the weather, sunshine and tee shirts on our way from Queenstown to Te Anau on Friday followed yesterday by rain starting with a light drizzle that developed into a teaming storm on our trip to Milford Sound. There was so much rain that waterfalls emerged everywhere and we could hardly see the snow-capped mountains. It was touch and go whether the Milford Sound cruise would proceed. It did and by the time we reached the Tasman Sea it was sunshine again. And the scenery at Milford Sound was so bad we only took 168 photos.

















After the Jet Boat ride today there was nothing to do, so Adrian bought a fishing license. It took longer to buy the licence than to catch a fish. On his second cast he landed a tiddler (a 54cm rainbow trout). And then we had to eat the bloody thing. Not sure whether we can put up with this much longer.

Riders in the Sky – Helicopters to Gondolas

Tuesday was an action packed day with a helicopter fight and glacier landing on Franz Josef followed by trip over to nearby Fox Glacier for a walk around Matheson Lake and then it was over to the beach at Okarito for night walk in search of Kiwi in the wild. It took 4 and half hours with renowned guide Kiwi Ian but the search for the elusive kiwi was eventually successful. We started with a 40 minute walk deep into kiwi country and eventually sighted the kiwi within 40 metres of the carpark.


From Franz Joseph we travelled down the coastline and then up through the Wanaka Lake district and on to Queenstown. We have been having a lazy day today in Queenstown wandering the streets and park, going for a gondola ride and drinking hot chocolate by the foreshore. We are booked on a lake cruise for this evening.