We have now spent 2 months in New Zealand – 1 month in the North Island and 1 month in the South Island.  We must say that we liked the North Island but we both liked the South Island better.  The people in the North were friendly and helpful but the people in the South Island were lovely and went out of their way to help you and chat to you. We have seen so much of both the islands and on the whole we have had reasonable weather, sometimes a little chilly and sometimes beautiful sunshine, but we both agree that the South Island is more stunning and has more dramatic scenery.

Since our last post – which i am sorry to say didn’t come up at the top of the webpage for some time so you might have missed it we have completed the circuit round the south island.

From the Catlins we went into Dunedin.  Here we travelled on the Old Gorge Railway up to Pukerangi over a couple of viaducts and through many tunnels. We both enjoyed our first train trip.  The train mainly followed the Taieri River.

 

We had a pleasant afternoon on the train.  That evening we stayed in a camp ground just outside of town and went to see the glow worms in a dell just 5 mins walk from the site.  These creatures are amazing, shining their little lights light fairy lights in the darkness.

 

The following day we took a drive into town to see the steepest road in the world – Baldwin Street.  Didn’t look that steep at the bottom but goes us quite sharply.  This means we have see the steepest and travelled on the second steepest road in the world – Wahoo check us out!  A short visit to the Botanic Gardens to see the Rhododendrons in full bloom – glorious – (I am turning into my parents!) and Bob made friends with a lemon crested cockatiel who wanted to have tea with him!  A search for a geocache was also on the menu today which was found.

 

   

Dunedin has a lot of street art adorning the sides of buildings so we went on a little tour of these.

 

 

The final event of that day was going round the Speight’s Brewery.  We had a joker of a tour guide who kept on informing us of all the companies that Speight’s had bought.  It was a good tour and ended up with a tasting of their fine ales.

 

Here is the Railway Station a stunning building as you can see!

This we spotted in someone’s front garden a strange sight…

After leaving Dunedin we passed Moeraki Boulders – turtle shaped huge stones on the beach.  What we have noticed in Australia and New Zealand and especially New Zealand they are tourist focussed and if they can make something out of nothing they will just to attract tourists! Carried on north through Oamaru and then onto Twizel.  The weather was rotten by the time we got to Twizel and the town is tiny.

Following morning drove to the foot of Mount Cook passing the bright blue Lake Pukaki.  Here we took a helicopter flight over Mount Cook, Tasmin Glacier, Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier.  We sat in the front of the helicopter so had great views.  We landed on the glacier to take photos and look around a bit.  It was a wonderful flight – the mountain were dramatic and the snow so white!

 

 

In the afternoon we fulfilled on of the items on Bob’s bucket list a glider flight.  We drove to Omarama and they had a space right then to take him up.  They kitted him up with his parachute and had a safety talk and he was on his way.  They were towed up to 2,500 feet and then caught a thermal and went up in tight circles to over 6,000feet then up to 7,000feet and then zigzagged along the ridge line.  They even did a loop to loop!!!!He Had an absolute ball!!! What a day we had both had!

 

 

 

This last one was taken during the loop…. Wahoo!!

Next stop was Timaru, nice little town with a wonderful beach/park complex.  We visited Aigantighe (pronounced ‘egg and tie’) gallery where we looked at the paintings and sculptures.

 

We then had one night just outside Christchurch and on the Sunday morning went to the Cardboard Cathedral for a service.  The transitional cathedral has been in operation nearly 5 years as they cannot decide what to do with the Cathedral in the city.  the church wants to pull it down and build a contemporary church but the heritage people want to keep the old building and restore it.  So much so it is now standing ruined and has been for many year – the local people are totally fed up with it and want it down but there seems to be much controversy about the whole thing.  After church we headed out as we would ‘do’ Christchurch later in the week.

 

Hanmer Springs was next on the agenda – a great drive to it – very windy roads again and great dramatic landscapes.  Wonderful walks to be had and lots of geocaches to be found!  A visit to the hot springs complex was had and had great fun on the slides and on the whirlpool drop, our kids would have been embarrassed by the squeals and laughter we made coming down them!

 

Kaikoura was after Hanmer Springs.  We had booked a tour to go and see the whales.  We were informed that gale force winds were due that day and did we suffer from motion sickness – luckily we don’t.  We set off in the boat and the swells we big – some coming over the boat and the boat was rocking.  Some people were very ill but we were OK and the couple next to us were OK too.  The captain stopped the boat often to listen for whales and finally he said he had heard something.  By this time we should have been heading back to shore.  He checked with us that we could all stay longer than planned (even though I am sure some would have wished to be back on solid ground) and we stayed out to see longer.  Finally the who had been sitting next to me spotted the water jet coming from the blow hole.  We had a good ten minutes with the sperm whale before it took a dive into the deep, giving us a great fluke wave as he went.  We then hurried back to shore as fast as the boat would take us – with more people being sick around us!!!!

 

 

 

After our whale tour we had heard about the Seafood BBQ shack whose reputation is great, so we headed out there for lunch.  when we got there we were told that they had sold out of Cray fish, but as she was saying this a new load came in.  We chose our one and the chef cooked it there and then for us – it was delicious.

 

Akaroa was our final stop before Christchurch. We went right round the coast from French farm to Akaroa and then through Lytteton tunnel back to Christchurch.  Akaroa a small French town.  Really friendly but on the day we visited they had a cruise ship in so was busier than normal.  Again wonderful views.

 

Christchurch.  We are finally here after 5 weeks in the South Island.  We were shocked how bad the city still looked after this time.  Everywhere you look in the central city is building work.  We had a great day touring the city on the historic tram, the motormen (drivers) were very informative and they all told you something slightly different.  We went on a full circuit and then a bit more.  We visited the restart mall, Ballantynes, Cathedral Square and we took a short tour through the Botanical Gardens.

 

  

We have both enjoyed our time in New Zealand and are looking forward to returning to the UK.  We have a few more places to visit before we get there, as we are going via Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Dubai.  We hope to keep the website updated over the next two weeks but not sure what kind of wifi we will have – so watch this space!!!