Christchurch - Gold Coast
Posted on December 8, 2010
Christchurch - Gold Coast
Last day. Pretty sad, but we are ready for home. Returned the van with hardly a scratch. They were impressed I hadn't had a bump (apparently this is quite rare!).
Then off to the airport for our flight. The kids were so good. Jaron is now a cool calm and collected air traveller and took it all in his stride, even snoozing during takeoff.
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Little River - Akaroa - Christchurch
Posted on December 7, 2010
Little River - Akaroa - Christchurch
Our final full day in New Zealand. It's a little sad, but we have a beautiful place to spend our last day. Akaroa is quite stunning, great scenery and the township itself is rather interesting. Had a big French influence as the French set up a colony here in very early settler days (despite the darn British beating them to the peninsula and plonking their flag in first).
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Lake Pukake - Lake Tekapo - Little River
Posted on December 6, 2010
Lake Pukake - Lake Tekapo - Little River
Spent some time this morning at the Salmon Farm that we were staying at - fed the King Salmon which the kids enjoyed. I'm usually quite wary of fish farms, but this looks to be a really good one. Highest altitude Salmon farm on earth, the fish get a good workout due to the fast flowing water and the water quality is as good as it get's.
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Curio Bay - Invercargill - Catlins - Dunedin
Posted on December 5, 2010
Curio Bay - Invercargill - Catlins - Dunedin
Set off from Curio Bay around the South Coast, destination - "The Catlins", an area that had been recommended to us by a few people.
First we had to go through Invercargill though, which I'd been told by someone was "The Arse-End of NZ" - so didn't have high expectations. It turned out quite a nice city - the city planner had put in very wide streets when it was gazetted which makes for a nice place.
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Dunedin - Muraki Boulders - Oamaru
Posted on December 5, 2010
Dunedin - Muraki Boulders - Oamaru
Dunedin is lovely - the centre has some beautiful stone colonial buildings and it doesn't seem to "sprawl" to badly as I've seen in a lot of cities around the world.
Parked up at the Railway Station (which is one of the best buildings in city in itself) as a base to do a bit of city exploring (which we haven't done much of since Christchurch).
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Oamaru - Lake Pukake
Posted on December 5, 2010
Oamaru - Lake Pukake
I really like Oamaru... it's got a really nice feel about it. I think it used to be a big port - but a lot of the industry died away. It could easily have gone the way of Westport but it seems to have created a nice little arts scene for itself and has retained and maintained a lot of it's old buildings.
We headed for the Whitestone Cheese Factory and bought a load of stuff (I am munching on crackers with their Waitaki Camembert as I write this - yum).
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Manapoura - Curio Bay
Posted on December 4, 2010
Manapoura - Curio Bay
Heading for the South Coast now and the road getting very quiet, lots of little stops today, one that was a nice surprise was Monkey Island (not related to computer game and sadly no monkeys there) kids loved this little island and we ended up having a nice lunch there.
Then onwards around the south coast - lots of really impressive windswept trees, we wanted to stop to take pictures but the kids were sleeping nicely so - ONWARD.
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Manapoura - Curio Bay
Posted on December 2, 2010
Manapoura - Curio Bay
Heading for the South Coast now and the road getting very quiet, lots of little stops today, one that was a nice surprise was Monkey Island (not related to computer game and sadly no monkeys there) kids loved this little island and we ended up having a nice lunch there.
Then onwards around the south coast - lots of really impressive windswept trees, we wanted to stop to take pictures but the kids were sleeping nicely so - ONWARD.
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Queenstown - Te Anau - Milford Sound
Posted on December 2, 2010
Queenstown - Te Anau - Milford Sound
A big drive today (and start of a bit of an Internet blackout) - we decided to drive straight through to Milford Sound so we can get an early boat in the morning and beat the crowds (and not get stuck behind 10 coaches)
Queenstown - Te Anau was a beautiful drive - Carla picked the timing of our trip to perfection and all the wild flowers are out in full force.
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Queenstown
Posted on November 29, 2010
Queenstown. A day of action (and our highest budget day!). It's amazing what you can fit into a day when you put you're mind to it and hat's off to Carla for organising lots of really cool things for us. Quick summary:
Carla and Jaron on the Shotover Jet Boat. They loved it - even Carla the scare-de-cat!
Boat trip on the TSS Earnshaw to Walter Peak Highland farm.
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