ONWARDS TO BLENHEIMWe headed to Nelson and did some Nelson type things- a visit to Lake Rotoiti in the Nelson National Park- the most picturesque lake I have ever seen- a wander round the World of Wearable Art- Kezz didn't enjoy it very much but Mo and I had a ball-the best was dinner in Bar Delicious -fried Groper on a potato stack followed by Crème Brule- Mo and Kezz had pasta with seafood sauce and homemade tiramisu- not a scrap left--then just in time to get...

Glow worm cottages for Christmas.Did you know that the bit that shines out in the dark is glow worm poo exposed to oxygen! We didn't actually have glow worms in our cottage- thankfully- only nearby in some caves.The backpackers was a series of individual sheds- oops- units- joined to one another- each with its own tiny bathroom and a couple of shelves, a sink, a kettle and a two ringed burner optimistically known as 'a kitchen'.Not much floor space for all our ju...

We'll be coming round the mountains.Somewhere between Invercargill and Te Anu the landscape changed and we entered the land of mountains. The scenery was stunning even in the variable weather and Morag thought that at last she had found the 'real' New Zealand.We debated hard and long about the cost of the 'big trip'- taking the boat across Lake Manapouri to the power station and then a bus across this weird bit of hill road in the middle of nowhere which joins th...

Hong Kong;Sadly the hostel at 5 Man Fuk Road had no space for me and at the last minute I booked myself into a rather expensive hotel in order to guarantee a place to stay.The flight was fine- as many of you will have noticed I managed to get my Christmas cards written somewhere between Glasgow and London but afterweeks of going at 100mph in order to get away, I arrived in HK with my brain like mush and walked straight into the arms of the charlatans. A very char...