The Otago Pennisula is just south of Dunedin and is one of New Zealand’s most renowned ecotourism areas. Our first stop on the Pennisula was to visit Larnarch Castle, the gorgeous home built by a wealthy merchant and politician in 1871. It was interesting to walk through the various gardens surrounding the castle. Next we drove to Sandfly Bay, a very pretty bay where we saw many sea lions. They were not at all afraid of people. Sea lions prefer sandy shores...

Today we toured Dunedin. Since we are staying an extra night at this campground, we took a taxi to the town centre and did a lot of walking from there. What a great town!First we went to the Otago Settlers Museum which had a wonderful transportation exhibit; Bob enjoyed the old coaches, cars, motorcycles and even an old travel trailer. It also had exhibits from the early settlers of Dunedin. The train station was practically next door and is gorgeous, as you'...

Our campground in Oamaru adjoined the city botanical garden. Our tour guide last night said it was one of NZ’s best gardens, so we took a walk through it this morning. We were very glad we did, because it really is a special place. They have a wonderful area for children (note the SpongeBob and Humpty Dumpty photos), a section with exotic birds, a beautiful greenhouse, a Chinese garden, and many flowering plants, trees and fountains.We drove through town to...

We took the opportunity of being in South Island’s largest city, Christchurch, to do some shopping for items to use in the campervan. We also shopped at a large grocery store. We are really limited in space in the refrigerator, or I would have stocked up for a week. As it is, we can only shop a couple of days at a time. We did buy a small cooler and some ice bricks for beverages. We're good to go!The four hour drive to Oamaru was scenic; lots of pastor...

It's hard to believe that we've been here a week already. We were on the road by 6:30 AM for the five hour drive from Wanaka to Christchurch. We drove for two hours without seeing another vehicle. It was a cloudy morning, so the lakes did not look as blue as they did last weekend. We arrived in Christchurch in time to do some sightseeing. Christchurch is described as the most English of NZ's cities. We visited Victoria Park and watched punting on th...