Hi All
We really enjoyed our time in Australia. 1st May we flew to Auckland (north Island) New Zealand. Spent a couple of days in the city. Took a boat ride over to one of the islands offshore from the city. Beautiful day bright sunshine. Waiheke island was lovely. We did a guided tour and our 'man' at the wheel was very good, full of local knowledge. Saw lots of vineyards some fantastic beaches and nice little villages. The views were great so hope some of my pictures do it justice. On 4th May we flew to the south island and caught shuttle bus to Christchurch. It was like driving through a suburb of Surrey. Lot of New Zealand (and Australia for that matter) feels a bit like the U.K. circa 1950. Fairly safe a bit old fashioned but the people seem very proud of their environment and it shows.
We hired a car and drove through some lovely countryside to the Marlborough region (very famous wine growing place) to check out some of the vineyards. Blenheim town was a bit strange but visits to Wither hills, Villa Maria and Cloudy Bay were great. We then drove over to the west coast town of Westport through some stunning scenery huge gorges snow capped mountains etc. Next day was even better as we drove on down towards Haast which was our next stopping place on our way down to Queenstown. Big lakes and huge snow covered mountains against a blue sky. It could not get much better than that. Most of the bars and restaurants had big roaring fires which were much needed as it was very cold. Locals were complaining that winter had arrived early but we loved the views of autumn colours against snow. We even stopped by a glacier! Found a good lodge with great views over the lake to stay in for a couple of nights. We did a really exciting jet boat ride on the Shotover river. We were provided with waterproofs (which were needed) and life jackets as we did some very fast spins and turns which gave us all a great shower. Queenstown is a very lively town full of water sports boat rides and for winter good skiing. Our lodge looked out to a mountain range called "The Remarkables"
2343 meters high and the only other range that runs true North to South apart from the Rockies. Drove back from Queenstown on 10th through a snow blizzard on Lindis Pass, and arrived back in Christchurch in pouring rain. We flew back to Auckland the next day and hired a car for a tour of the North island. Our first stop was Tauranga. We were hoping to do some dolphin watching but it was not the right season so boats were not going out on those trips. Next day moved on to Rotorua (which is the volcanic capital of N.Z.) Nice town. Took a trip to do a tour of Te Puia, a Maori valley. The guide was very good and we heard stories of Maori history, saw inside one of their meeting houses, wood carving and weaving schools, a couple of live Kiwis and mud pools and a huge geyser. Next day went to Wai-o-Tapu (a thermal wonderland) to see the 'famous' Lady Knox geyser which erupts daily at 10.15 a.m. Needless to say it has a bit of help to be able to be so predictable but quite impressive non the less! Lots of sulphur and mud pools of all shapes and colours so interesting but a bit smelly!!! After a very long drive we ended up near Hawks Bay and had a stop over in a strange little town called Wairoa. Next day we took to the road again and followed coast to Gisborne. Nice town. Drove over to opposite coast back to the 'Bay of Plenty' to a little local place called Opotiki. Had a good glass of wine then moved on to Whakatane to stay the night. Town is right on the river and has a great view of White Island which is New Zealands only active marine volcano. We are now back in Auckland and preparing ourselves for our next long flight which is to Lima (via Santiago) on Wednesday 20th May. Will update again when we get the chance.