05.03.11 Auckland to Brunei and Brunei Our night flight from Auckland was delayed by an hour whilst the engineers took out a broken pin from the undercarriage, sourced a new one, and fitted it. No worries, the pilot came out to explain what was going on so all us ladies instantly forgave him. The earthquake has had an effect on new Zealanders travel, so the good news is that Damian and I had 3 seats each and 3 blankets, 3 pillows, 3 Tvs, etc etc but not 3 meal...

01.03.11 Waikawa to Okiwi Bay Scenic Reserve Today we were on the road after mid morning coffee!! We drove first to Katoa Point just North of Waikawa. It is a historic Moari village site, and also a lovely lookout point over The Queen Charlotte Sounds. The present day Maori still live in the area which is great. Their carving skills are still very good as demonstrated by a modern carved pole at the reserve. We headed north towards Blenheim stopping at 12 .5...

04.03.11 Springfield to Arthers Pass, to Christchurch, to Auckland We took our time showering and breakfasting in the still sunny morning. Because it was such a beautiful day we thought we would drive towards Arthers Pass and then back to Christchurch. We began our day with the obligatory coffee break at the local Springfield café. Then we drove up into the pass. We stopped a couple of KM short of the village at Arthers Pass because it was raining and very cl...

03.03.11 Amberley to Christchurch and then to Springfield and Kowai Reserve Today we were up with the lark to watch our final sunrise over the Pacific ocean in the sheltered Pegasus Bay from an Amberley Beach bench. The sun rose at 7.08am, it was somewhat autumnal in temperature so we breakfasted accordingly, hot drink and honey on toast, not quite porridge weather though. We had agreed with Viv and George our Christchurch friends to go to their house mid morn...

02.02.11 Okiwi scenic Reserve via Kaikoura and then Amberley We were up for the sunrise over the Pacific ocean, and the early morning freight rain before heading to Kaikora as Liz and Jim were booked on to a whale watching trip at 9.30am. The sea was very rough and it was windy but their captain decided to depart because the whales were in the sheltered bay (unlike for our trip!) There was also a school of 300 dolphins in the bay. These were so close in that D...