The drive to Queenstown was lovely. Through mountains and by the side of beautiful lakes, and we stopped a long the Haast Pass to see the Blue Lakes. These are super clear glacier-fed deep azure blue pools. From here, we headed to Wanaka and had a lovely mooch around town, doing some shopping, eating yummy ice creams and sitting by the lake in the lovely sunshine. From here we made the longish journey, arriving in Queenstown in the early evening. We stayed in a lovely holiday park in the mountains, just outside the town and enjoyed a lovely dinner before an early night...lots of driving today.

We spent the next day exploring Queenstown which was a lovely Alpine, vibrant town full of cafes, shops, a lovely lake and beautiful sunshine. We had a lovely lunch and a walk around town, did some shopping and spent some money before heading back to the holiday park to relax on the terrace, eating brie, alioli, sun-dried tomatoes, stuffed pepperdews, crusty bread.....yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmy!

Before leaving Queenstown, we booked some of our honeymoon - yeahhhh! and then had a long-ish journey to Dunedin through some real red-neck and backwater towns and villages before arriving.

We had a morning trip up the Otago Peninsula to the Royal Albatross Centre at the tip, Taiaroa Head. Here we had a guided tour to see the albatross. There were only a few looking after their chicks (who were born 2 weeks ago) which was nice to see. Some interesting facts about albatross:
1) They have a wingspan of around 3 metres
2) They can glide for up to 12 days without landing
3) They have salt glands behind their eyes which takes the salt out of the sea water they drink and pumps it out of their nostrils on the top of their bill which make it seem they are crying all the time
4) They don't return to their nesting ground for the first 5 years of their lives
5) They partner for life (although some females have been known to have affairs!!)

From here, we headed back to the city. I was disappointed with Dunedin. It is billed as a city full of 'astonishing and beautiful architecture' but all the buildings, while old and dating back to 1873, were really dirty and in need of a good sand blast in my opinion. We did a heritage walk around the city before stopping for lunch and then heading back to the holiday park to read, watch TV and plan the rest of the trip. Not many days left in NZ now!

From Dunedin, we headed North to Oamaru which was lovely. Again, this town is famous for its architecture but this time it did not disappoint. There were lots of lovely Victorian and Edwardian heritage buildings dotted all over the place and mainly made out of limestone in the 19th century when it was discovered in the town.Oamaru has the largest collection of protected heritage buildings in New Zealand. We even managed to find an old penny farthing (although I had to keep correcting Max as he didn't pronounce the 'th' so it came out as Penny Farting!!) and he had a sit on it. We didn't have time to take one for a spin!

After lunch, we headed further North to Timaru. On the way we heard the awful news that a cyclone had hit Aitutaki (where we are heading next week in the Cook Islands) so we were a bit upset for the rest of the journey and pretty subdued for the rest of the evening! Flights are still going and Raratonga is ok and we even managed to call our hotel in Aitutaki and it is still standing
and there is no damage...just debris! I have a feeling it won't be the paradise I was looking for (so Max has promised we can go to another paradise island if this one has now been ruined). Luckily there was no loss of life.

We spent the rest of the day mooching, reading in the sunshine and after dinner we managed to book some more of our honeymoon which was great. We have found some beautiful hotels!

Before leaving Timaru, we headed to Caroline Bay (not beautiful like everyone said it was) and headed to the city for a heritage walk and to buy some second hand books for our Cook Islands trip before heading further North and to our final NZ destination, Christchurch.

Christchurch is a small, lovely town full of lovely architecture, great gardens and nice shops. We did a heritage walk of the city before heading to the botanical gardens for a stroll, an icecream and a walk through the rose gardens, the bonsai garden and the beautiful begonia glasshouse. After the city tour we headed to the cinema to see 'Valentine's Day' which was a cute 'feel good in love' film and then like two teenagers on a first date, we went from the cinema to Pizza Hut. We had had a lovely day.

From Christchurch, the next day we flew to Auckland and chilled out at the hotel, watching TV and enjoying each other's company...a great Valentine's Day.. and we get another one tomorrow in Raratonga as they are 23 hours behind New Zealand...rather unique!
...And so ends our month in New Zealand and what a fantastic adventure we have had. It is a truly beautiful country. Our favourite times were climbing Mount Tongarriro and celebrating in the chateau, strolling hand in hand around Wanaka and Queenstown in the beautiful sunshine and taking the helicopter flight over Mount Cook..amazing times!