We were late rising after our late night - it was well after midnight when we got to bed. Still no chance to watch a DVDs or play Rummicub! After the usual morning choirs we headed into Duneden for a quick look round before shopping and fuelling up for our journey into Fiordland. Back onto Highway 1 through lovely countryside of green rolling hills with lots more sheep evident. The sun was shining on us again and temperature was 22 degrees. We had a veery short s...

We were woken by the bright sun shining through the skylight and first looked out of the bedroom window. Wow! Wow! Wow! All the cloud had lifted and the snow covered Mount Cooke was revealed across the lake. All this to ourselves - we are so remote and not seen another person. A quick walk along the lake side before breakfast to try and take in all the views and then back on the road. Back along the unmade road, we hadn't realised how far we had travelled along t...

An early start after showers and breakfast - some distance to cover today as we head south. Firstly back onto Highway 1 across Canterbury Plain, mile after mile of straight roads in very flat countryside, a major dairying area. Extensive irrigation systems across large areas of grassland. Through Ashburton and onto Geraldine the gateway to the southern lakes. We passed the first arable crops we had seen in NZ. As we headed into Mac Kenzie Country we saw large her...

After breakfast when the traffic had cleared we headed out of town on Highway 7 towards Lyttleton and the Christchurch Gondola. The temperature was in the low 20's with a gusty wind. Before going up in the gondola we were warned that due to the wind that it may be necessary to delay or suspend operations. We had only got a third of the way up the 945 metre slope when the good laugh stopped and we were left swinging in the wind. After a couple of minutes however ...

A later start this morning and after breakfast we went on a forest walk and it eventually took us to the village where we stopped for coffee before getting back on the road. On the first part of the journey we retraced our steps of the previous day. Temperatures hit a balmy 29 degrees as we continued towards Christchurch via a very mixed landscape and further large areas devoted to winemaking. Ask we neared the coast we stopped for lunch at Leithfield Beach - we ...