Our final night in New Zealand. We have driven from Dunedin today for our final night here. A 360km journey mostly along the coast, very nice & gentle for the last drive. Dunedin was going to be called New Edinburgh so I think this says it all. Very hilly, chilly & wet. We still had a nice time, found some good pubs. Also had our final train journey here up the Taieri Gorge. Before that we had travelled from Queenstown to Milford Sound for a cruise as ...

We have spent 3 days here and had a great time. The weather has been really hot, the scenery is unbelievable. High in the New Zealand Alps with lakeside settlements surrounded by mountains. Loads to do but we have spectatored some!! Too old for bungee jumping. Just back from spending a pleasant evening listening to the local folk singer in the local. Just like old times!!!

Have arrived on the South Island via the Coastal Pacific railway. We spent 2 nights in Christchurch which still has a lot of earthquake damage to repair. The centre has been badly damaged and is closed of so the Kiwis have set up a shopping centre made from shipping containers - very inventive. Took the Trans-Alpine train across to Greymouth which covered some pretty amazing scenery. Picked up our car for the week, Toyota Rav 4 & drove up to the Franz Josef...

Trains & boats & planes................. We've done them all & arrived in Christchurch. Still quite a lot of evidence of the recent earthquakes but the people seem very resilient & it's business as usual. Christchurch is very similar to Cambridge & might attempt punting tomorrow.

Waitangi Day spent in Wellington. Lovely weather & we went exploring this lovely little city. We found another cable car which took us up to the Botanic Gardens. We had a photographic competition to see who took the best pictures, we'll leave you to judge. Also took in a concert on the quayside & even visited the museum.