So we have done Sunday the 15th of January twice since we went over the international date line. We arrived in Maui about 12 noon and went to our fabulous hotel. On our way we seen whales off the coast! This area is known for whales coming here to have their babies. It was amazing to see them whilst driving to our hotel. When we arrived we were given some shell lai and because we are on our honeymoon we were given fresh flower lai to put over each other. They wer...

Thoughts on New Zealand! I loved being in NZ. It was great to see John and Sally in Auckland - it felt just like old times in Dublin. I loved our campervan in the South Island - it was great fun driving and exploring everywhere. Marlborough was awesome as we enjoy sauv blanc and getting to see where it is made was quite an experience. Everywhere we went was so beautiful - NZ has so many natural phenomena that it gets quite overwhelming. Every vista is better tha...

The next day (Thursday 12th January) we got up and drove the short drive to Dunedin. This was first called New Edinburgh by the first Scottish settlers and has lots of Scottish influence which I really liked. Our first stop was Cadbury World! As some of you may know I do like my chocolate so this was great fun for me. We learned all about the history of Cadbury in NZ and got lots of free chocolate throughout the tour. We also got to try fresh liquid chocolate - i...

The following morning (Tuesday 10th Jan) we made our way to Te Anau which is on Lake Te Anau. There is an old Maori legend which says that the lake was formed by a tribes leader's wife betrayal. Seemingly the tribe leader found a spring which he showed to his wife in secret. He told not to tell anyone. He went away hunting and after a few days she took her lover to the spring. When the lover's image was reflected in the spring, the water overcame them and formed ...

On the Thursday our first winery was Montana as we were doing the morning tour of the winery. It was just us and the guide so it really was a personalised tour! It was very interesting and so much of the process in mechanical - from the picking of the grapes to the squeezing and bottling (which happens in Auckland as more than 60% of their wines are exported!) We sampled many wines including an ancient grape Sauvignon Gris - which is not a mix of Sauvignon Blanc ...