Monday 7th we fly down to Melbourne. We're invited to spend the next two days here with an old friend of Robin's from London. When we arrive, it's as hot as Sydney, though we're learning that someone from Melbourne would say it's hotter than Sydney, in fact they would say that everything in Melbourne is better than Sydney. Likewise someone from Sydney would say their city beat Melbourne at whatever issue was at hand. This rivalry has been going on for over 150 ye...

Arriving back in Sydney on Friday we are hit by the familiar heat wave, although not as intense as when we were here 3 weeks ago. This time we have been kindly invited to forego the B&B and are staying with our good friends John and Caron Palmer in St. Ives, a north shore suburb of Sydney. They live in a lovely home on a quiet, leafy street, with their 3 children, Nick, Chris and Lily Rose. We arrive fairly late but in time for dinner, which we have with Car...

We say our farewell to New Zealand with a sumptuous meal at the Hermitage, Mt. Cook and next morning journey on to Christchurch airport, 250 miles away. As we drive along the winding roads through many valleys and over countless mountains and pass the sheep stations, we can't leave the country without mentioning the possum. Yes, we mean the furry little creature like a stoat or a ferret. They are everywhere on North and South Island—both alive and dead (on the ...

Wed. 2 Mar. A leisurely breakfast and then we pack up and head out for our drive up through the center of the South Island to Aoraki Mt. Cook, the highest peak in the country at 12,360 feet. It is a long drive mainly across a vast plain ringed with mountains. Many, many sheep, almost no people, towns or other cars. We arrive late afternoon after skirting several lakes and one very long, wide river that had been dammed. The Hermitage is a massive resort at the foo...

We followed the east coast up to the Moeraki Boulders, a unique geological curiosity. They are almost perfectly spherical, some 13 feet in circumference, and lie scattered along a remote stretch of the beach. Next stop was Shag Point, where a small colony of rare yellow-eyed penguins can sometimes be seen. Try as we might, we weren't able to catch sight of them, probably it was a bit too early in the afternoon for them to be feeding. We did see a great number of ...