We woke early with the morning light shining through the stained glass windows in our suite and a sad feeling in our hearts. Our wonderful trip is almost at an end. Our last morning at wonderful Otahuna Lodge. One last sumptuous breakfast in the lodge kitchen, together with the amazing Pat and John before they left for Dunedin, a final swim in the pool followed by coffee and freshly baked scones on the front terrace, The hours melted away and all too soon we were...

Our last night staying in the tree house. After breakfast we went for a short walk around the property, past the nervous herd of deer grazing in the field and down through the olive grove where tiny olives were just budding on the trees. We were surprised to see so many rabbits of all sizes running around completely unperturbed by the fact that most New Zealanders consider them to be a terrible pest introduced by arly immigrants and want to see them eradicated. C...

We were awake bright and early and picked up by Lyndal at 7 am for our long trip to Kaikoura. It takes nearly 3 hours to get there but it was a beautiful sunny day and wonderful scenery along the way. At first it was very flat along the Canterbury Plain with plenty of those fantastic New Zealand sheep to admire along the way. It's hard to believe that there are actually a great deal fewer of them than there used to be! The nearer we got to Kaikoura the more we we...