Now moving further north and here to see Arthurs Pass and sample Monteith's beer in its home town (a great range of beer). We should explain to viewers/readers that we add the initial entry to a new place we visit as soon as we arrive so you all know where we are at any given time. But clearly we cannot add what we have done until we have done it. So everyone needs to revisit blogs if they want to see what we have been up to. Sorry if this is confusing, but ther...

Here for a day's heli- hiking on the Franz Josef Glacier that we landed on on our Mt Cook flight. Hope the weather holds. A thing we forgot to mention about our journey from Glenorchy to Franz Joseph was that, shortly after leaving Wanaka (which was so beautiful we had to stop to admire the views over a coffee) we stopped at a viewpoint to take in the glorious Lake Hawea.Quite a few other cars had stopped to admire the view so it was a good place from which to ...

There was a slight change in the weather - a little more overcast - on the morning we drove up the road from Queenstown to Glenorchy, where we had decided we'd have some real relaxation.Although New Zealand hasn't got a big population and, apart from Milford Sound, we hadn't encountered mass tourism we have been constantly 'doing things' since we arrived a month ago.We therefore just wanted a couple of days to chill out, catch up and relax.As we headed further in...

We had a final look at Milford Sound, in a somewhat more moody cloak - misty, drizzly, low clouds, before heading up and over Homer Pass.We had a quick look at The Chasm, a deep gorge with a raging river running though it which had carved a deep cleft and sculpted the rocks.But first stop was Te Anau for a coffee and catch up with some business stuff.We also needed petrol so as we left we pulled in to a filling station.As E pulled the hose towards our car petrol ...

Today (23 March) is our wedding anniversary - our 30th !! - who would have thought it?With better planning we could have been staying in one place but this happened to be a day of travel.So we were up early to catch the 8am ferry back to the mainland.It was a beautiful sunrise and it was sad to see Stewart Island vanishing in the distance. It was good to find the car in its parking space and soon we were on the road heading north west towards Fiordland (yes, this...