Feeling very relieved at catching up with the blog! This is our final day in New Zealand and I can honestly say it has been eye-opening, breath-taking, just so awesome. It's quite strange that the trip ended on a really thought provoking and down to earth bump in Christchurch. I really don't know what I was expecting but the centre is still like a bomb has dropped on it- 2011 the earthquake shook the city with devastating effects - 4 & 1/2 years later and it ...

What a morning! This really was the icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned! Keeping everything crossed for good flying conditions, we headed up to the Lake Tekapo Air Safaris airfield at 8.30 am. It was looking good and 3 others joined us for the trip. Our pilot was Tim. A smooth take-off straight up and over Lake Tepako and on to the mountainous McKenzie area. Fantastic views with very little cloud. We were flown over the Tasman glacier followed by the Franz...

An early morning keeping track of the rugby with a little help from my friends! Good start to the day! Route planned for our next stop at Lake Tepako. Accommodation booked through Airbnb at Moonlight B&B. On our way with high expectations of this place. A wonderful drive through valleys, along coastline, mountain passes and woodland. Just before arriving at our destination, we approached the Air Safari Base and airfield - we had planned to go on some kind of ...

Just when we thought our trip couldn't get any better, in my view this experience was out of this world! A colony of Northern Royal Albatross can be found on the cliffs of the Otago Peninsular - the only mainland colony in the world. Monarch boat trips offer a 45 minute cruise to view the Albatross and other wildlife when possible. They pick you up from Wellers Rock- we drove there from the castle, not without difficulties! Much of the road was under repair due t...

Weather forecast not good today but started off dry & sunny so took the Portobello Road out of Dunedin towards the Otago Peninsular and turned up to Larnach Castle. The Portobello Road runs right alongside the water with no barriers- quite a driving experience. The road up to the only castle in NZ was hairy scarey with no barriers and steep drops either side- quite an experience for Jimmy! I just kept my eyes on the road ahead! Once arrived at Larnach Castle ...