Dunedin to Queenstown

Wednesday, 30th January
This morning we left our hotel in Dunedin about 8.00am to travel to Larnach Castle, New Zealand’s only castle, but quite honestly it wasn’t really a castle. However, it certainly was quite a grand mansion and the gardens were delightful. We then had a long drive to Te Anau, slightly delayed on route as we got stuck behind a lorry moving a very large house (see photo), stopping on the way in an interesting town Balclutha and travelling the Presidential Highway between Clinton and Gore. The nearer we got to Te Anau the more mountainous the scenery became. Te Anau itself was a holiday resort on the side of a lake with beautiful views and we watched some youngsters diving off the pier and swimming in the clear lake. Our hotel for the night was themed on an American cowboy town and we stayed in the Dentist room.

Thursday, 31st January
Today was an awesome day of many, many photo opportunities and visual delights. We drove through the Fiordland National Park, which is a World Heritage and New Zealand’s largest National Park. We passed Mirror Lakes (except the little ducklings were making them unmirrored), Claudu Valley, The Chasm, where we walked into the rainforest passing many wild ferns – I was in my element. We then got to the Chasm, which is a narror gorge with raging waters cascading through the rocks, forming beautiful sculptures in the rocks. After the Chasm we passed Mitre Peak and Bowen Falls, arriving at the absolutely magnificent Milford Sound which is so hard to describe. We boarded a cruise boat for a 2 hour trip up and down the Milford Sound (not a true Sound but more a fiord). During the trip we sat on the top deck absolutely spellbound by the magnificent views of sheer rock faces towering above us and views of the mountains beyond. The captain gave a running commentary and steered the boat alongside a group of fur seals lazing in the sun on the rocks, then he also positioned the boat right under a 500 foot high waterfall. (Nicola and Andrew please note it was almost as bad as the Maid in the Mist). The journey ended only too soon and we returned to the shore and boarded the coach for a 300 km drive to Queenstown, although on the map it was only 50 km as the crow flies. As if the day had not been spectacular enough after a quick 1/2hour to wash and change we boarded a cable car (just managed to get Doreen on board) to reach a restaurant overlooking the town, where we ate a six course dinner with magnificent views across the lakes and the Remarkables (the mountains).

Twizel to Dunedin

Monday, 28th January
Not an early rise this morning, thank goodness. We didn’t leave Christchurch until about 10.30am. After breakfast we were escorted to a Blue Pearl Shop where we watched a short film on how they harvest the blue pearls, and then we had a look around the shop, and guess what, Yes I bought one. We then started our drive to Twizel going past Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki. Both of these lakes were a magnificent turquoise in colour. It is something to do with the glacial waters that feed them. We then visited the Church of the Good Shepherd – a little bit disappointing I felt. We were then on our way to Twizel soaking up the spectacular alpine scenery of Mount Cook National Park.

Tuesday, 29th January
This morning was an early rise, we set the alarm clock for 5.45am and left the hotel at about 7.45am, driving to the Benmore Dam. We then travelled through Omarau with its famous white limestone buildings, past the Moeraki Round Stones on the shoreline of the Pacific Ocean, then on to Dunedin, where there were several options of a wildlife cruise to see penguins and the Royal Albatross, visit the Cadbury Factory or ride the historic Taieri Gorge Railway, but we decided to just walk around the town and soak up the atmosphere. We are just now relaxing before going for our evening dinner in the hotel which is attached to the Casino (we might try our luck later on this evening). Tomorrow we travel to Te Anau.

Rotorura to Christchurch

Friday, 25th January
Today we had an early start (5.45am wake up) from Rotorua to go to Wellington, the capital city. On the way from Rotorua we stopped at the Huka Falls (see picture) – you just could not imagine the speed and volume of water travelling through this narrow gorge. We continued on and visited Lake Taupo – very beautiful, travelling around the shore we then went into the Tongiriro National Park. Andrew, here we saw Mount Tongiriro, where Lord of the Rings was filmed – quite impressive. Then we travelled down the Katipi Coast to Wellington, with views from Mount Victoria (see picture with Geoffrey).

Saturday, 26th January
Hey we had a lie in. Got up about 6.30am. After breakfast we were taken on a tour of the city of Wellington. Many photo stops. We then visited the Te Papa, New Zealand’s National Museum, situated on the quayside. Here we learnt about New Zealand’s culture and how it was formed on a major fault line. Here we experienced our first earthquake – only kidding folks, but we did stand in a mock house, where you can experience an earthquake. All I could think was get me out of here quick. After an hour or so of walking round the Museum we walked along to the Marina and had a very nice lunch, sitting in the sun and just watching the world walk by. We then boarded the Interlander Ferry for a three hour crossing over to the South Island. Fortunately the weather was perfect and the journey was smooth, but the highlight of the crossing was when we entered the Queen Charlotte Sound which was out of this world. (See picture which does not do justice to the experience). After landing at Picton we drove on to our hotel in Blenheim. We then had half an hour for a quick change before we were taken to a local winery for a tour, tasting and a four star meal (with plenty of wine, of course).

Sunday, 27th January
Again a lie in, leaving our hotel at 9.00am, we started our journey south along a beautiful coastline to Christchurch. On the way we stopped at Kaikoura and saw hundreds of fur seals. Just had a trip on the tram around Christchurch and we are soon going out to dinner. Kioara (a Maori greeting).

Tuesday, 22nd January
Today we left our hotel in Sydney at 6.00am to go to the airport. It was good that left that early as our flight was 9.30am. However, I am telling Alison that she is not alone with having problems with electronic flight tickets. When we got to the airport and tried to check in they said that the ticket Thomas Cook had given us from Sydney to New Zealand wasn’t a ticket at all and that we would have to buy a new one. The girl was quite facetious. However she did go and see her boss who was a little more helpful and said that if we paid A$75 each they would be able to reissue a ticket for each of us. It was quite a scary moment. So we paid the A$150 (about £75) and got our tickets and managed to make the flight, which was then delayed by about 45 minutes with technical problems. Another scary moment. Although a pleasant enough flight it was not quite the same as flying club class with British Airways. However, we survived the experience and arrived in a sunny and rather hot Auckland at about 3.15pm.

We finally got to the hotel about 5.00pm and just had time for a shower and change before we had our New Zealand tour meeting at 6.00pm and met our fellow travellers – a mixed bag of British, Austrian, Australian, Asians all of similar age to us, spending their children’s inheritence.

Tomorrow we are up at 5.45am to have an early breakfast and be on the road to Rotorua and Waitoma Caves in our luxury coach by 7.30am!!!! Geoff says he thought we were supposed to be on a relaxing holiday!!!

Wednesday, 23rd January
Today we had a very early start up at 5.45am on the road at 7.30am for an Auckland City Sights Tour then we drove along New Zealand’s longest river – the Waikato – to the Waitomo Caves, where we say an amazing underground glow worm grotto by boat and walked through limestone caves with stalactites and stalagmites (sorry about splelling) this was so beautiful. The coach then drove for a few hours ending up in Rotorua (and our hotel for 2 nights). This is Maori country and the geothermal hot spots of New Zealand. The smell of sulphur in the air is quite strong at times. We had 1 hour to wash and change before we went off for a 3 hour Maori Hangi feast and entertainment.

Thursday, 24th January
Today we had a lie in – didn’t have to get up until 7.00am (WOW). We drove down to the lake and boarded the historic paddle steamer, the Lakeland Queen for a one hour breakfast trip round the lake. We then went to the Agrodome Sheep Shearing Show and learnt about the different breeds of sheep in New Zealand – this was all very entertaining (Alison please note the sheep were treated very well and seemed to enjoy it as much as we did). Then it was off again to the Whakarewarewa thermal reserve to see a spectacular geyser, mud pools and a KIWI. We did all this before lunch, but we are pleased to say we had the afternoon off in which to explore the town (Doreen had some retail therapy and Geoffrey went exploring around the edge of the lake. We are now off to town for something to eat, then an early night ready for our early 5.45am call, to start our journey to Wellington, the capital.

The journey and 1st day Sydney

Hi everyone,

We finally made it to Sydney after a horrendously long journey, but quite comfortable none the less. Club World is definitely the way to travel – don’t know if we can go back to Economy, having now tasted how the other half live. Neither of us have had hardly any sleep – I’ve had none and Geoffrey had only a few hours. So we will certainly sleep tonight.

When we landed in Sydney it was very cloudy – low cloud. Within a few hours it absolutely fell down with rain (they didn’t mention this in the glossy brochures). The water at Circular Quay was very grey not the lovely blue in the pictures. So let’s hope when we come back in two weeks time it will have improved.

We spent the morning getting our bearings at Circular Quay/The Rocks/Harbour Bridge and checking out all the eating places for when we return in February.
That’s all for now, must try to get some sleep before we jet off to New Zealand early tomorrow morning.

Two weeks to go and counting

Hi everyone, this is our first blog. We are just trying it out to make sure it works. Today is Saturday, the 5th January - only two more weeks before we fly off on our trek. Are we excited, well what do you think? Yes we are.

We actually took our cases to Southampton on Thursday to put on the ship which turned out to be quite a farce. They were supposed to open at 9.00am and we had arrived at five minutes to nine. It was jolly cold and we had to stand outside waiting for someone with keys to operate an Xray machine to arrive. This took over the hour and there were some very upset passengers, us being among them, but eventually someone turned up. We were fifth in the queue and after ten minutes they decided that the machine wasn't working and we had to take our three cases to another machine some 25 yards further down (still outside and still in the cold). In that queue they managed to do a couple of cases and then that machine broke down. By this time there were quite a few people behind us (some 30 - 40) and P & O decided we had to go back to the original machine. There was then a rush of everyone and we lost our place at the front of the queue. So I am sure you can appreciate we hope this isn't a sign of how our cruise is going to progress.

The next time we speak to you we will be in New Zealand where we hope that the temperature will be far warmer than the 3degrees we have here.

Love Doreen and Geoffrey