Chocolateaddict

OK, we were in Fiji for 2 weeks, however, it was not quite what we thought (read in to that “not impressed“). So I’m not going to regurgitate the day to day stuff that we did but instead, just put a few photo’s up for your perusal (however, if you're on facebook, you'd have already seen these). ... read more

This end of the south island, we’ve had to retrace our steps back from Milford Sound to Te Anau and on to Queenstown. Just after leaving Queenstown while heading east, we take a left and head north to Wanaka. Wanaka is a nice little town next to a beautiful lake with the backdrop of mountains. In spite of the weather and the fact that it’s off season, it has a very holiday-ish air about it. People walking alongside the lakeshore, cyclists, people having lunch outside - nice holiday feel to it. We stopped here to break up our journey and the next morning, paid a visit to Puzzling World (www.puzzling world.co.nz). It’s a place filled with holograms, tricks of the eye, puzzles and a large outdoor maze. We did the maze first which took us a ... read more

So we left Arrowtown the next day and drove the short distance to Queenstown. As it was lunchtime, we parked up at the holiday park and walked down the hill into town. The first thing I noticed was the huge number of outdoor clothing shops - literally every other shop sells coats, fleeces, ski jackets and boots, etc etc. Then there were shops that sold “bungee experiences” or “jet boating on the Shotover river”. The rest were café/bars and then a couple of travel agents. We had lunch; Paul bought a new coat, and I found one I loved (slight problem in that it was $900 (about £380). We spent quite a bit of time sorting out our trip to Fiji so didn’t get chance to see everything but the next day, we were a ... read more

The next morning, we wake up to blue skies and sunshine, although it’s getting pretty cold now and we wrap up in fleeces. There is a bus stop right outside the campsite so we head off to the Bus Exchange in the city centre (aka the bus station), disembark and get our bearings. We walk up to the Cathedral Square to see the Cathedral and also the silver chalice sculpture that was erected in 2001 and see the trams which pick up here for the circuit of the city centre streets. After taking pictures, we walk through the square over to Oxford Street. It adjoins the River Avon and in the sun looks beautiful with lots of café bars next to it, already starting to fill up with diners (mostly suits and tourists like us) ... read more

Without sighting any nudists (disappointment or relief? You decide), we left the camp at Mapua and headed north and stayed overnight just south of a small town called Motueka. The next day, we headed not only north again, but this time, up into the clouds - we were heading into the hills and there were loads of low clouds so that underneath it was a cloudy, overcast day. However, reaching the top of the hills, there was brilliant sunshine and the surrounding slopes were wreathed in mist. We carried on for half an hour or so and then turned off into an unsealed road to visit a place called Harwoods Hole - a huge hole, approx 180 metres deep (also New Zealand’s largest hole). The 45 minute walk from the car park was more like a ... read more