JTandJo

Kaikora to Whakatane Hello from Whakatane (said Fa-ka-tarney)! Due to a gale force wind warning out at sea, we are stuck here for another night; more on that later. Back in February we decided we may as well at least go to Kaikora and see if we could afford some whale watching although, as it turned out, the weather made the decision for us. Rain means no helicopters, which means no spotting of whales which means boats have no clue where to go so they just don’t go. So that’s that. Instead we spied a couple of seals, ate some fantastic fresh fish from a roadside stall, played some mini golf, got freaked out by all the tourists and ate some fudge. Then we were off back up to Picton (that’s where the ferry to the ... read more

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Abel Tasman National Park. Not necessarily in that order! Ok, the bad first - setting off on a 5 day walk (Abel Tasman Coastal Track), carrying a tent, in a torrential downpour. We were later to discover that there was a heavy rain warning out for that day. It’s funny how no-body mentions this when you’re handing over your money! Anyway, we survived and it actually cleared up around sunset (it took us a while to notice as we had been huddled in the tent for a while) which leads me on to.... The Ugly - John prancing around in his thermals (he has new stripy ones which he is very proud of!) hanging up all our wet clothes to dry overnight. Ha ha. Cue torrential downpour number ... read more

You will be pleased to know that the weather in Britain has made the news in New Zealand!! As you are all probably stuck at home in need of entertainment, we felt duty bound to provide you with another blog. Highlights of the last couple of weeks include our walk out to Cape Kidnappers. I know what you are thinking, what a cool name. Well it appears that when Captain Cook was heading down the east coast of the North Island of NZ he started to run out of names of rich British dignitaries and started to have to use his imagination. In this instance one of his crew was picked up by some Maori in a canoe (or for fans of the Maori language a waka) and is now Cape Kidnappers. Similarly, the other day ... read more

Ok, so John has decided it’s my turn to write a blog-it’s not very long so we should be ok! After Te Anau we headed along the Milford Road to Milford Sound (another Fiord with the wrong name). We stopped on-route for a walk to Key Summit which 2 separate couples had both recommended to us, both warning that it was very steep but well worth the view. Well, I don’t know how one of those couples will find the walk we recommended them as it wasn’t really that steep…. Anyway, it started snowing just before we got to the top so we couldn’t really see anything at all! Back down at the car park, John was very excited to see a Kea - a mountain parrot that eats bits of cars! The sign warned that ... read more

Crikey, it has been quite a week. Prior to last Saturday, we had been spending quite a lot of time working (arrghh!), sitting drinking cups of tea and reading about possible adventures. Last Saturday it all started up again. We have been trying to come up with a suitable UK analogy for our adoptive New Zealand city. It is difficult, because our stay has been quite functional; it is after all the biggest economy in New Zealand and the best place to get a job. It is so tempting to rubbish it, (as everyone in the South Island likes to) and describe it as being like Derby, but with more urban sprawl and a bigger giant phallic symbol (the Sky Tower is the tallest man made structure in the southern hemisphere, about half an inch taller ... read more