Our morning was spent doing a final van clean and finishing off our packing. Matt insisted on washing all of the windows too - I don’t think it has ever been so clean! We dropped off the van without hitch, and got to the airport early. It hadn’t sunk in that we were leaving NZ. It’s always strange when you’ve moving on to another destination rather than going home, as you never feel too sad to leave because there are more travels to look forward to. The flight over to Sydney was only three hours. It was a very bumpy take [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today wasn’t too exciting. We spent until lunchtime cleaning our van and packing as much as we could. It’s amazing how much stuff we’ve accumulated over our time in NZ. Eventually we had a massive pile of things we wanted to send home so took it to the post office to see if we could afford to. £50 and 8kg lighted we felt that our luggage might just be under 20kg again! Matt had been looking forward to shopping for a kite for weeks so we drove to some of the shops he’d researched on the net. After an awful lot [View Full Entry]

---

---

Thankfully when we got up the sun was shining and it was warm. The sight of the sun cheered us up and we caught the bus into town with the intention of doing a bit of sightseeing. We arrived into the main square, which could have almost passed as European if it hadn‘t been for the fact that all the buildings were far too new. It was lovely and open, and there were a few sculptures dotted around so immediately we got the impression that we were in a creative city. We hopped on the tram, which was part of a [View Full Entry]

---

---

I can’t believe it is November already. We feel like we’re in a little bubble where time runs at a different speed to back home. Surprisingly it feels much slower here so I’m not complaining. Arriving in NZ feels feels so long ago now, yet I can’t believe in just a few days we’ll be in Australia in a completely different climate. I can finally pack away my woolly hat and gloves that I’ve got so much use out of while we’ve been here! First stop of the day was the world's tallest street. It was steep but I'm thinking not [View Full Entry]

---

---

At last the rain had stopped so we made the most of it by going to the Otago Peninsula. We drove right along the coast up to the tip, where the Albatross Centre was based, and then walked around the cliffs to see some of the nesting birds. There were plenty of spotted shags sitting on nests that hung precariously on the side of the cliff face. When we went into the Albatross Centre we found out that it was their nesting season so wasn’t possible to do the tour where you could view them. Instead we were told we could [View Full Entry]

---

---

We got up late and made the most of not having to be anywhere for a change. We’d decided to do a Cadbury factory tour and a Speights ale brewery tour but as they ran every hour there was no rush to get there. The weather was cold and wet so we enjoyed the feeling of being tucked up indoors with the heater on. The Cadbury tour took place in a working factory although we weren’t able to see much of the production, despite the fact we were made to wear silly hairnets and take off all of our jewellery. We [View Full Entry]

---

---

The pounding rain woke us up a few times in the night and at one point we weren’t sure whether we’d be able to go anywhere as the van was being blown around so much even in the driveway. Luckily by the time we got up it had calmed down a lot, although there were still black clouds above. After showers and breakfast, we said our goodbyes and thanks to Gail and David and set off along the Catlins coast. The rain finally let rip and it stayed with us for the rest of the day, although at times we just [View Full Entry]

---

---

Matt drove Gail to work so that David could keep the car to take us out for the day (he had just got home from his night shift so we wanted to let him sleep). When we got back to their house we had a lovely morning just relaxing reading our books. It’s one of those things we haven’t had chance to do for ages so we really appreciated having the time and space to do it. When David got up we headed out for a guided tour of Invercargill, starting with a visit to a local fish and chip shop [View Full Entry]

---

---

We had arranged to stay the night with Gail and David, some friends that we’d met in the Cook Islands, in Invercargill. We didn’t need to arrive there until late afternoon so we set off late morning and had a leisurely drive, stopping at photo opportunities and generally going where the mood took us. We stopped for lunch by a beach with rolling waves braved by a few surfers, and spent some time enjoying the fact that we didn’t have to be anywhere else. We spent our time on the north island in a state of panic that there was too [View Full Entry]

---

---

We both woke up at 4am freezing cold even with two duvets on the bed. We put the heater on but didn‘t really get back to sleep until just before it was time to get up for the trip. We met our small coach first thing in the morning, along with about ten other people and started our journey to Milford. The scenery was beautiful, with plenty of lake and snowy mountain vistas to keep the photographers happy (especially because every stop we were met by at least one Kea - friendly green parrots that seemed to be expecting coach trips [View Full Entry]

---

---