Almost my last day in NZ and I am still saying "wow" . As I have said before North Island dosesn't sell itself so well - and often people don't spend long in Auckland - they just fly in and drive out... but what are they missing??? Auckland lies inthe Harauki Gulf which is part of the Pacific and there are so many beautiful island in the Gulf. Most of the time wherever you are you can see Rangitoto which is a dormant volcanic island and some of the other islands are predator free native animal sanctuaries, and on other islands people live there and even commute to the city by ferry. So today was an island day for me and Patricia kindly dropped me at the wharf and I took the trip to Waiheke Island. ... read more

It’s quite a while since I had regular internet communications so haven’t been able to do the blog…but now I am up and running again. So here we go…. I was on my way from The Catlins to my next home exchange at Mainholme Lodge. Sandi and Graham run this Heritage house as a B+B and also I had their cottage at Pudding Island on the Otago Peninsula near Dunedin as part of the exchange. The house was very “old” for NZ and beautifully restored and tastefully decorated…I loved the original handpainted friezes around the ceilings and the Italian silk wallpapers hung by Sandi. So for a couple of nights I wallowed in this luxury …but I couldn’t really get carried away by it all – I know my place ( downstairs not upstairs)– as on ... read more

At last - civilisation here in Dunedin so I have wifi and mobile fones and ATMs - so here are fotos to go with the last blog, ... read more

After a cup of coffee to fortify myself I will now put the second batch of fotos on - these of my overnight stay at Manapouri Lake and next day trip to Doubtful Sound. Doubtful Sound is named by James Cook ( who else??) who on seeing it was reluctant to take his ship in as he was "doubtful" he could sail it out again given the prevailing westerly winds....he was probably right. Enjoy the fotos. Lv Lynne... read more

Hello folks Just thought I would write a few words in case anyone is still worrying about me. I am ok but suffering a case of writers block in addition to not having had much access to the internet. We (that's me Marilyn Terry and Angela) have had a good week at Wnaka Lake -a lovely resort...so being in the hot tub and the beautiful scenery- quite a lot of wine has helped us in the aftermath of the earthquake. Of course we cant help thinking about those who are struggling there and those who have lost family and friends. In fact Rosslyn who we are staying with has a great niece killed - whoses body has just been found. So its hard to be flippant and humorous as I was in the blog earlier. So ... read more