We took the opportunity, before Em started her new job, to head down to the Southern Lakes for a few days break. We based ourselves in an apartment near the shores of Lake Wanaka. We went for different walks each morning: along the lake shore, up to Diamond Lake in the Mount Aspiring National Park and around Queenstown Gardens on the shores of Lake Wakatipu (where we observed the fascinating game of frisbee golf). In the afternoons we explored: Queenstown, Lake Hawea and finally got the chance to go to Puzzling World. Again, just wanted to post some photos, including some stunning shots of Lake Pukaki, Aoraki/Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo. A great time was had by all, although we wish we'd seen a few more Lakes...... read more

We spent some long northern hemisphere summer days exploring the cool little (and I mean LITTLE) city of St. Davids and some of the beaches: Caerfai and Newgale in particular deserve a mention. We were succesful in finding good coffee in both St. Davids and Newgale, so life was good. The ice cream was pretty awesome too! The mussel we found on the beach left a little to be desired though, not really what we're used too! We were particularly delighted to find a cafe that stated in a very 'British' way that "ITEMS CANNOT BE SWAPPED" on its breakfast menu (see photographic evidence). Apparently this is a immovable universal truth. (There's nothing like being flexible to the needs of your customers). Needless to say, we didn't eat there...I could not have coped with the earth-shattering ... read more

We headed out for the day to meet some friends, Phil, Rachael and Beatrix, in Builth Wells, a place recommended by the Lonely Planet as a top place to visit in Wales. Unfortunately, the recommendation seemed to be based on town being the annual host of the Royal Welsh Show, and as it was not the time for the Royal Welsh Show, the town was asleep. We did climb up to the top of the town to see the castle...which doesn't exist except for mounds of grass and earth, although the views were pretty good at the top. Over lunch at a nice little pub overlooking the river that bizarrely only accepted cash, Rachael started reading out excerpts from a Builth Wells visitors guide, which included a top ten things to do - the rugby club, ... read more

Having not been away for a while we decided to make use of the Queen's Birthday weekend and head up to Golden Bay in the Tasman district, an area we hadn't visited since 2005. We booked three nights in a chalet (with a heat pump!) in Riwaka, just north of Motueka. The drive up through the Lewis Pass was spectacular as usual and we had a bright, clear winter's day. We opted for Thai take out in the evening and started to plan our next few days exploring. On Sunday it rained...all day...except for an hour at lunchtime when we re-visited Waikoropupu Springs on the other side of Takaka Hill and then had lunch in The Mussel Inn, one of the best pubs we've ever been to! On Monday, the weather was the complete opposite. Early ... read more

We spent a fairly typical Christmas Day, mostly at home (for one large pending reason) and after lunch, Monopoly (New Zealand edition) commenced and continued for the next 3 days... Later in the day we headed down to the beach for a walk in the late afternoon sun. There were lots of people still down there enjoying the food's-all-gone-but-we-still-have-beer-and wine stage of their bbq's, while most the kids continued to play in the park. Someone had thoughtfully left a decorated tree on the beach to make us feel christmas-y in the baking heat. The Pacific was cold, but usually is on the east coast, courtesy of the the antarctic and great southern ocean, but not too cold to prevent a quick paddle. Dinner waited until 9.30pm when it was cool enough to enjoy outside (and bearable ... read more