New Zealand

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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 much to see and not enough time. When we arrived at the south island we quickly realised that there were more activities to do, but there wasn’t necessarily more to see, so we’d finally managed to get ahead of ourselves enough to calm down and relax.

We arrived in Invercargill late afternoon and I called David and Gail to let them know where we were. David drove straight out to meet us so that we could follow him back to their house.

It was fun finding out how their familiy had reacted to the fact they’d got married in Rarotonga without telling anyone, and it was lovely chatting about Raro and Aitutaki again as it all feels so long ago now.

Gail cooked us a delicious dinner of chicken bake and vegetables (we both went back for second helpings!), followed by chocolate mud cake and one of David’s pavlovas which was also yummy. We both ate far too much but it was so nice having a home cooked meal (especially seeing as we didn’t have to cook it!)

Unfortunately David was on the night shift at work so he had a nap and then headed off, and we sat chatting to Gail and showing her some of our photos, until we realised it was already 10.30pm and it was time to go to bed.

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