South Island Update

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Lots of sightseeing again - beautiful beaches, rivers, waterfalls, mountains, lighthouses, gardens and even a petrified forest. Just too many wonderful sights to mention here by name. Had a fabulous beach cabin overlooking Porpoise Bay in the Catlins where you could see the resident Hector dolphins (quite rare) interacting with anyone who was swimming or surfboarding. They came right up to the edge of the shore and I had decided to go out the following day and take a surfboard but the weather was against me! I was so disappointed. I could have stayed another day but the cabin was quite expensive. I also saw many seals and penguins there - some were very close encounters! Lovely.

Then to the other extreme I had a very noisy night in Queenstown. My room was right in the centre on the edge of the lake and it's a party town! I don't think I got to sleep until about 5.00 a.m. I wouldn't have minded but I had a long drive the next day. To cap it all a group of 3 young musicians decided to have a jamming session right under my room at 2.15 a.m. and they were joined by about a dozen or so young people who decided they wanted to have a singalong! Bless them! Nevertheless Queenstown is a lovely place, almost Swiss-like.

Then I went to Milford Sound, went on the cruise boat for 3 hours (breathtaking!) and after that I went on a helicopter ride round the sound, with a landing on the (Tasman, I think) glacier. Absolutely stunning and it was a beautiful sunny clear day. Apparently I was very lucky to have had such a good day up there. I have some lovely footage. After all the excitement I then stayed on a sheep farm in the middle of nowhere for a couple of days. From there I went to Mount Cook - also beautiful of course - and walked to Kea Point. Again I was very lucky with the weather - it was very clear and sunny and the views were stunning. Next night I stayed in a motel at Mount Hutt with another fantastic view and had the best steak dinner I have ever had - cooked by a very experienced professional cook. Wow. After that I stayed in Hanmer Springs and went for a lovely riverside forest walk and spent the rest of the day in the famous pools there. Again lovely and hot - gorgeous day. Then to top it all I played bridge at the local bridge club with a guy called Earl - and we came top!! I think he was quite pleased with me!

I am now in beautiful Kaikoura and planning to go on a whale watch in the next couple of days. Weather not that good for it today but it has 2 days to change. They also do trips on quadbikes which look really good fun so I'm going to look into that. My next move is to Golden Bay with stops at Nelson and Motueka on the way. I have booked in for 6 days at Golden Bay so I hope the weather is kind to me again. Then I'm back on the North Island to tour the central and eastern areas.

I decided against Stewart Island and have bypassed Christchurch for obvious reasons. I have spoken to my contacts there and everyone is alive thank goodness although obviously there are problems.

I do feel that I'm skimming over things but I don't really have time to tell you everything that I'm doing in detail - especially about the lovely people I am meeting (well, most of them anyway!). But hope it's enough to give you a flavour. 'Bye for now - I'll be in touch. Miss you all, and UK. Love Wendy x

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