Blogs from Otago, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 33

Howdy folks! Here's a wonky picture of us right this second, as we type this entry! As you can see we are tired from lots of travelling! Helena shall fill you all in with our travels so far.....i'm off to have a nap in the sunshine! ....lots of love Chris xx :-) Hello!!! Firstly a bit of honesty - Chris is off to have a beer in the sun. We are now in Dunedin, a fine town with many splendid tourist attractions. I have spent the whole morning in one in fact - the Cadbury Factory. It was heaven, as the doors part you are welcomed by the sight of a crunchie mountain. Once inside you are given a bag which you fill with samples along the tour, you also get to see a chocolate waterfall ... read more

Well, today is Thursday, Thanksgiving Day in New Zealand (although NZ doesn't celebrate it and since we're on the other side of the International Date Line it won't happen in the U.S. until tomorrow.) Today was supposed to be one of the most uneventful days of the trip: a long drive across plains and hills to Dunedin, with very little to do or see on the way. It turned out the drive took less time than we thought, less than four hours. I took the wheel all the way to Dunedin, to make up for doing little driving the last couple of days. In the process, I inadvertently raised everyone’s blood pressure as I executed a series of near-miss maneuvers while passing the many trucks and tractors along this typical two-lane road. Today included the “Presidential ... read more

Well, me made it out of Christchurch with our own transportation, and that has really made this trip a lot better. With our own car we are able to go wherever, whenever, and however without dealing with bus times, high prices, and hordes of people. Now that it's November a lot more people/backpackers are showing for the traveling season here in NZ. We are able to stray away from more of the "tourist" life with our own vehicle. That said, we left Christchurch(ChCh) and drove south along state highway 1 which follows the coastline, and then turned west and drove towards the mountains. We stopped at Lake Tekapo which is a tuquoise colored lake due to the lake being fed by glaciers from not-too-far-away Mt. Cook National Park. This is also where Church of the Good ... read more

Spent the night in this charming city at a supposedly haunted backpackers lodge, (though the only scary thing we saw was the worryingly overly maternal owner), and have just been moseying through the city's art gallery; some beautiful 'kinetic' art by a German girl called Rebecca Horn. Headed off after lunch to Christchurch, which is where I'm writing this from now. It's all coming to a close really. My flight out to Sydney is in just 2 days, so we've got a couple of days to chill out and prepare for Aus. It's been fun, a real laugh, but I suppose the big challenge is yet to come when I go it alone in Aus. Den Den Durrrrr! ... read more

So somehow, since I last wrote from Bonny Invercargill, 18 days have passed and once more my feeble attempts to be disciplined in writing this account are given a severe working over by the realities of travelling. Let's get on with it shall we... We left Invercargill early, intent on reaching Dunedin by nightfall, taking a day to pass through the famously rugged southern coastline known as the Catlins. Taking the scenic highway from Invercargill to Balclutha, it is possible to visit a number of beautiful remote beaches, rocky clifftops and other natural features. On our way through, we picked up a grateful young German hitchiker, who was just wandering his way through the area. It took a couple of our quick-fire tourist stops to convince him that he actually was looking for a different kind ... read more