Sunny South Island

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We have been very lucky with plenty of sunshine continuing (sorry to rub it in, I know you’re still all cold in England!). We’ve had a busy couple of weeks moving on every couple of days in our old banger that is doing very well! We had a great few days in Kaikora with Amy & her friend Bryony. We stayed in a lovely hostel called Bad Jelly (named after the Spike Milligan story), with a nice garden. We went Kayaking up towards a seal colony they were swimming right next to us, Amy & Bryony managed to get their kayak stuck on the rocks by the seals & it was only afterwards that we were told you shouldn’t get too close to them as they can be aggressive, oops! We dropped the girls off in Christchurch & then went to the Banks Peninsula to a lovely bay called Akaroa. We stayed in an amazing “hostel”, which was like a dream house with only 6 other guests, set in the middle of fields. We enjoyed a few walks & a wildlife cruise on an old sailing boat where we saw loads of Hector’s dolphins & some blue penguins. We then went further inland towards Mt Cook & stayed at a farmhouse style backpackers in Omarama. It was run by a retired farmer who had had multiple tragedies in recent years including the loss of his wife & daughter & then suffering a stroke. He built the farmhouse (in which he also lives) & opened it up to backpackers to cover costs & also I think to have some company. He was a lovely man & we really enjoyed our stay there, just like being a guest in a home(which we are missing!). We were glad to be visiting a mountain region as the next morning New Zealand was on Tsunami alert following the earthquake in Chile. Fortunately it didn’t come to much. We moved on to the Otago Peninsula further south where we were fortunate to see Albatross, they really are huge! We went at dusk to look out for the blue penguins coming in from their day of fishing, it was around 9pm & there was about 25 tourists all huddled around patiently waiting in the near dark straining to see these penguins, we waited for about an hour expecting this amazing sight of them all coming out the water, after a while we noticed noises behind us & realised they had sneaked past us to their nests in the dark! Its funny how naive I’ve been in expecting wildlife to act on cue!
We had a night in Dunedin which is a nice city & I particularly enjoyed my visit to the Cadburys factory, lovely smells & my favourite sampling was the liquid chocolate, I couldn’t spot any umpa lumpas though! We had a couple of days in the far south area called the Catlins we were lucky to see some Sea Lions on one of the bays, they’re huge & you have to be careful not to get too close as if you run away from them they try & catch you, as a game, I wouldn’t fancy that having seen their teeth!
We have now moved up the west coast of the South island. We had a wonderful day visiting Milford sound, for it being one of the wettest places in the world we very lucky to have a dry sunny day to explore the place, it is absolutely stunning one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. We briefly stopped in Queenstown yesterday long enough to try their famous FergBurger ,which is the best burger I have ever eaten. We’re staying in a lovely little place called Arrowtown which has a quaint high street with an old sweet shop & post office. Next stop will be Wanaka & then the glaciers. 😊

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Comments

[Sarah]

Cadburys!
Hey Jo and Mark, Wow! You have made my day.....I've just read about your latest adventures and of course I was excited about the liquid chocolate! It has been so great keeping up w/ all of the fun you have been having. The pictures add so much to the stories. Stay safe, Sarah