Blogs from Invercargill, Southland, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 2

On the 12th Dave and I did a tour of the Manapouri Power Station. To get to the power station we had to cross Lake Manapouri, which is NZ's 5th largest lake covering 14,164 hec, 35,000 acres. Again the lake was surrounded by islands and cliffs. This lake has the most islands in it at 33 and is know for its high rainfall 4.5 m or 179.7 inches a year. Fortunetly for us we had a clear day with no rain in sight. The power station is different because it is built underneath a mountain and is the largest power plant in NZ. As part of our tour we were taking underground through the tunnel in a tour bus. The tunnel is 2kms long and is made through solid granite, which is one of the hardest ... read more

Happy New Year Well we're now a couple of weeks into the New Year and within the last 23 or so days before we leave. I'm back at work after a very pleasant and relaxing break while Emma continues to holiday it up. Work is pretty quiet as I'm not being given any new work to do and am almost finished all the work I've got. Not sure how I'm going to fill in the next three weeks. Probably do a fair bit of internet surfing and solitaire playing, waste some more rate payers money, you know how it is. Christmas was a pretty standard affair this year. The day here in Invers was pretty overcast but warm and included the usual family get togethers and over indulgences. Emma spent the day in Christchurch with extended ... read more

One of the Rolling Stones described Invergargill as the Arsehole of the World a bit unfairly in my opinion. We literally did a flying visit today due to certain time constraints. However, got to see the orginial Indian from the World's Fastest Indian! You wouldn't believe that this was actually a motorbike never mind that you could go faster than a moped on it. No wonder they thought he was crazy! Was great to see though. We also got a photo at a sign of Invergargill and that completed our sightseeing in New Zealand's most southerly point.... read more

When we left Milford Sound we had to get a wriggle on in order to make it all the way south to Invercargill. After a quick stop in Te Auna for some amazing fish and chips, I love the blue cod they serve in the very south as the standard for fish and chips, we ventured on to the very south. We got to see many fields full of animals and a few random fruit stalls along the way. At roughly 8 pm we managed to find our chosen camp site and were just in time to check in and have a chat with the really nice woman who runs the place. Turns out she has been to England many times and had visited more places there than me and Thommo put together. It made me ... read more

Oh dear oh dear oh dear...starting at 10 a.m. from Queenstown to watch rugby in Invercargill that didn't start until 7:30 p.m....Fair enough it is an approximately 2-hour drive from Queenie to Invers, but that still left 7 1/2 hours in which to do what normally accompanies all-day rugby experiences. Yes, you've guessed it! Fish and chips in Bluff (NZ's most southerly mainland town) followed by face- (or other bodily-part) painting and cape-wearing at Old Marist RFC next to the stadium before actually attending the game itself. True, I may have consumed one or more alcoholic drinks throughout the day, most likely since I was persuaded to have "Highlanders" (NZ team, for those not familiar with Super 14) written on my highly trained stomach (highly trained now in pie-eating, salad-dodging and Speights/Monteith-drinking) and "Cats" (South African ... read more