New Zealand ... the South Island tour PLUS Wellington, Auckland & Northlands

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Hi All, this is the next missive after the previous one ...!

Sorry we've rather left you hanging there for the last couple of weeks or so but its the same old story of so very much to do, etc, etc ...

Well our South Island 'tour' started in Christchurch on the afternoon of 23rd October after a pleasant flight from Auckland - a glorious day & window seats meant we could follow our progress south by watching coastline & mountains spread out below. Although Christchurch was a nice enough city we only did 1 night B&B before heading southwards & inland towards Mount Cook (NZ's highest peak) but before we left we did a very worthwhile scenic drive over the hills southeast of the city. En route to Mount Cook we stopped off at a little town called Geraldine which is noted for some terrific local jams & chutneys.
Mount Cook was pretty memorable - not only for some impressive scenery but also because we treated ourselves to a night in the Hermitage hotel (one of those things you just have to do!) ... our room had a panoramic view of THE mountain together with a pair of high quality binoculars with the result that Pete got very little sleep as he spent the night viewing the mountainscape in the moonlight & watching the sunrise in awesome surroundings! We also did a short trek towards the mountain & were treated to what sounded like a prolonged clap of thunder under blue skies - we scanned the mountainside & caught sight of an avalanche in progress ... & we were far enough away!!
The next couple of days took us south to the east coast city of Dunedin & then on westwards to fjordland and another special treat - an overnight cruise in Doubtful Sound where the mountains rise almost vertically from the sea ... the weather decided to put on a real show for us: nearly 6 inches of rain overnight turned the mountainsides into very dramatic watersheds with numerous waterfalls tumbling many hundreds of feet. One mindboggling feature of this landscape is that its so steep & dense with vegetation that when the combination of the weight of water & trees gets too much the roots just give way & the whole lot tumbles seawards (these are what are called 'travalanches' (tree avalanches) ... 'catastrophe forests' for the botanists amongst you! If you ever get the chance don't miss doing this trip.
After Doubtful Sound we made the difficult decision to miss out Milford Sound on the basis that there's only so much awesomeness one can take in 48 hours (& besides its top of the list of 'musts' for our return trip!), so we pressed on to Queenstown where we 'watered our horses' before heading up over the southern alps & up the west coast ... mountains, views & lots of winding roads followed by miles upon miles of beautiful deserted & very dramatic coastline eventually delivered us to Fox & Franz Josef Glaciers and I'm afraid to say more jaw-dropping scenery. But, just for a change we should tell you about our encounter with the world's best scones - Pete loves cheese scones but we found a very good coffee shop at Fox Glacier that sells large homemade ham, cheese, tomato & onion scones ... and with a spread of butter, mmmm...
A long day's drive (500KM - only 300 miles in English money!) delivered us to a little unremarkable town called Motueka on the far north coast of the South Island - its claim to fame is that we spent 4 nights there as our base for exploring Golden Bay & Farewell Spit and most importantly 2 full days 'tramping' (Kiwiese for walking in impressive country/coastal surroundings) on the Abel Tasman trail. A thoroughly enjoyable interlude despite the incessant up & down nature of NZ trails - Liz faced the challenge stoically while her partner toiled under the disadvantage of what seemed like a sprained ankle (well that was his excuse but its better now you'll be pleased to hear).
After our trekking we drove along the north coast to Picton via the Queen Charlotte Drive (another for more thorough attention next visit!) and then across the straits by ferry to Wellington where we encountered the buzz of city life for the first time in ages. Then on up to Auckland by air and a couple of days R&R with sister Jeni in the Northlands & the Bay of Islands in particular - another lovely place where more time needs to be spent.
If it seems like we've skated over the reporting aspects of this section of the 'world tour' its only so that we can catch up to today - we're staying with Pete's rels in Cairns in Far North Queensland, Australia having spent 5 days sunning / beaching / sightseeing & travelling around happening Sydney (one of the best cities on the planet), after flying off from NZ a week ago. Great Barrier reef tomorrow ....
Thats all for now so till the next time, adios!

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