Goodbye New Zealand

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Adios New Zealand!

Here we are again, after a wonderful trip in fantastic weather around New Zealand, we have now crossed the Tasmanian Sea and set foot in Hobart Tasmania, our first Port of Call in Australia!! Indeed, we are following in the footsteps of many of our Ancestors, as this is the penal colony that all the british prisoners were sent to many years ago!!!! (And worse still they all seem to have been called Jones)!

After Auckland, Tauranga. Napier, and Wellington, we arrived in the beautiful city of Christchurch, have been here before, and it is gorgeous, just like our old Cathedral cities of Oxford and Cambridge, with the lovely river Avon running through the middle with beautiful weeping willows and horse chestnut trees on the banks. Just a day to wander, along the river bank, through the lovely botanic gardens and just enjoy a mid summer day.

Next stop Dunedin, this is a funny little place, could be anywhere in Scotland, and indeed the shops are full of tartan, sporrans whisky etc! The Americans love it, the main attraction is the Cadbury Factory, and the crew all come back laden down with chocolate from there!!

Finally we arrived in Oban on Stewart Island, this is New Zealands third and southernmost island, very small with only about 300 inhabitants, and indeed was like arriving in Cornwall. A tender port, so after the short trip ashore, very little to do, especially on a Sunday besides climb the steep hill up and down to the other side of the island!! A great bit of Sunday morning exercise, just wish we had found a good pub with a gin and tonic and a crab sandwich!!!!

Our last day in NZ was gently cruising through the Fiords, and in particular the magnificent Milford Sound. As before, we were incredibly lucky with the weather and saw this magnificent place at it's best with huge waterfalls and snow capped mountains in the sunshine.

Well we were only here for a few hours, before setting sail again for two days across a very calm Tasmanian Sea and here we are in Aus!

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