New Zealand (South Island)

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Immediately after arriving in Christchurch we picked up our Ford Focus hire car and hit the road. Our stop-overs have been as follows: South to Anderson where a numpty opened the door of the B&B so we politely made our excuses and drove to Timaru where we stayed in a nice motel with Mary and Terry (Mirry and Tirry in NZ-speak). Then on to Dunedin where we stayed at Lyndon and Dale's B&B (Lyndale). We didn't get to meet Dale, but Lyndon was FABulous. The B&B is a listed building and has loads of original features, set off with stylish decor in keeping with the house. Lyndon kindly organised all sorts of things for us including hairdressing by the delightful Jemma and our next night's accommodation (Dunedin was hosting the NZ/Pakistan 1st Test Match and Lyndon's B&B was fully booked. We then drove to the West coast where we stayed with Eleanor at a place called Te Anau. We are now in a hotel in Queenstown for a couple of days.

The journey from Christchurch to Dunedin is not spectacular, however we had the sea on our left and the mountains in the distance across the plains to our right. Harry had his first round of golf at St. Andrew's (Timaru). It was a lovely course with about 150 members. Harry hired clubs from Valmae which were all ancient (and half of them were left handed). We saw 2 other people playing and we had a buggy, so we were round in 2 hrs start to finish with the same ball!

Dunedin is a delightful city. We did some sightseeing, ate at some very nice restaurants and met lots of great people, but the highlight was driving to the end of the Otago peninsula to the Northerm Royal Albatross colony. We won't bore you with too many details about albatrosses, but given how rare they are it was a truly memorable visit - their wing span is 3 metres!!!! It's difficult to appreciate how big they are in a photo so we're pictured standing by a model of one.

Dunedin to Te Anau via Gore is an easy and scenic journey which takes about four hours. From Te Anau to Milford Sound the scenery becomes increasingly spectacular. However, sand flies become a serious issue as Harry will testify (twice) following his short but unforgettable visit to a dunny in the woods!!

We went on a 3 hr nature cruise out to the Tasman Sea through Milford Sound and back and saw what must be some of the most breathtaking scenery on earth. I don't think our photos could possibly do it justice.

We're in Queenstown now which has got so much going for it. However, we haven't explored it yet, so that will be for the next blog.

Love to all - Angela and Harry xx

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Comments

[Pam]

Hey you two Glad to hear you're enjoying NZ - my favourite place What is it about Dunedin - we could only get one night there as well, bikers convention I think! Not being into extreme life-threatening sports I completely agree with your assessment of Queenstown. If you're thinking of doing a glacier walk and they tell you it's not too steep don't believe a word of it - it's vertical (but worth it when you get there) - Pete thought I was going to explode, guess who chickened out? You'll be glad to hear that it's getting pretty chilly here now and hasn't stopped raining for a fortnight. Me - jealous - whatever gives you that idea?? love to you both and an extra x for the lovely Harry

[Hugh and Heather Millar]

Looking good
We went to NZ after we left you in Austrailia.. What a country it is,, Has a lot of the features of \canada in a much smaller area .Glad to hear that you are enjoying it so much H