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Published: December 25th 2010
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Cruise boat on Milford Sound
All of us..(Bruce, Dianne, Saskia, Nicole, Chris, Eli) .Milford sound cruises. Christchurch to Milford Sound :
Bruce and I have been trying to keep up with our travel blog but sometimes it is difficult finding the internet . I hope you haven’d missed us too much. What did we do before the internet? How the heck did we survive? Sometimes we stop at libraries but they charge a fee there as well to use the computer. Anyway, the saga continues....
We stayed three nights in the city of Christchurch. Christchurch is the most “english” of New Zealand cities. There is the avon river, cathedrals, a tram, a city square with english style pubs and houses with manicured gardens. We went to the art museum and visited the “Ron Mueck” exhibit. What an exhibit it was. There were about 11 sculptures made of fiberglass, rubber, all different materials to make such lifelike sculptures it was unreal. (I will attach some pictures, you won’t believe your eyes)
Next stop was Dunedin which is Celtic for Edinburgh. There is a statue of Robert Burns guarding its center. It was founded by scottish settlers. Bruce and I attended the church service in the cathedral near the square the sunday before Christmas which was
Christchurch
Damage from the Earthquake at Christchurch. very nice. The people were extremely welcoming to us. We were invited for tea and shortbread after the service. When they found out my mother is from Scotland we were welcomed even more. (The minister had relatives in Newton Mearns where my mother is from.) We also went on Baldwin Road which is the steepest road in the world. What a hoot that was.
Otago Penninsula has the reputation as the most accessible wildlife area on the south island. Taiaroa Head at the end of the Peninsula has the worlds only mainland albatross colony. We saw some New Zealand sea lions lounging around on the beach. They didn’t seem too bothered by us inspecting them.
Visiting Cadbury factory in Dunedin was heaps of fun. (Everything is heaps here. Heaps it seems is used in place of lots, or tons) We are all in the habit of saying “heaps” now.
On the drive to our next town of Invercargil, we stopped in the Catlins to view the yellow eyed penguins and fur seals. We did get to see the penguins from a distance...heaps of fun.
Invercargil is the southernmost city in New Zealand. Nicole had a
Christchurch
Hanging out. burning desire to see this town we are not totally sure why. It does have a museum and a nice park. We ended up having quite a nice time in this small town. We were lucky enough to visit Queens Park on an evening when I believe it was just about the whole town getting together to sing christmas carols. That helped me to attempt to get in the christmas spirit. We also got to see the “Burt Monroe exhibit”. He still holds the land speed record for the fastest speed for modified motorcycles of this size. There is a movie about his story. (If you haven’t seen it, the movie is “The Worlds Fastest Indian”, you should see it, its a great movie filmed here in New Zealand staring Anthony Hopkins).
We did lots of laundry in the house in Invercargil with its great laundry line outside before we headed out. Saskia had heaps of fun hanging the laundry outside as you can see from the picture its her favorite thing to do.
Its is actually quite comical trying to all fit in the van with 6 of us, suitcases, food etc. You can imagine us all
using the internet
library in Christchurch trying to get going in the morning. Its heaps of fun. We are a bunch of sardines. So next stop, Milford Sound, roughly 5 hours of driving. We have only one CD to play and that is Celine Dion Christmas CD. The kids are a bit tired of listening to it but I like it. (I was later told Chris was banging his head against the seat last time I put it on).
We arrived yesterday (Dec 22nd) to Milford Sound lodge. (This lodge reminds me of my teen years traveling in hostels with people visiting from all over the world and sleeping in bunk beds). Its raining like I have never experienced rain before. Apparently this place is synonymous with rain. (An average of 6 meters a year). Driving in you literally pass thousands of cascading waterfalls down the rock faces. This fiord is one of New Zealands biggest attractions with sheer cliffs and peaks that surround it. We took a scenic cruise for 2 hours which was an unforgettable experience. The pictures we took just don’t do this place justice. Anyway, we are relaxing in the lodge now. I am getting pressured to join a game of
Our tree
Our pathetic Christmas tree we have been carting around to each location. scrabble since there is really not much more to do here. Saskia wants to kick our butts as usually so off I go. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. What a place to be. No presents this year (I actually find this a tremendous relief). Just being together with family and friends is enough for me. We do miss our family and friends back home though. You know what they say, “theres no place like home”. There is some truth in that. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas...
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larry
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keep these blogs coming
thanks for sharing....glad you are all having such a wonderful time...NZ is so beautiful, and the people so friendly...happy holidays to all. i had an out of country experience last night in queens. went to a russian club with my jewish uzbekistanian barber, and his staff, some of which were family, and had an amazing fun time of eating (so much food), drinking, dancing, and laughing...there were several other groups there, and the other main activity seemed to be taking photos.