Well, as much as we loved Queenstown and the south-west it was time to move on. Another early start heralded the beginning of our journey back up the Island. Our destination was the Scottish settlement of Dunedin and we were looking forward to it, as it is known as ‘the Edinburgh of the South’; the original is one of Chris’s favourite cities in the world. We followed the old gold mining trail through central Otago, arriving early afternoon in Dunedin. The reasoning for the moniker became obvious as we passed signposts to Costorphine, Riccarton and Morningside. We drove in along Princes St & George St and off at the water’s edge was the dock area called Leith. Unfortunately that is where the resemblance to the fine Scottish City ends. Sorry to any locals who might read ... read more

Well the ferry ride was a bit of a precursor to a phrase that will be well used in the next few days “Bet that’s a lovely view when it’s sunny”. Yep summer in New Zealand is proving the same as summer in England, fantastic sunshine for a few days to tease the shorts out then torrential downpours, fog and mist just when you’d left the wellies in your room. The ferry ride from Wellington to Picton was nice, but misty, every now and again a spectacular view appeared long enough to give a sense of the beauty but quickly retreated into the rain. At Picton we were once again ensconced on the Magic bus, but on a Southern Discovery ticket now (at the grand cost of 1 NZD!!!!). We set off to Nelson, stopping at ... read more

Well, we survived our first night in a backpackers’ hostel in Auckland - not too bad at all. It had a really good kitchen and other facilities and was in the right location to pick up the Magic Bus. When we were looking at New Zealand we looked at various methods of getting around, from car hire (cheap & flexible) to planes and trains but we decided that it would be a great opportunity to meet fellow travellers and share the journey. So we decided that a ticket on a ‘hop on - hop off’ service was for us. One company was referred to as the ‘Party Bus’, drinking all round the country. “Marvellous” said Chris, “Don’t be stupid” said Lisa, “you’re far too old”, “OK” said Chris. Magic Bus was the other option and what ... read more

A brief trip back to England for Matthew’s graduation (he looked very handsome and we were both very proud) meant we could visit quickly with family and dump some of the excess baggage we had with us. We found that we had both packed too much in the rucksacks and so what wasn’t used in the first 6 weeks in America was left behind (even some of Lisa’s face cream - shock, horror). This resulted in the rucksacks being slightly more manageable and, hopefully, Lisa wouldn’t fall over again under the weight of hers - slightly embarrassing for her but amusing for everyone else. It was a long long flight to Los Angeles with Virgin, but it actually went relatively quickly travelling Upper Class helped a lot and the completely flat beds were fantastic, but Virgin ... read more

Sorry we haven’t posted for a while, didn’t want to get sand in the laptop and no WiFi at the beach..... So after Fort Lauderdale we headed the hour south to Miami. Ah SoBe, ah SoCool, ah SoTired... what, South Beach not the centre of the cool universe any more, hush your gums. Actually it still is a pretty chilled place, the Art Deco Hotels are still fabulous, the clubs are still lively, the beach is still huge but it just needs a bit of TLC, but maybe this is part of its charm. We found a small, cheap hotel, 1 street back from the seafront and, while basic, it was perfect for what we wanted (thanks Tripadvisor again), dropped our bags and headed off exploring. We took a stroll along the beach, back along the ... read more