Page 2 of ReneeMatt Travel Blog Posts


Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown March 24th 2011

Day 11 – Thursday 24th of March Yet another sleep in. We blame all the good food we’re having! The Kiwi bird life sanctuary was where our morning started. This was a self guided tour with the assistance of a digital audio device and headphones. Such a cool idea, we definitely think Auckland Zoo should invest in them. The Kiwis were neat; we even got to see a feeding of them and learnt a few cool facts. They have a female and male in each Kiwi house for breeding purposes. In the Kiwi house we were in the female was really playing up to the crowd by running up and down the side of the glass, jumping, knocking her head against the glass and scratching her feet in the grass. All normal courtship behaviour apparently. Thankfully ... read more
Daddy.....look!
A bach near our camp ground
Our camper

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown March 23rd 2011

Day 10 – Wednesday the 23rd of March After extending our stay for another 2 nights (we’re just having far too much fun) an action-packed day was planned for the day. The TSS Earnslaw (Queenstown’s only remaining steamship) was first on the agenda. A pleasant 1½ hour cruise up Lake Wakatipu. We started off with a few VERY loud toots, to make sure everyone was awake and then off we went. The best part was being able to go below deck and see the ship’s engineer at work, shovelling coal into the firebox. We could also see the pistons hard at work. The return trip included a sing-along with the pianist of old folk songs. Sadly we hadn’t had enough drink to participate. On return to Queenstown we only had an hour before our Shotover jet ... read more
Queenstown... by day this time
The Shotover Jet
The Earnslaw

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown March 22nd 2011

Day 9 – Tuesday the 22nd of March Hello Queenstown! Today was the day for stocking up on some winter woollies, as we haven’t experienced much warm weather yet. Sunny yes but not warm! It was a nice, well deserved sleep-in this morning, especially after a hard night on the drink. Then most of the day consisted of shopping and seeing the sights of Queenstown itself. The waterfront was our first stop for brekkie and a decent Bloody Mary to help with the hangover! The atmosphere was pleasant but with a very fresh wind. The restaurant was great at it supplied blankets to keep warm those wanting to sit outside and soak up the view. Just fab! As we are literally about 200 metres away from the Skyline Gondola, we decided to end the evening with ... read more
At the Skyline Restaurant
Queenstown by night

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Milford Sound March 21st 2011

Day 8 – Monday the 21st of March We’re starting to feel the ouch from our “slap a Camper “game. It’s getting more and more vicious, soon the bruises will begin to appear. But oh so much fun! After arriving late into Te Anau we woke early and set off up to the Milford Sound to make it in time for our cruise. (Another 101 Must Do for Kiwis) Renee did most of the driving today until the last windy roads. Was a very picturesque drive, through avenues of trees and along the shores of several lakes and then finally winding down the mountains into the sound. Part of the drive down the mountain included passing through an amazing tunnel which was dug out of the mountain. It gave the feeling of having only been mined ... read more
From the Tasman Sea
Stirling Fall
The drive up to Milford Sound

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Stewart Island » Oban March 20th 2011

Stewart Island day! Early start today, had to check in at the ferry building at 9am for our 9.30am ride across to Stewart Island. The ferry ride was quite relaxing, well, for those of us with good sea legs. The swell through the Foveaux Strait was like a smooth rollercoaster. Luckily the trip across was only an hour. Upon landing we set off on foot to book in to a boat tour around Patterson Inlet. Included in this was a 1-hour guided walk around Ulva Island. After many recommendations, we decided we had to visit Ulva Island. Ulva is a bird sanctuary and from the moment you set foot on the island you are greeted by birds sounds from all directions. While you can be dropped at the island and follow the tracks, we luckily took ... read more
Stewart Island Albatross
Lewis Acker's house
Blue Penguins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Bluff March 19th 2011

Day 6 – Saturday the 19th of March It’s official. We have been married a week today, doesn’t time just fly by. Sorry we also know we’ve been a little slow putting up the blogs.....we’ve been VERY busy. Doing things one does on their honeymoon :-) We’re in Invergargill and decided to have a nice lazy day. We checked out the town. It’s definitely not the shit hole people call it. It’s actually quite a quaint little town with some quite remarkable old buildings along the main street. Then it was off to Bluff! We stayed in the only campsite there which was a honesty box system, the first one of those we’d come across. There was only us and one other camper there. We went down to apparently the most southern point of the South ... read more
The Sign post at Bluff
The view from the bottom of the South Island
The Drunken Sailor

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Invercargill March 18th 2011

Day 5 – Friday the 18th of March We were hoping to get the last of the sights of Dunedin done today before heading to Invercargill. Yesterday we booked in to do the Taieri Gorge Railway, known as one of the world’s great train trips, on the back of a recommendation from a 80-ish year old lady on our Cadbury tour. We um’d and ah’d about doing it as it’s a little on the pricey side but eventually we bit the bullet and booked. Because it was a Friday we were able to do the journey from Dunedin to Middlemarch (Normally it only goes to Pukerangi). We departed the Dunedin Railway station at 9.30am. It was a 77km train ride and many of the vantage points are only accessible by train – the track being privately ... read more
The Taieri Gorge Railway
Dunedin!
The Rail Track

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Dunedin March 17th 2011

Day 4 - Thursday 17th March –St Paddy’s day We’re in Dunedin and have a very busy day of events ahead of us! First stop...Renee’s Wonderland....Cadbury World! We wandered through the visitor centre and then took the 75 minute tour through Cadbury’s. It was soooo much fun, would recommend it to anyone. You even get free chocolate to sample along the way and it has a great finale. The guide takes you to the top of the purple silo and you get to watch one tonne of chocolate drop from above you and then you have to duck as it splatters all over the stairs and walls around you. Awesome fun! While wandering through one of the packing stations Matt, being the cheeky Matt he is, jokingly asked one of the packers for a free sample, ... read more
Hello!
Welcome to Cadbury World
Cadbury World

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Moeraki Boulders March 16th 2011

Day 3 - Wednesday 16th March We woke the morning in Lake Tekapo and jumped on the road straight away, not wanting to waste any time. We proceeded to head South West towards Twizel which took us past the very large and beautiful Lake Pukaki. We stopped for brekkie here where we noted it must be a regular camper stop, as the car park was full of Camper vans. Brekkie was surprisingly yummy. When then proceeded south to Omarama and turned back towards the east coast towards Oamaru that took us past several other lakes, all the lakes beginning with Lake Tekapo form a series of Dams for power generation. The dams were accessible to tourists so we decided to stop and have a look at Lake Aviemore. (Aviemore Dam) Here Matt gave Renee her first ... read more
Us at Moeraki
Fleur's place
Lake Pukaki

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Lake Tekapo March 15th 2011

This morning we woke to ducks quacking and view when we opened our camper curtain this was remarkable, something we had missed last night as we arrived so late. We put on warm clothes and we’re thinking we might need thermals as the glacier ice coming off the water is FREEZING! Matt wandered to the water’s edge to return to his childhood ways of skimming stones across the water, this proved to be prophetic as when we returned to the camper we learnt from one of our many tourists guides that “skimming stones across the shore of lake Tekapo” is one of the 101 MUST-DO’S for Kiwis! Fab! We then headed off on a hike up Mount John, apparently a 3 hr trek! We did it in around 2.5 hours!! And man what a hike! Heading ... read more
Wow! Turquoise much?!
Oh, how sweet! A romantic location for dinner
Morning sun




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