Mount Victoria Funnily enough we climbed Mount Victoria on our last day in New Zealand. If i remember rightly there's a gun emplacement at the top. I've got a picture of Sharon trying to operate it!!!
Memories! Hi Steve & Christine,
Been interesting reading your travels around the South Island, especially in the 2 blogs before this one. They brought back some good memories for me, noteably Milford Sound (which was really sunny when I was there!), Queenstown and Arrowtown. I'm sure South America will be really exciting. Have fun and I will look forward to reading more blogs. Happy travelling. Pat
Off again ! Hi I'm pleased to hear you've enjoyed our NZ travels and has brought back god memories. Nearly back to Auckland now and hand the van back on Saturday before flying to Chile on Tuesday. A bit nervous but who dares wins ! We've signed up for a 10 day backpacker bus tour to the Atacama Desert.
Steve
Oh to be in NZ Have enjoyed reading about your tour of the South Island. It has brought back memories of this time last year when we were in the North Island. Obviously we were really lucky with the weather last year, as we only had one day of rain and that was when we were travelling, so it didn't seem too bad. Are you heading further north? We spent quite a lot of our time north of Auckland where we found lots of picturesque beaches, vineyards and thermal pools. Piha beach (west coast), Waiwera hot pools (fun and swimming pool with cinema!) and Bay of Islands (north east coast- scenic and lots of dolphins) were some of the things we enjoyed on our brief tour. Hope you enjoy the rest of your time in NZ whatever you find to explore!
Heading north Hi Kim
I'm pleased you've enjoyed reading about our trip in NZ. We are now back on north island heading to Auckland where we hand the van back on Saturday. Unfortunately we ran out of time on north island and never got north of Auckland. We couldn't do it all ! Off to Chile on Tuesday.
Steve
Leaving on a jet plane hi
Nice to hear from you both. We leave for Chile on April 1st.
Hope you're all keeping well. We may even see you next year ??
Steve
Mirror, mirror One mirror image of Mount Cook - you got it. I couldn't get the weather. Why would anyone want to go swimming in ice melt? Saw a programme on tv the other day about a guy crossing some icy wilderness, got to a small river and said can't wade across as his clothes would get wet and hypothermia would set in followed by frostbite. Stripped naked, stuffed all his clothes into his backpack and threw it to the other bank. Then sat on the river bank to let his heartbeat slow before plunging in and swimming across. He lost feeling in his feet and hands almost immediately but managed to get the circulation back once on dry land again. I'm watching him thinking 'You're mad!'. Then I see a picture of Christine in ice melt and I thought...... to be continued
Copyright Hi For a small fee we'll sell you the photo so you can call it your own !
Christine's thermal swimsuit came in handy although she still has cold feet at night !
Off to Chile on 1st April.
Te Anue to Punakaiki Hi you Two,
Sorry haven't posted anything lately. Work very busy and tedious. Anyway NZ sounds wonderful and glad your still having a good time and that your strike rate on the fishing front remains high (for you). You'll have to learn to gut them so you can enjoy the fruits of your labour.
We've had a bit of a heat wave lately. Up to 20C last weekend but looks like the colder days are coming back.
Jeffs fully retired now so I'm the only one of my generation in the family still working full time. (Still someone has to.)
I suppose your nearly two thirds of the way through your trip now. Any sign of home sickness?
Keep on enjoying. Keep on experiancing and we're looking forward to the photo show when your back.
Have a great time in Chile and think of us workers occasionally.
Homesick ? Hi great to hear from you, keep them coming. We have seen some wonderful scenery in NZ but not much else.
Homesick ?? I'm getting worried about coming home and want to plan another trip already ! Can't imagine being in one place all the time. I spoke to Jeff on Skype last weekend and he told me about his retirement.
Off to Chile on 1st April, would you like a skype call before we go ?
Steve
My friend is from arrowtown and insisted we go there as he said it was the prettiest town in NZ . He will be happy you think as we\\\'ll. hope you are both well
Down right pretty ! hi It's great to hear from you and that you're still reading about us !
Everything's going well and we've just booked an apartment in Santiago for when we arrive on 1st April. Have you got a home yet ? and how about work ??
What does Steve with the giant ball remind us of? A dung beetle - that's it, except that they do it standing on their heads and backwards, so you'll have to practise a bit more yet, Steve! Sorry it's been so wet there but we've had our share, particularly in the south. Now the weather's lovely and all the spring flowers are out. Christine - Carol and Julie are off for a shopathon to London next week - 3 days solid shopping. Carol says she's sorry you can't join her as you must be totally bereft of clothes shopping after 200 days! I'm staying at home with the dog. For your next trip they are now offering trips into Space, how about that for a lifetime experience? Your trip is doing wonders for our geography! C&Dx
A world away hi
I'm hoping this trip will cure Christine of shopping but I'm not having much luck so far. Every souvenir shop is on the list !
I'm pleased to hear that your atlas can cope with our trip. You may struggle though when we go to Chile on 1st April !
Enjoy the dog sitting and don't look at the credit card bill.
Get it? Play on words? Doubtful - Milford? Looks like your Russian roulette with the weather didn\'t work too well. The locals told us that the fiords of New Zealand get more rainfall than anywhere else in the Southern Hemisphere, we got a dry day and the waterfalls dried up. We had the weather problem at Mount Cook. First trip 14 years ago it was covered in cloud. This time we got a couple of glimpses but the picture I wanted and that is in the guide books is Mount Cook reflected in Mirror Lake. Dashed down there twice whilst we were staying near Fox Glacier but it clouded up before we got there both times. C\'est la vie!
Still can\'t get over all this blogging at 6 or 7 in the morning!!
Think you can see why South Island is compared to Scotland. FFFFFing freezing half the time. Cold the rest!!
Warming up here now. 16 degrees yesterday. Soon be BBQ weather.
keep the faith
Roger
A cloudy lining hi yes our best laid plans didn't work for Milford Sound so I'm keeping off the excursions for now !
Sorry you have to get up so early to read our blogs hot off the press. You're probably the only one in the UK who's up !
Keep replying and you'll win the medal for best supporter of a blog !
Bye the way, the weather's much better now
Following on Hi guys. Interesting to see you visiting some of the spots we went to last time. I took a picture of the weird engine from the other side just after we had dinner in an equally strange restaurant nearby. Sounds like your whale watch was a bit quiet. We saw 5 or 6 sperm whales, a school of pilot whales and bottle nosed dolphins, hector dolphins (just. We had to spin round quick and come away as there are regulations for the boats as to times they can approach. It would appear that the dolphins stop their normal activity and show off whenever a boat approaches. If the tourists came by all day they would be too exhausted to feed. (Some scientist ought to work on that and see if there's some way it could be implanted into the mindset of obese Americans, etc). Also an albatross having a rest in the middle of nowhere.
I reckon Dunedin will be your best place for retail therapy in South Island. Wasn't affected by the earthquakes and it's the second largest city in South Island and has a university which offers lots of student hangouts for you to seamlessly blend into!!!!!!!!! Sharon's brother Shaun is there with his wife, Barbara and their daughter, Hollie. If you want to hear a Staines accent I can forward his number, just let me know.
You seem to be broadcasting a lot earlier these days. Is this a result of the New Zealand night life being a little thin on the ground? Everything was shut by 9.00pm when we were there, including the street lights.
Right, got to go, my car is poorly and I need to get a mechanic to look at it.
Cheers
Roger
better value hi your whale trip was better value than ours. It cost us £40 each per whale !
Where's this night life ? We're tucked up in bed by 10. Bye the way you didn't tell us it would be b**** cold here !
We are Steve & Chris. In 2013/2014 we travelled around the world and had a wonderful time. The nomadic existence suited us more than we could have imagined. So once back in the UK we soon got bored (well I did) and over the winter months planned another trip. Only 3 months this time to revisit Malaysia, the bits we missed last time and to explore the outback of Australia.
Only crocodiles, snakes and spiders to avoid !
... full info
Sheila and Roy
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Travels
Still enjoy reading your blog! and pictures are great too! Where has the time gone x