phil100652

When we first came to NZ five years ago, we visited the northernmost point of North Island – Cape Reinga. Today we went to the southernmost point of South Island – Slope Point. The weather forecast was bad so we were fully expecting to get soaked. However it was dry and much warmer than yesterday so we thoroughly enjoyed the walk. As you can see from the photo, the next land due South is the Antarctic, with a mere 4,803kms to the South Pole. We also visited Curio Bay where the rock on the beach is actually a petrified forest from the Jurassic period of around 180 million years ago. The adjacent living ancient forest is believed to be the only one in the world so close to a petrified forest and hence they have worldwide ... read more

Well here we are in The Catlins on the south of South Island. By the sound of it we did well to get away with a very short delay from Manchester with snow falling quite heavily as others weren’t so lucky. And our flights – Manchester to Doha (6hrs), Doha to Auckland (16hrs) and Auckland to Dunedin (1h30) – all went like clockwork so again timing was on our side. As we flew over the west coast of Australia I thought not far now but it was another 7 hours to Auckland. Dunedin airport is quaint. As our plane – the only one st the airport – pulled up, Chris pointed out the cows grazing at the side of us.After picking up our hire car and stopping at New World supermarket for a few provisions m, ... read more