Geo: -45.0977, 170.971Day 4: Oamaru to DunedinAnother glorious day on the Otago Peninsula as we head further south to Dunedin. First port of call was the Moeraki Boulders. You guessed it.........no it was not closed but it was high tide and all but a handful were underwater. Debi saved herself a walk along the beach and viewed these pre-historic formations from afar. I however took a few photos' close up. We had a magnificent breakfast at the cafe then headed down to the nearby fishing village, the site of one of the best seafood restaurants on the South Island (Fleurs Place). It was packed however we didn't feel like seafood at 9.00am so we headed back to Highway 1, en-route to Dunedin.The country side improved immensely as we weaved our way through the very hilly mountains ... read more

Geo: -43.5316, 172.637Awake at 5am we tried to grab some extra Z's but we were still on Brisbane time so we got up and sorted our stuff ready for our road trip. Slipped a Telecom NZ SIM into Debi's phone so we we will have local call rates and plenty of data to last the next three weeks (no nasty roaming charges).After breakfast we headed to Europcar to pick up our vehicle. As expected they didn't have the car I booked in the lot so we were upgraded to a brand new Santa Fe diesel SUV at no extra cost, (scorage)! I pulled my Navman out of our luggage stuck it to the windscreen and we were underway.A short drive today (2 hours ) as we weave our way through the burbs of Christchurch and soon ... read more

Geo: -27.4676, 153.028We are now back at home in Brisbane and it seems strange that we have not packed the car and hit the road again this morning.People have asked us how we could drive all that distance in 26 days and possibly see or do anything. Well let us say that this is probably one of the best holidays we have undertaken. We averaged five to six hours behind the wheel each day, stayed in five of our favorite locations for forty eight hours and have seen more of Australia and done more things than most road warriors would do in 6 months.Our trip across the Nullarbor was certainly long but by no means was it boring and we have now undertaken a right of passage that many Australians will never experience because they will ... read more

Geo: -29.4278, 147.979Toady's Challenge - There is no challenge today, because we cannot think of one.We rise in plenty of time to get to the paddle steamer but right at the last minute Rod realises his watch has stopped and we scramble to get there on time. Not to worry we are first on board as a number of stragglers turn up late.The captain and his mate are real ockers and fill us in on the history of the Darling River Riverboat Trade and also lots of info about the local wildlife. We learn some interesting facts about pumping water out of the river and about the requirement to leave any tree that falls into the water in place for eco requirements. For some reason this seems to defy logic. The trip is a pleasant one ... read more

Geo: -30.8521, 143.089Today's Challenge - To count the dips in the road to Silverton.Having agreed on our itinerary for the next few days, we rise late this morning as we only have a four and a half hour drive to White Cliffs.With time up our sleeves we decide to head in the opposite direction to Silverton some 70 km out of Broken Hill. Silverton now almost a ghost town was famous as its name suggests for Silver Mining and more recently as the backdrop for the movies, Mad Max II and Precilla Queen of the Desert. The road to Silverton although sealed is notorious for flood-ways and thus today's challenge is to count the signed dips in the road. Deb counts 32 and Rod counts 28. How do we know who is correct? Deb spots a ... read more