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Published: April 19th 2008
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Hi everyone, our time in New Zealand seems to be running out very quickly so here is what we've been up to in the last week:
We had a couple more days in Dunedin, Hogwarts was difficult to leave but we did go to the lovely farmers market, we're complete suckers for markets and this was definetly one of the better ones. We also went to the world's steepest street, Baldwin Street, and it was incredibly steep, we decided against driving up it though as our Nissan Sunny complains going up the slightest incline. From Dunedin we then spent a perfect day on the Otago Peninsula, the sun was shining and the area is exceptionally beautiful so we had a lovely time driving around going to the albatross colony (but sadly didn't see any), remote beaches and Larnach Castle. It's not really a castle compared to english ones its just a big house with turrets built in 1771 but it is lovely and the gardens are very tranquil.
Next we stayed a night just 20 minutes from Dunedin in a fantastic backpackers on top of a hill looking out over the sea, we had it all to ourselves so
we spent the evening listening to jazz and Bob Dylan on their record player by the roaring fire- complete heaven. No idea why it wasn't booked out as it's an incredibly spot.
Our next night was in Geraldine as we drove north up the east coast, not a lot there except the world's largest knitted jersey! We stayed in a strange hostel which used to be a maternity hospital and it still feels like one (especially as the owners had a newborn baby!) so it was certainly a novelty but it wasn't the homeliest place. Beautiful area though, everyone says it feels like England and it does a bit especially as the leaves are starting to turn in Autumn.
We then drove up to Kaikoura for two nights where we spent an amazing morning doing a whale watch. The company is great as they whizz you out in a boat to where a whale was last seen diving down and then wait for it to surface again. They mainly focus on Sperm Whales which spend 40 mins underwater and then 10 minutes on the surface. We were lucky enough to see two Spern Whales the larger one being
18m and weighing 50 tonnes! We were so happy to finally see whales especially as they both brought their tails up when they dived so it was just like on Planet Earth!!! We also managed to see seals, albatross (finally!) and a pod of 200 dusky dolphins who swam around the boat doing flips and playing for ages, we just couldn't belive how many there were! Not much else to do in Kaikoura apart from wildlife watching so we headed off again.
We spent the last two nights in what can only be described as pure paradise. We were out in the Marlborough Sounds right in the North-East of the North Island in the most back-of-beyond place we have yet been as the nearest supermarket is over 3 hours away! It was a long drive down very narrow windy roads but worth every bend as the backpackers at the end was unbelieveable. It's a group of wooden cabins with lovely decks and a lawn sloping down to the sea. It's hard to describe how beautiful and peaceful it was there but the owners were fantastic (especially as they welcome you with tea and cake!) and we just had a
A whales tail!! (little Nick)
look there in the distance...a whales tail! lovely lovely stay. We were forced to simply relax so we read, kayaked, lounged in the sun and baked bread. We would recommend absolutely anyone to go there, you can even get there by water taxi instead of driving the difficult road!
We are currently in Nelson, we have been here before but we are very strange and have popped back for two nights as we were in the area and needed somewhere to hang about waiting for a hostel to re-open to carry on with our trip (very confusing I know). So we have spent the morning at the gorgeous Saturday market and hopefully will go to the Sunday one tomorrow which was closed on our last visit. We are very much enjoying a sunny spell after the cooler times we had further South and are hoping spring is on it's way for you guys back home! We hope you're all well, lots of love Cordy and Issie X
P.S. We have FINALLY put up some photos, only a few but it's better than nothing so you can look back at our previous entries if you're interested.
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