Blogs from Twizel, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

A most stunning day. Yet another fine, clear and calm. We left our most comfortable home for the last week (Settlers Motel), had our last coffee at Provisions and set off for Cromwell. I was staggered to see how many more vineyards have been planted in the Gibbston and Dunstan valleys since we were last here. Then, there were patches here and there, now, there are kilometres of wall to wall vines. These are all planted on the north facing terraces. Above the terraces are barren hills of rocks and not much else - matagouri and sparse tussocks. Our first stop was at Roaring Meg in the gorge to take a look at the gushing blue water and small power station. Also some swimmers in the water with boards to float down the rapids. Out of ... read more

Dunedin, either going to rain or raining and this was true to form today. We left on a miserable cold rainy day, heading north and to Twizel for the night. Initially the road north takes you towards Oamaru, along the coast line. Evandale Cheese factory caught our eye, just south of Waikouaiti. Pulling in the drive to a huge building, very close nearby were many abandoned buildings, roads and hostel type places. This is the former site of the Karitane hospital set up by Dr Truby King. He was a pioneer for maternal and infant health, setting up a system for monitoring and assisting mothers with new babies, that has been copied world wide. Also nearby on this site is the old Cherry Farm, which was one of the premier psychiatric hospitals in the South Island. ... read more

Wednesday 11th December, 2013. Vanished World Fossil & Heritage Trail to Twizel Today was another travelling day - we were still on our way to Mt Cook. As we had plenty of time we decided to follow the Vanished World Fossil & Heritage Trail which was clearly signposted through the countryside. The first stop was through some private farm land. It was a short trail to the Anatini Whale Fossil Site. Anatini means caves, and is the name of the farm that we crossed to reach the site. The sign warned us to go quietly if animals were present. We followed the track until we came to a gate. We could see the site in front of us on the hill. The field was occupied by a very vocal bull. M wasn't too sure, but as ... read more

Just re-reading Paul's last blog entry .... It we thought we were achy after the sea kayaking, that was nothing to how we are feeling this morning. River boarding in the Kawarau gorge yesterday was fantastic ... It involved floating down a river gripping on to a bodyboard, negotiating white water rapids and large rocks. Then once we had done this we were pulled behind a jetski to an area where there were rock jumps, water slides and rope swings to play on. Paul jumped from a 12.5 metre rock which was VERY high! despite having already jumped out of a plane from 15,000 feet this holiday that was too high for me. Paul refers to it as my 'fear of small heights'! After that we sat by the gorge to watch jet boats taking groups ... read more