Blogs from New Zealand, Oceania - page 2430

We get up and go to the art gallery. They have a wonderful children’s area that has a piece of art for each letter of the alphabet. It is a beautiful day so we stop at a sidewalk wine café to have champagne and a fantastic chocolate dessert trio. We take the bus to a grocery store to buy supplies for our hike on the Banks Peninsula Track. Back at our hotel we pack for the hike and Akaroa trip. My cough and runny nose is getting worse and I am running a little fever. I decide that I must have a sinus infection and should start on the antibiotics that I brought along in case I got sick. I take an antibiotic and lay down for a little while, as I am really not feeling ... read more

Hi All, this is the next missive after the previous one ...! Sorry we've rather left you hanging there for the last couple of weeks or so but its the same old story of so very much to do, etc, etc ... Well our South Island 'tour' started in Christchurch on the afternoon of 23rd October after a pleasant flight from Auckland - a glorious day & window seats meant we could follow our progress south by watching coastline & mountains spread out below. Although Christchurch was a nice enough city we only did 1 night B&B before heading southwards & inland towards Mount Cook (NZ's highest peak) but before we left we did a very worthwhile scenic drive over the hills southeast of the city. En route to Mount Cook we stopped off at a ... read more

From Bark Bay to Awaroa - a mere 5 hours hike!... read more

30.10.- 1.11.2005 - cestou na Severny ostrov Na juznom ostrove zostavame uz len posledne 2 dni a nasledujucich 21 (novembrovych) dni, ktore nas zostavaju do odletu stravime poznavanim severneho ostrova. Pocas tychto 2 dni na juznom ostrove sme zavitali do pristavneho mesta Nelson, ktore sa tesi velkej oblube umelcov a preto sa v tomto meste nachadza mnoho malickych galerii a stylovych obchodikov. Samozrejme sme mnohe z nich navstivili a neodisli sme naprazdno :) ... najme z tych obchodikov. Pristavna atmosfera mesta nas zlakala do restauracie na pobrezi, kde sme si pri vyhlade na zatoku dali typicke fish & chips a flasticku vinka :). Nakoniec sme zhodnotili, ze mestsky zivot je financne narocny a pobrali sa dalej smerom na vychod, blizsie k severnemu ostrovu. Smerom k Marlborough Sound sme opat pocuvli radu nasho knizneho sprievodcu a vyliezli ... read more

rotorua....the smelliest town in the world perhaps. we arrived a couple of days ago. i discovered on our drive that mint chip doesn't really enjoy the uphill driving very much, and in the mornings she's cranky. she doesn't like to start up right away. the trip to rotorua south and inland from auckland was beautiful. it reminded me of pennsylvania, but the land was more lush and the hills bigger. as we rolled into the city the smell hit us like a brick wall of rotten eggs. the town rests upon a river of lava which creates thermal pools everywhere....hence the smell and attraction i suppose. my first night i fell asleep to the sound of rain falling on my tent all bundled in my sleeping bag. a candle burning outside my tent door made it ... read more