Overseas Travel
A Quiet Day in Nelson
Because we have two days here in Nelson, we deliberately kept our start to the day slow and relaxed. We were still in our hotel room at 10.30 am before leaving for a day of looking around this area of the northern South Island. We thought that we should put the car through a car […]
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The Marlborough Area of New Zealand
Kaikōura where we have spent last night began as an isolated whaling location. Whalers first came to New Zealand waters in 1792, initially to hunt sperm whales from their ships. Shore whaling began in the 1820s. Southern right whales were killed and their blubber rended down. The oil produced from that process was used to […]
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We are Back on the East Coast
After a nice night in the little town of Hanmer Springs, we were on the road before 10.00 am for a relatively short drive to Kaikoura on the east coast. Google Maps told us that today’s trip would be less than two hours so we didn’t rush and instead, built in some detours. For the […]
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Across the Haast Pass to Hanmer Springs
Hanmer Springs is a resort town in the Canterbury region of New Zealand’s South Island. It is known for its thermal pools and spa. It is where people come to ’take the waters’. The surrounding mountains are home to trails and seasonal ski slopes. We began our drive to there by backtracking south to Greymouth […]
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North, Along the West Coast
We travelled north along the West Coast today from Fox Glacier to Punakaiki towards the north of New Zealand’s South Island. My story today is much better illustrated by photos than by text. Although we were near the coast at Fox Glacier, we were also on the edge of the Southern Alps, the backbone of […]
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Over the Haast Pass to NZ’s West Coast
We had about 275 kilometres to travel today but we were not rushed and today’s drive felt very comfortable and relaxed. Perhaps it was the coffee in Wanaka that we waited 20 minutes to get. The young barista in the cafe was working hard and she had our coffees up as fast as she could […]
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Wanaka
Wanaka is just one hour’s drive from Queenstown, that is if you drive non-stop along the most direct route Because the drive was so short, we decided to first travel for a few kilometres along the shore of Lake Wakatipu towards Glenorchy to see some of the scenery along the lake further on from Queenstown. […]
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Exploring Queenstown’s Activities
Queenstown is unique. With its blend of lakes, mountains and rivers it is an outdoor lover’s paradise. I cannot think of any town in Australia that comes close to offering the diverse activities that Queenstown here in New Zealand does. There are some consequence of this town’s popularity. Parking is severely limited for a start. […]
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Queenstown – the Adventure Capital of New Zealand
After some intense diagnosis, I can report that my camera problem from yesterday is due to a faulty memory card. I’ll have to wait and see if I can retrieve any images from it when I get back home. Everything seems to more be back to normal now that I have replaced it. We left […]
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Milford Sound
I didn’t do my usual daily post last night as I was extremely disappointed to get back from a day trip to Milford Sound and find that there was not one image from the day on my camera’s memory card. I had taken a couple of hundred photos during the day and this is one […]
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We Have Reached Te Anau
The picturesque township of Te Anau is the main visitor base for the glacier-carved wilderness that is Fiordland National Park. It provides a wide range of accommodation including lodges, hotels and campgrounds – all of which I have experienced in previous trips to this area when I have visited before and hiked the Milford and […]
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We Are Almost as Far South As We Can Go
Invercargill is almost as far south in New Zealand as you can go. Only the port of Bluff a few kilometres down the road is further south. We left Dunedin this morning after a short stop at the supermarket to buy some more breakfast supplies and headed south down the motorway. We made a mistake […]
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