NZ Feb/Mar 2023

Our morning started with a lovely stroll through a beautiful, peaceful forest at Hanmer Springs. The walk took us through tall trees of varying ages, heights and shapes. It also included a number of timber sculptures in various places.  From here we started the drive down to Christchurch, stopping to try to find some Maori rock paintings, (unsuccessful) then on to a great sculpture park, located in an old quarry (successful) and finally arriving in Christchurch around 2.30pm. We relaxed and enjoyed a few drinks and a lovely meal at our hotel. Tomorrow will be the final day of our wonderful holiday. We hope to visit the Antarctic Museum conveniently located close to the airport, before flying home.

The morning started off very fresh but again we were blessed with clear skies! This meant that Rob was going to go and play golf at the Hanmer Springs Golf club and Pat and I would head to the Hanmer Springs thermal pools and spa that Pat had booked for us. Rob headed off to golf and Pat and I walked to the spa, where I was to have a 90min. massage, while Pat had a foot massage. We both enjoyed our treatments and then followed them up with a stroll, first to a magnificent old building with lots of history (the Queen Mary Hospital Historic Reserve), a few more shops (we may have purchased some NZ merino and possum knits) and of course coffee. While finishing our coffee, Rob arrived from his golf and joined us. He wandered for a little bit and later Pat and I returned to the Spa so we could use the many hot mineral springs and rock pools along with water-slides and rides. Pat and I spent a couple of hours relaxing in various pools all heated to temperatures between 36 and 40. We decided ...

Today was a driving day from Nelson to Hanmer Springs. We left Nelson in light rain and it continued as we headed inland and south. We stopped at a delightful, town called Murchison for coffee, did some more shopping and also read about a place that we could easily detour to, called Buller Gorge. Here there were several activities we could do and we all decided to do the walk over the longest swing-bridge in New Zealand. Rob also decided that when it came to returning, he would return on the “Supaman” Ride. We enjoyed the walk over on the swing-bridge which spanned the Buller River, followed by a lovely walk around the area where we crossed the White Creek fault line; the epicentre of the 1929 earthquake and the site where the ground was pushed 4.5 metres. We also saw the relics and remains of from the gold-mining era. Once we arrived back at the swing-bridge, Pat and I crossed back to the other side on the bridge, while Rob enjoyed his “Supaman” exploits, returning by flying high abov...

We were up early today because we were going on a cruise and walk in the Abel Tasman National Park. We (Rob) had to drive for an hour before we parked our vehicle and set off on our cruise at 9.15am. We enjoyed the commentary from the cruise staff as we made our way up the coast from our starting point at Kaiteriteri. Our boat called in at various places as we headed north into the magnificent Abel Tasman National Park. Again we were blessed with the most beautiful weather with fairly calm seas and blue skies for the day. Our trip included a stopover at the Tonga Quarry and then a walk to Medlands Beach. Our skipper dropped us off around 11.50am and we then needed to complete the walk and be back on the beach at Medlands by 2.50pm. We took the walk at a leisurely stroll, stopping at various places for snacks and photos. The walk included many steep, up-hill climbs as well as swing bridges and muddy bogs to negotiate. Anyway we enjoyed the challenge and arrived at Medlands Beach with pl...

 We woke to a beautiful day and after breakfast headed off. Our destination today was the town of Nelson, located on the northern coast, of the south island. The drive along the east coast from Kaikoura was spectacular and we decided to call in to a lookout at Ohau Point. To start with we just enjoyed the beautiful scenery and then after a couple of minutes we saw the seals! A large colony of New Zealand fur seals were enjoying themselves, sunning on the rocks or swimming in the ocean just below us! There were hundreds of them, many pups. It was very entertaining and we spent quite a long time enjoying the antics of the seals. Back on the road again, we decided to make a small detour to the lovely town of Picton, located on Queen Charlotte Sound. Again beautiful and spectacular scenery. Picton is the town where the large ferries come in from Wellington on the North Island. We saw a large ferry come in to dock while we were there. After checking out a lookout and the bakery, of cour...

Today we were heading out on a whale watching cruise and the weather looked a little iffy but the seas were calm so we were grateful for that. We checked in around 10am and about 30 minutes later a coach took us out to the wharf area where our cruise was to depart from. A very large and comfortable boat quickly took us out to the area where we were likely to sight whales. There was a small swell but nothing to worry us and the sun was out by now and it was quite warm. Excellent commentary about whales and in particular the Sperm whale, was provided on the trip out. We were lucky to sight a sperm whale and watched it until it took a dive down. Our guide informed us that this whale would now spend 40-50 minutes under water before returning to the surface to breathe. Our boat continued on and a Blue whale was soon sighted. I was a little excited to see the biggest mammal on earth! Again after watching this huge creature for a few minutes it too took a dive down into the depths of the ocea...

We left Mt Cook this morning with cool temperatures, drizzling rain, low clouds and fog. It was to be a long day of driving for Rob. The further we drove the more the weather improved. We passed through and viewed the famous Lake Tekapo, all be in fog and drizzle. With a couple of stops along the way for coffee, lunch and to stretch the legs the time passed relatively quickly and soon we were on the east coast and viewing some more amazing coastal scenery. We arrived at our next stop, Kaikoura a beautiful, coastal town with great facilities and a centre for seafood and fishing. It was quite warm (25) compared to the 13 when we left Mt Cook. After settling into our accommodation, going for a walk along the esplanade and stopping at a pub on the foreshore, for a drink, we went to a recommended fish and chip shop to purchase dinner. It was delicious.

For dinner last night we had booked into the Alpine Restaurant for a huge buffet meal. We ate far too much but all the same it was very nice! The weather looked a little ominous this morning so we had decided to visit the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre, located in the Hermitage Hotel. Last night we inquired about doing a Tasman Glacier and lake boat ride but unfortunately it was totally booked out for today and also for Thursday. Anyway due to the rain and windy conditions this morning, the first two tours were cancelled. We all enjoyed spending a couple of hours learning about the history of the Mt Cook area and hotel and of course, the famous Sir Edmund Hillary. By the time we had finished here the weather had improved so we decided to go on some of the walks located nearby. We drove out to the Tasman Glacier Terminal Lake and started with the so called “easy” walk. It was relatively easy until Rob decided to take us on a short-cut back to the path. It was a little hairy for me and...

 Rob had been hoping to do a helicopter flight doing this trip but had been unable to book, one due to flights being fully booked or there not being enough people for a flight. He was in luck today though. He was booked in for a “pilots choice” flight at 10.30 am. After dropping Pat and myself off at a nearby shopping centre, Rob checked in for his flight. He and another couple were ready early and so the pilot was happy to take off early and give them at least 10 minutes more time than the allocated 30 minutes. He said it was wonderful, seeing the area all around Queenstown as well as being taken to the top of a mountain, where the pilot landed the helicopter for 5 minutes or so. Many fabulous photos were taken! Following this he drove back to the shopping centre and picked Pat and myself up. We were then setting off to drive to Mt Cook. We took our time taking numerous stops for photos and having lunch at Wanaka, on the lake. Unfortunately a squall came through while we enjoying ...

After breakfast Rob and I had decided to do a jet-boat ride in the Shotover Canyon. There were several jet boat operators in Queenstown but this particular one was the only operator that took their jet boats into the Shotover Canyon. We were book in for a 9.30am trip. Arriving around 9am at the departure point, we found that despite it being a beautiful day, it was very cold, cold enough for Rob to buy a cheap beanie to keep himself warm. The jet boat ride was exciting, exhilarating and fun. Rob and I had the best seats in the boat with us both being in the front row with our driver. I was in the middle and Rob on the right hand side.  We enjoyed it immensely, flying over the shallow waters, doing 360’s and getting extremely close to the canyon walls and huge rocks in the canyon. The 30 minutes just flew! After this exciting start to the day we, picked up Pat from the hotel and went for a drive to the nearby heritage town of Arrowtown. This historic, quaint mining town had a lovely...

It was an epic day in more ways than one. We were up early as we were boarding an extra long coach at 7am which was to take us to Milford Sound. The drive to Milford Sound was over 300kms, so with the numerous stops made on the way, we didn’t arrive until 1pm. Our coach driver was very impressive, not only in his driving expertise but also with his commentary. He had provided us with so much information about this area, including geology, geography, history, environment, farming, ornithology, etc etc. Most of our stops on the way were to view more spectacular scenery. Towering, jagged mountains, with small glaciers and snow, huge waterways, large glacial valleys, dense forest etc. Our coach was equipped with huge windows and also most of the roof was glass so this made it easy to view the beautiful scenes. Once we arrived at Milford Sound we boarded one of the many cruises docked at the wharf to do a cruise of the sound. It was another relaxing and beautiful experience, enjoying the st...

As a large tour group were expected in the restaurant at 7am when it opened, we decided to go for a walk around a beautiful lake, Lake Matheson just a few minutes drive  from Fox Glacier. We enjoyed our walk around the lake to a lookout area. Here the reflections were just beautiful even though the low cloud cover prevented us from seeing the nearby mountains. We were probably a few hours too early before the cloud had burnt off. The water, however was perfect for reflections as it was very still with no wind at all. We returned to our motel and had a lovely breakfast and Rob went for another short walk to investigate the possibility of taking a helicopter flight over the glacier. Unfortunately he could only do one at 11.30am and that would have been a little too late, seeing we were driving to Queenstown. The drive to Queenstown was quite spectacular. Around every corner there was something new to see. We stopped Knights Beach, a gorgeous bay on the coast. Then onto Ship Creek. Ye...

 We were up early this morning as we had an Uber booked to take us to the Christchurch railway station. We checked in and put our luggage on before boarding the TransAlpine train which was to take us from one side of the south island to the other.  After settling into our seats we relaxed and listened to the commentary about some of the magnificent scenery, including the ice-fed Walmakariri River. We passed through many tunnels and climbed the alps. The train was extremely comfortable with a fully licenced café on board. The trip took about 4 and ½ hours and we arrived in Greymouth around 1.30pm and after picking up our car, went to a local café for lunch. From Greymouth, we drove to Fox Glacier. The weather, changed today and we experienced some rain coming into Greymouth but all in all it hasn’t interfered with our plans.  

Today we flew from Wellington to Christchurch. Rob was very surprised that there was no security at Wellington airport, before we departed. Anyway, our flight was uneventful and we landed safely in Christchurch. We took an Uber to our accommodation and both of us thought how similar Christchurch was to Adelaide. We were early so couldn’t check in but left our bags at the hotel and met up with our friend Pat who had flown from Adelaide to join us for our tour of the South Island. From our hotel we walked a short distance into the main part of Christchurch and took a tourist tram ride to see the sights of the city. It was a great way of seeing the city and learning about how Christchurch was recovering since the devastating earthquake in 2011. Some of the highlights included the Christchurch Cathedral. For quite a few years it was thought that this iconic building in the centre of the city would have to be pulled down but now it is undergoing a 150 million dollar restoration. Many other ...