Aramoana, a dark name in Kiwi history, but we survived the night and drove to Port Chalmers and the back road to Waitati. We had coffee at Karitane which has a nice sandy beach with rollers coming in from the southern ocean. After this it was mostly SH1 with a lunch stop at Moeraki Village […]

This morning my intention was to walk to Sandfly Bay. We drove to the path, a good road in fact, and I walked as far as the viewpoint. However the track goes by the dunes at the back and walkers are asked not to go onto the beach as penguins might be disturbed. They are […]

At break of day (ok 11am) we headed to Pukekura (red hill) to the Royal Albatross Centre. The guided tour was well worth the money – which also helps fund the centre. There were four chicks in residence. While we watched a male parent landed and fed one of the chicks.

In the morning I took a walk to Cannibal Bay about 6km there and back. There were a few inhabitants about. We then drove pretty quickly to the Otago Peninsula via the South coast and a bit of South Dunedin. Around lunchtime we arrived in Portabelo. We plan to stay a day or two and […]

We left Waikawa late this morning, last ones to leave actually. Then drove to Kaka Point and Nugget Point. The latter is awesome. We also paused at Roaring Bay on the other side of the point. There was a hide for viewing Yellow-eyed penguins but it was a bit too early for them to be […]

Today we drove straight to the entrance to the Caitlins at Fortrose where we stopped for coffee and to fill up with relatively cheap diesel at the cafe. I bought Hania a possum fur. She will be glad of it next week I’m thinking. Then a short drive to Curio Bay where there are fossil […]

Reluctantly we left the lake and continued south on SH6 intending to lunch at Bluff. After a good deal of meandering about we hit Invercargill Countdown at about 1pm. Inevitable photo of Bluff. Of course we had to have our oysters and stopped at a little shack outside town. And for today there’s not much […]

A rest day at Lake Kingston Campground on SH6 south of Queenstown. We spent the day reading, snoozing and sunbathing. This little park has been planted with many different types of tree. One of the trees is an apple and with last night’s gale several came down thanks to Hania we had stewed apple with […]

We headed South again towards Queenstown but not before seeing this tree Hania insists is famous – world famous in Wanaka I guess. After the tree we took the Crown Range road out past Cardrona and the bra fence. We survived the hairy descent into valley and headed to Arrowtown. It was crowded by the […]

Today was a day to explore Wanaka. We went into town and walked the lakefront before heading for a big mug of coffee at the Trout Restaurant. Shopping in the nearby New World as usual we went for an item or two and came out with a couple of bags full. We then headed out […]