Dear friends, The penultimate blog of the Road Trip is about a wonderful day on Waiheke Island in the Hauraki Gulf, just 40 minutes by ferry from Auckland city. We were excellently guided around the island by a new friend Kavin and in the company of our Auckland host Brian, and wow, what a great [...]
Dear Friends, The last destination on our road trip was Auckland where we had three full days to explore and enjoy the city and surrounds. I had thought to just do one blog, but decided that Auckland city deserved its own story as does the wonderful island of Waiheke where we spent a lovely day [...]
Dear friends, You cannot visit New Zealand and not want to learn about the history and culture of the Maori people of New Zealand, and where better to do this than in Rotorua, famous for its geothermal landscape and strong Maori traditions. The first evening we were in Rotorua we visited Tamaki Village, one of [...]
Dear friends, It has been almost perfect weather during our trip, and even the few rain days we've had have all coincided with 'driving days' so we've been lucky. Leaving the capital city, Wellington, we travelled north and after winding through the Rimutakas, stopped for a delicious big breakfast at Greytown on the recommendation of [...]
Dear Friends, Another glorious day as we drove from Nelson along the winding Queen Charlotte Drive to Picton from where we took the Interislander Ferry to Wellington. The ferry cruises through the beautiful Marlborough Sounds, then across Cook Strait and into Wellington Harbour. A panorama of Queen Charlotte Drive looking out to the Sounds. Blue [...]
Hi friends, We made it to Nelson through some quite heavy rain, the clouds lifting and a weak sun shining through as we arrived. We were warmly welcomed by friends with whom we stayed for aa couple of days and enjoyed an extended family bbq, walking in the hills above the city, lunch at a [...]
Dear friends, Following quickly on from the last post, this one is mainly scenery of the west coast from Franz Josef up to Westport, from where we headed eastwards towards the city of Nelson. The latter part of the day over the hills and through the Buller Gorge we hit some rain, so no photos [...]
Dear friends, After three beautiful days in Wanaka, we left early to drive through the Haast Pass to the West Coast, passing along the western side of Lake Hawea and then back along the upper reaches of Lake Wanaka before continuing on through the valleys and gorges of the Haast to reach the coast. From [...]
Dear everyone, From Queenstown, we drove over the winding Crown Range Road to Lake Wanaka, but as it was raining and cloudy there are no photos of the scenery to post. So, descending down the Cadrona Valley, a stop at the old pub for a cup of tea was most welcome. I remember this old [...]
Dear friends, Leaving Dunedin behind we drove back up the coast as far as Palmerston and then turned inland, driving through the Maniatoto District and then into Central Otago. The colours of the coastlands are more green and as you move into Central, the colours turn to golds and aqua. Rolling green hills of North [...]