Acapella Lodge Akaroa

... through. We went through it and climbed over it, looking at the pretty view of the beach. Next we headed to the Summit Road, a scenic drive over the hills of the peninsula. At first the scenery was gorgeous - green hills, sheep, glittering blue sea, and David said it reminded him of Wales. Then we ascended into the mist. We could see nothing but white so we gave up and went back to the coastal road. David did enjoy driving the winding roads though. We stopped in Lyttleton for lunch ...

... to cycle round the sign and to stick to the highway, it was tempting though, canals are just so wonderfully flat. Once back in Twizel without any dangerous conditions, I picked up my stuff and hung around. In fact I hung around for about 5hrs, having made good cycling time and the bus being really late, I read almost an entire rubbish book, that was like a badly written Grey's anatomy copy, I'd swapped for it in ...

... direction to everyone else, around the base, missing out plenty of people until we reached a natural watering hole in a crevice at the base and 'teaching area' covered in aboriginal markings, where hundreds of japanese tourists just happened to have landed to crowd in to learn more. actually, while i am talking about crevices in the rock's base, i guess it should be at this stage that i go onto explain how ayer's rock does not resemble a giant ice bun! i guess the ...

... in the play" (thinking maybe he was wishing he had worked out more at the gym). He meant happy, chuffed, pleased, exhilarated at performing in the play. Oh well you live and learn. On the last morning we wander through the Arts Centre and buy bread and fruit in the local farmer's market. They do great German and sourdough breads. It's graduation day and the sun is shinning as the graduands and families pose for photos. We've really enjoyed Christchurch - second time round even more.

... who announced it to the boat. Soon we had a whole pod swimming around the boat. We guess roughly a dozen swimming around the boat. Since they were swimming tightly around us on all sides, it was hard to guestimate. Ava got a number of good pictures. They are small but beautiful creatures.             After a while other boats started to show up. At least one of those was the 'swim with the dolphins' boat. Considering the wind and the temperature ...

... side. lovely. we saw about five sperm whales which was great but to be honest, u only see the top of their backs and they just spout water every now and then. i dont know what i was expecting, thats a lie, i was expecting them to be performing lots of lovely jumps and tricks for us, but it wasnt as amazing as id hoped it would be, but then what i really wanted to see was orcas and there werent any around that day. just another reason to come back i guess. we did see a pod of ...

... in for our last nights sleeping in Neil! The following morning mike woke at 6:00 in a slight drizzle. Luckily this lifted and shortly after 9:00 we started on the Hooker Valley walk. This takes you around the foot of Mt Cook, up the Hooker valley to the Hooker Glacier lake. Glacial ice floats silently atop the lake on its journey to Lake Pukaiki. It is remarkable to see the contrast in colour between the brown - grey water at Hooker Lake and the milky ...

... pas grave je le prend a 14h00. Ma bagnole s'appelle Booga (les bagnoles ont des noms ici), Salut Booga, moi c'est Stef, tu vas être mon meilleur ami pour les quatre prochaines semaines. Tout mon bagage est maintenant a bord, je fais le tour, je regarde la carte et toute sortes d'autres excuses pour ne pas prendre la route. Et la ca me frappe... j'ai la chienne de conduire. Faut dire que rien n'est ...

... et cette fois je comprends que je devais etre deja a bord. Belles vacances! Je vous fait grace des beaux mots que j'ai dit. (c'est pour toi belle maman!) Faque je ramasse le premier guichet et la je parle a la gentille dame qui me regarde ahurie (j'ai chaud, je bafoulle quelque chose dans un anglais approximatif, je vais manque mon vol, quelque chose sur mes bagages, la douane etc) Finallement elle appelle la porte d'ou je suis ...

... br>
Then it was across the South Island to Dunedin on the Presidential Highway, so called because it connects the towns of Gore and Clinton. (Transit NZ getting a bit political?) We decided to spend 3 nights on each side of the Otago Harbour, and were rewarded with stunning views, peaceful hostels and even a passing cruise ship - much waving and photography on both sides. The Otago peninsula is all about wildlife, and after witnessing the ...