Tudor Park Country Stay Invercargill

... many people lining the route (but plenty of sheep and farmed deer) and you had to be careful to dodge out of the way of the lorries and cars as they drove past you, although the route was well marked. It was a great day and I ran the first 27K with a local GP (Roger) which made the time pass quickly. I did finish (5hrs as usual) and am now the proud owner of a very select Centenary Commemorative Medal (and T-shirt). Having ...

... girls from the Bottom Bus) and me climbed to the top of with the expert help of our bus driver Mike. The views were great and it was sweet how we could lean on the tree over the waterfall and have pictures taken. The highlight of the day however was stopping off at the interesting Curio Bay where we were able to spot yellow-eyed penguins waddling along the stony bay. Curio Bay was pretty interesting as apparently its one of only three ...

... towards the coast. however, enroute there was a dripping inside the van, by our feet, and dangerously close to electrics meaning a stop-off in the extremely industrialised super huge town of mount isa, where a mechanic told us 'no worries' to our air-con probs and after flushing out a pipe or two for zilch money, we were back on our way before a quick stop at macdonalds - yes, i want to live a cheap existence now, but sometimes you just have to have a macdonalds - where sean and ...

Today, we began Faith Week. The rest of our school were dropped off in teams of 3 on Saturday in the middle of nowhere either south or north of Oxford (the team's choice). Each person was given $20 New Zealand dollars (about $10 US dollars) and a sack lunch, and sought God's leading on where to go. Each person packed a change of clothes, sleeping bag, and a few other things in a backpack and set out. We got around by hitchhiking, which ...

... World Heritage Status Wilderness you would otherwise never see. Mysterious, evocative, exhilarating and utterly spectacular, filmed across extremes of season, climate and terrain, it will take you on an unforgettable journey through one of the most awe inspiring landscapes on earth." This 30 minute movie was filmed by a helicopter pilote (I cannot remember the name!! and I have sent the liflet back home...) over 10 years. There are no lyrics, just music and amazing ...

... spot right by the beach and enjoyed the evening sun. After dinner and a walk we discovered that Chris had accidentally left the lights on. A friendly German lady parked near us helped us out with jump leads. 18 Feb - Chris felt we should go back to Invercargill, almost 50 kmback, as he had discovered that one of the wheels had a different sized retaining nut and we did not have the tools to remove it. Luckily, in Riverton, only 10 km ...

... Choice!', others would call 'Cool!' and my English teacher would haver wanted me to call ' A outstanding, sensory and emotional experience.' There was also a nice photogenic sign to prove we were there. We struggled back to the main road (still unsealed - sadly no one had sealed while we were taking tourist pictures), Hannah expressed reservations that it was 1pm and we had 78kms to go, I did some dodgy maths and decided it would be ...

... Mondays and Wednesdays...this time it was the Back to the Future movie, and "No Sarah, unlike Indiana Jones 1 and 3, and The Sound of Music, there are no Nazis in this one." That's it for another week. Tracy tells me that she wants to write the next blog...something about trying to instill a little more class into the thing. That's fine with me because I need to focus on stopping the kids from knocking me on the head and saying, "Hello! McFly! McFly...."

... going to do because if we missed our connecting flight we may have found another but we would have lost the last bus out of Dunedin to Invercargill AND the family we were going to farm stay with would not be able to pick us up for the hour drive to their farm. It turned out that the delayed plane was also the plane that was flying to Dunedin so everything seemed to be working out as we had some ...

... live rock'n'roll. Thank you, Auckland! That was necessary!

Then I made my way down to a place Keith Richards lovingly named "the ******* of the world" (thanks for the quote, Nathan!) which would be my home for the next 6 months. It's definitely the end of the world, but doesn't smell that bad. In fact it is a 50 000 people town that strongly reminds me of any old American mid-western town: wide streets, overland lines, single houses, partially wood, old cars, lotsa hicksy ...