Tower Lodge Motel Invercargill

... woodpidgeons, even a white tailed deer that had wondered out of the bush (NZ only has one native mammal a bat). There are pristine beaches everywhere.<br> We caught the last flight back but if you are game there are ferry crossings from Bluff. We meet some people on the flight whole invited us to their home for dinner, they cooked us some Blue Cod they had caught earlier in the day along with some paua (abalone). But the best course was the starter of Bluff Oysters ...

... to townsville, where we hoped to stay next, we decided to 'flip the coin' so to speak and change direction and head further into queensland's outback. our detour would mean having to cut out one hell of a chunk of the coastline, but it would guarantee us a chance to perhaps stalk down one of sean's old friends in longreach and stop-off at the world famous walkabout hotel as featured in the croc dundee films! woohoo! so, mckinlay? the lonely planet reads that without the ...

... a peek at the sealions that are often seen chilling out on the beach. We had been warned several times that sealions can be quite vicious and they move really quickly, so if you invade their space, you might end up with one limb less. We were obviously ******** ourselves when we got down to the bay, but we needed a story to report back to our adventurous fellow camper. I can't say i wasn't a little relieved when the beach appeared devoid of sealions. We walked along the beach a ...

... It had worked out cheaper for me to go the long way round, but it was going to take me the whole day to do a journey I could have done in half the time. We were dropped off at Invercargill by our first bus. I would have stayed if I had the time, but that was something I was beginning to run short on. And so we waited, with many others it seemed, for our next bus. There was a pile of bags lining the entrance to the tourist ...

... along Baldwin, we don't know if it's the economy or the street. Most cars can't even make the trip up the street unless you have 4 wheel drive - we left Miles at the bottom. Dunedin is a beautiful town, but the best part of it is the Otego Peninsula that jets out from the city. I have to say, I think it is my favorite place that we've been to yet. The most beautiful countryside and it had just rained so we saw about 6 different rainbows.

... that it is because the hole itself is set 200 metres back from the coast, which means if you didn't know it, you wouldn't believe the water in it has travelled that far to get there. From here we returned to the Delica and having found a camp site retired for the evening, full of fresh air and a small sense of adventure. Next morning we set off bright and early to cover what remained of The Catlins and to travel onto Invercargill, where we were planning another weekend of ...

... up the car, Tracy and I looked at each other and realized that we had no idea what city we were going to next...probably should have done some planning! How about Twizel, the "oft-maligned town that was scheduled to be bulldozed in the mid 80's"? Sounds good to us! Twizel was a convenient base for exploring Mount Cook, the highest mountain in NZ. Also nearby were some glaciers and the shockingly blue glacier fed lakes, reminiscent of Alberta ...

... but a 'Biman' from the Invercargill brewery soon sorted us out! Eian and Trudy who own the hotel remembered us well and we met up with a man from Cambridge who was also staying here at the same time as us 3 years ago!! We're spending the morning here before moving on to Stewart Island for 6 days where we'll see in the New Year. The weather is perfect - blue skies with a nice cooling breeze and the forecast is for pretty settled weather for the next week. To be continued...

... the time I'd layered up with fleece and waterproof the rain was torrential. I made my way back down the trail at speed as the wind and temperature played see-saw. Then it was snowing. All of this was happening on the valley floor and looking up at the mountains lord only knows what was happening up there. I made short work of the return trek, running where safe, the rain following my drive home until just a couple of km from the backpackers where it gave way to puffy clouds and sunshine ...

... Island, the third largest island of New Zealand with beautiful dense podocarp and fern forests, stunning beaches and less mammalian predators than the rest of NZ. Hence it has remained a bird paradise. Where in other parts of the country vast populations of introduced rats, stoats and possums have decimated the endemic bird population, mainly by munching up their eggs, you can still see many birds you would have some difficulty coming across on the "mainland", such as the flightless ...