Wolseley Lodge Christchurch

Erik and I spent Christmas morning tidying up the house and packing our bags for our South Island trip. We ate apple flapps and cheese toasties to use up the last of the fresh food in the fridge - not the most traditional Christmas dinner. Our flight was scheduled to depart around 6pm but check in was delayed. The plane was stuck in Christchurch due to compression problems in the cabin and they almost cancelled the flight.. but we ...

... many bouts of sea sickness recently, and we have to stop a couple of time for her to get out and a have a walk but luckily she does manage to keep her breakfast down!
After dropping off the car at the airport we get a taxi to our Motel on Riccarton road, after unpacking we take a walk to see what’s around. Westfield Mall is like a proper mall at home! And we find a fab supermarket called Pak n Save which has a lot of very tasty looking things! There’s ...

... only to return at first light. After checking out of the lodge and packing the car, we headed off to our boat tour that would take us across the Milford Sound itself.

We were welcomed aboard by an older man, and immediately seized the hot chocolate/coffee bar located inside the boat. Since the Milford sound is one of the wettest places on Earth, the boat’s inside contained numerous windows for observing and its outside was heavily covered for safety and shelter from ...

My hosts and their cats provided an excellent tea and toast to start the day and soon we were off on a grand tour of Christchurch and the surrounding area. First stop the cable car and a panoramic view of well, actually the inside of lots of clouds, as the top was shrouded in mist! There were photos of the view and a damn fine cappuccino.

Then it was a drive ...

... fine.
Got settled in then drove out one last time to the nearest BP to get some muesli & coke.
Then got back to motel then took a walk into town. Took around 15 minutes to get into Cathedral Square. Thought I would head up the Cathedral tower ($5) for a look, pretty cool!
Went back to the motel at around 4PM where I settled in for the night, checking emails, making phone calls etc.
Tomorrow the plan is to get the car done then head to Omarama. More as it comes!

... following day, we were up early (-ish) to drive down to Dunedin. We stopped off at the Moeraki Boulders which are a number of perfectly rounded rocks on the ocean front. Unfortunately, the we timed it wrong & the tide was in, completely covering the boulders, doh! So that was the end of that plan, even though Laura suggested waiting for 4 hours until the tide went out... very reasonable Lau :P

So we drove on & stopped off at Shag Point to see the seal colony ...

... That's the woes of a non-drinker. SquawJenny was a bit timid on the DOC dunny's, so had been using the on-board poopchute and it was getting riper. I think the previous occupants were into vindaloo and didn't rinse it out, because it stank like "old folks" from the first day. CalamityBarb & Ol' Dolly reckon their s### don't stink... !! Let me take a moment here to reflect. Have I told you I don't like campervans? No? Well, I hate campervans and caravans. I am neither a gypsy nor ...

... be able to slow down and pull over, but sean reassured me that there would always be a chance on either one of the next two journeys we'd be making passed the sign! god, massive groan! anyway, so after an absolute horrendous drive up, stopping and checking the underside of the van every 60k or so, we'd finally made it into alice springs and now all we had to do was reach the toyota garage, book ourselves in for a mend and service, and sit pretty in alice for the next couple of ...

... of 4-5 cm a year.)   We went for a ride on the Hagglund. It is a Swedish amphibious all terrain vehicle (except air). It was really cool. Our driver showed us all the capabilities of the Hagglund. We road in the front car. After that Dad, and I went for a ride in the back. It was way better. The Antarctic Centre was great. I loved reading up on all the expeditions that I had heard about, such as Shakelton's. - Rigel

... Later on we went for dinner at Wagamamas, I had chicken curry n coconut noodle soup then for dessert, white chocolate n ginger cheesecake Followed by Sake to drink which was served how you are ment to drink it, hot in a pot container with a small kind of pot shot glass to drink it from. After we'd eaten we strolled back to the Ibis and watched Halloween. Reasonably early night, got to bed about 12am.