Alglenn Motel Canterbury

... Surely high season would rob us of delights like that, and also of the unlimited access we've had to the very knowledgeable guides that seem to be there at every single trip, museum or attraction.

The country in general is a strange mix of cultural influences. The Maori are not just part of the country's rich history - Maori community is very much alive and kicking and the chiefs still play a major role in shaping NZ politics ...

... with gears. We left Christchurch at 3pm and got to Dunedin at 10pm., a full 3 hours drive from the place we had booked to stay that night - it wasnīt going to happen.So we found a campsite and got a cabin for the night. The place was particularly Chavey, iīm glad we didnīt stop for longer. Next day - Simons birthday - we took the scenic highway down to the Katlins, stopping at Kaka Point and Nugget Point along the way for a good look t the fabulous scenery.

... in the North Island. Day 39 We hit the road again today, destination "Te Anau" (tee ah-now). The drive took a couple of hours after which we quickly found some budget accomodation. We left our bags and were off again in the car towards Milford Sound. Knowing we were going quite late in the day, we decided not to stop off on the way. The road to Milford Sound is really nice - with forested areas followed by valleys surrounded by steep cliff faces, waterfalls and ...

... were sitting having a glass of bubbly listening to lovely music before going out to dinner. As it happened the door to the en-suite was open and I noticed that the waste pipes coming out of the sink were inch and a quarter and commented on that fact at which point Mary thought this was hilarious and pretty typical of me - even at a "romantic moment"! My thoughts? Is that any different from Mary saying in a similar situation "That dress I saw in the shop today was really nice ...

... frosted glass walls so privacy is limited!!! They do have very fancy mood lighting though which is great if you are on a romantic getway or something but not really necessary for two sisters sharing a room. They even have a blue light under one of the beds which is apparently meant to mean that you sleep better and also is more welcoming than coming into a dark room. We did have a good giggle about the various options available to us! As jet lag hadn't hit her ...

Dunedin City We put aside half of today to explore NZs 5th largest city. Dunedin is a city very much rooted in Scottish history. Dunedin is actually the Gaelic word for Edinburgh. Certainly some of the architecture in the city has a Scots feel to it along with street names such as Princes Street. There is also a big statue of Robert Burns - as you will see we managed to take a photo when there was a ...

From Sydney I flew into Canterbury. It has a very English feel and it could be any large market town in England. After getting myself organised for a day, I rode the trans-alpine railway across to the West Coast and Greymouth. The train ride was great, and got some great views. Greymouth is not much, and very small, however it does have the Speights brewery, so had the required brewery trip. At Greymouth I joined the Magic Bus which travelled up ...

... with a trip to the east coast and the pleasant town of Kaikoura, famous for it's marine-life watching, including whales, dolphins and seals. Our route took us via Mount Lyford ski field along the 'Alpine Pacific Triangle Tourist Route', one of New Zealand's six official tourist routes, and having driven some part of the other five, this would be our final one, but as we've said before, ALL South Island roads are scenic routes, whether official or ...

... lumps of metal attached to the rear wheels we climbed along a surprisingly wide and non-terrifying access road, compared to Mount Hutt where we prayed quietly during the whole return trip. After 15km we neared the summit with its snowy but gritted road and parked in a deserted car park of about 20 cars. Mount Dobson was a small family-run business and seemed a whole different world to the commercialised, all-singing, all-dancing ventures at Whakapapa and Hutt, with the caf ...

... there we hired skis, boots and poles before hitting the local supermarket to sweep through their liquor shelves like prohibition officers. Along the road we stopped at the local tourist information to buy a couple of books of NZ Superpasses. For $610 each we bought a book each of 10 vouchers that we could trade in for lift passes at a number of ski fields in the South Island, and seeing as most passes would cost us $75 it seemed a good deal. As well as lift passes, the vouchers ...