Centrepoint On Colombo Motel Christchurch

... a barbed-wire hammock would have looked welcoming... we staggered off to Pak n Save to buy the essentials and just about made it to 9pm, at which point Andy found he had fallen asleep three times while reading and it really was bedtime.

The kiwi attitude doesn't change either - we have been shopping for various bits and pieces and love the fact that the man in Dick Smith electronics will happily tell you ...

... oak tree which Queen Victoria selected the acorn from which it grew.

Back on the tram we passed the museum, gallery, catherdral and various other squares with statues and sculptures. BAck at the campsite we ready to eat our final meal in New Zealand... we were sure we had one last pasta sauce to eat. Unfortunately we didn't, so we had a mad dash to the shops to buy one. We spent the evening cleaning the Jucy Camper and trying ...

... 8217;s Bay too!).

2008 Riesling – Sweet nose, waxed lemons. Vibrant lemon on the palette and good acidity.

2008 Bel Canto Dry Riesling -Quite closed on the nose (cold?). Tighter, good acidity with more lemons.

2008 Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon – 80% Sauvignon, 20% Semillon. Eight months old oak seasoning for the Semillon for texture. Touch of Passion Fruit on the nose, soft palette with good ...

... of them! However the pool and spa were not heated so didn't tempt us. Instead we "woollied Up" (I am going to steal that expression)
and walked across the park and through the Botanical Gardens into the city centre. The trees here are enormous, and quite spectacular in their winter starkness. The icy wind was quite a shock for we Queenslanders, but we revelled in the change and wandered through the
city, ducking into shops when it got a bit too cold, and even catching the ...

... exclusive accommodation where you have options ranging from dorm rooms to cabins. Tonight we have free mussel tasting around the fire.


Spend an extra day in Marahau (Abel Tasman)

You have the day at leisure to explore the National Park - try a sailing trip, a day walk, kayaking, water taxi, horse riding, skydiving, piloting your own stunt plane, hang gliding or just relax on one of the golden sand beaches!


Marahau (Abel Tasman ...

... their wagon seats during all this. The excitement of eating an apple was just little a bit too much for them.  A few minutes later, we arrived in the congested mess commonly called Queenstown. A bit of advice from experience here. Forget it in a covered wagon. We rattled up and down looking for a park. Yes! There's a  blue "P" sign, so we follow it up into the hills. Ha Ha - very funny - 2.1m clearance. Sticker says 3m on windscreen. Give it a miss. Lovin' Queenstown. Did I tell you ...

... New Zealand' in 1990 by the then primeminister, and was employed by the council to preach in the square. Now he is getting rather old he only does an hour every weekday and its very entertaining. He is deliberately controversial and eccentric - he dresses up in a wizard robe and hat, and his car is a double fronted red beetle (2 front halves stuck together with 2 steering wheels!) There are nice walks to do around the city, mostly along the river Avon, and the botanic ...

... the most scenic drives you will ever do - from rainforest to mountains, to beach forest and great lakes" ... "to Lake Matheson ... through the mountainous Hasst Pass and Mount Aspiring National Park".  Sounds great, right ?  Couldn't see hardly a thing.  Rained and the cloud cover was low.  I think we saw the Fox glacier.  We apparently drove right past Mount Cook, but we had to take Gollum's word for it; we could not see it at all. We stopped for the night in the ...

... Circle Fino Casamenti at around 4.30, where we were booked into the penthouse apartment that we had used for our first three night, only to find that they had no record of a booking for us for Thursday night! They then found that they had the booking was for Friday night, when we will already have left NZ. I of course, with great confidence, said that we had definitely made a booking and luckily the apartment was free, so we ...

... reminded us a lot of English cities like Oxford and Canterbury. Walking along the Avon is a lot like Windsor and it was hard to believe we were the other side of the world. Later, the sun came out and we treated ourselves to a drink in the beer garden of Dux de Lux, a really nice microbrewery by the park. In the evening, having tried to find a bar or pub to sit in and realised that they were all empty again, despite it being a Friday night, we watched more ...