Colonial Manor Cromwell Dunedin

... New Zealand product… hmmm.. this is a struggle! After so many souvenir shops, its the same tack, like magnets, keyrings, t-shirts, postcards.. you know the stuff, and its all made in China!!! Now it must be said that I've been looking for something quite different, an ornament or something to represent NZ.. alas I did not find, or it was too expensive like $800 (£350-400). Now even if I could afford it (a ...

Walked to highway in Dunedin around noon and we are picked up after just 5 minutes of standing with our thumbs out by a lady and her son Patrick who happen to be driving almost all the way to Christchurch to catch a flight to the North Island.......... (TBC)

... and the surrounding areas. We were then able to take a chair lift from the bottom of the luge course to the top. Luging involved piloting little platic sled-like things down the side of a mountain around steep curves. We bought the pass that let us do five runs and set off. It was great fun, and I won two of our unofficial races down, Dom won two and Sebastian, only one (and barely at that). I also crashed off the course into a fence, but wasn't hurt (although that was ...

... our first 10km run, which was actually good fun, and
proves we are a lot fitter than when we first got here. We didn't
train much in the two weeks before as both had sore knees but Mark
managed a time of 1.13.52, and i did it in 1.10.10 so we were quite
pleased with ourselves. I also managed to run all the way which was
my main goal but i'm sure there was people walking faster than me!!
Oh well, it was a personal achievement!!

So,
we were all finished work and ...

Day Twenty-Four – Bungy Jump

I arrived at Kawarau Bridge in the morning, which is home to the world's first bungy jump. The jump is 43 metres, a lot smaller than the largest in the area which is 134 metres, but I was keen to do the original one. Standing on the edge of a platform looking down to the river below is a very unnerving feeling, and I ...

We had a nice lie in today as we didnt have far to drive. Our first stop was the Moeraki Rocks. These are spherical boulders lying on a beach and were quite spectacular, although it was high tide when we got there so most of them were covered up which was a shame. We had a detour when Sophie saw a sign for a gorge so we drove along a windy gravel road until we came to a creek - is probably more of a gorge in spring ...

... snow tipped and the scenery on the drive was breathtaking. When we arrived after a 5 hr drive, we went on the boat around the fjord. I took loads of photos cos it was amazing. The weather was freezing and we all spent the first part of the journey inside the boat enjoying the big all you can eat buffet lunch. We stopped at a really big waterfall and everyone goes outside to get caught up in the spray. They say it makes ...

... blackpool, brighton, weymouth, isle of wight etc! anyway, after taking several shots of the crazy sand, we decided to head up to see the carlos sand blow and to see what all the fuss was about! well, when we reached the top of the forest walk and stepped out onto the wooden decking of the platform looking out over the cliff top sand dunes, we realised what all the fuss was about! there just looked like there had been just tonnes and tonnes and tonnes of sand blown up off the beach ...

... look inside the huge cathedral there - beautiful stained glass windows and a massive pipe organ! Had a quick lunch at Mac Donald's and then walked down to the historic and very pretty railway station. By then the kids were getting itchy feet and really wanted to go on the Cadbury Chocolate factory tour, even though our tour didn't start for over half and hour. We went there anyway, and ...

... and instantly clamoured to be fed! Mum or dad did not seem in too much of a hurry to re-gurgitate food either! We stayed on the viewing platform but as you can see from the photos, the penguins hopped to within 30 feet of us. I was so glad I had brought binoculars. Apparently theses are shy and rare penguins - however they did not seem bothered by humans. From the campervan at the campsite the following morning we saw some of the Hector's dolphins that come into the bay ...