Our holiday - stop 6 - Oamaru

Nearly over! We stopped en-route to Oamaru to see the Moeraki boulders. These are amazing as they emerge from the cliff and end up on the beach like huge alien eggs. We spent ages looking at these things and the boys climbed all over them (and in them of course). Now that's how this alien got here!
The insides are honeycombed and the 'shells' have patterns and cracking so they really do seem like huge eggs.

At Oamaru we went to visit 2 penguin colonies. The first was the Yellow Eyed Penguin (the world's rarest) and we were lucky to see 6 down on the beach.

Then we went to see the Blue Penguins that have a colony really close to the harbour. They have nest boxes for these here and it is heavily co-ordinated with a viewing grandstand. The penguins arrive as it gets dark and climb the rocks and then cross in front of all us observers to their nests. We did get to see plenty of chicks too as they kept emerging from the burrows, calling excitedly as they heard the adults arrive. All very lovely, but the kids got terribly cold by about 10pm (and tired!!!!) so we headed back to the bach.

Next day was just a hop and a skip back to Christchurch. We've been swimming this morning and to the beach boogie boarding this afternoon. Got to squeeze it all in before school starts again on Monday!

Our holiday - stop 5 - Dunedin and surrounds

The drive from Te Anau to our new lodgings about half an hour south of Dunedin was uneventful, but we did have to stop at another of the giant statues that the Aussies and Kiwis seem so keen on. This one celebrates Gore as the centre of Brown Trout Fishing in NZ - whoopee!!!! Still, the kids like having their photo taken, so why not?

We stayed in a tiny place called Taieri Mouth. The house overlooks the beach and has a view of the Otago Peninsula. Very pretty. It was quite a nippy day so no togs and strict instructions to stay dry so we could head out promptly. Deaf Ears!!!!

We visited the chocolate factory (Cadbury World) in the morning. Mmmmmmm that smell! The boys loved the free chocolate they received (actually maybe it wasn't just the children!). And it was quite a well run tour. We realised just how many of the Cadbury products here are unique to NZ and Oz. Of course we can't get some of the UK varieties here. Favourites here are Chocolate fish, Moro Bars and of course Perky Nana! Of course the one downside of the tour was having to wear - no, having your photo taken wearing the rather fetching hats! ( I will get my own back - maybe further down the page.....)
The afternoon was spent at the aquarium on the Otago Peninsula. We were there for feeding time and watched the scuba diver feeding sharks in their outdoor tank. There was a great touch pool and both boys were up to their soggy elbows. Upstairs there was a great indoor play area with books, dress-ups, a mini sub etc - we even got a free cup of tea!

Ahhhh revenge is sweet!
The next day we got up early (again - of course not a problem when the boys share a room) and went to visit the Royal Albatross Colony at the tip of the Otago Peninsula. We climbed up to the hide after the introductory film and were able to watch several birds sitting on their nests. They had a live camera feed from a couple of nests over the brow of the hill and we were the first people to see a brand new chick! The adults are enormous - 3 metre wingspan.
Back in Dunedin we stopped at Baldwin Street (the world's steepest street) for the obligatory walk up and down and photo ops. According to the Guinness Book of Records the slope is 1:2.86, 19ºor 35%. Joe practically ran up and Ben made it all the way without moaning! They both thought it would be better to roll down, but the grazes on Joe's arms put a stop to that!

Our holiday - stop 4 - Te Anau/Milford Sound

Oh my word!!!!!!! Expect lots of !
We arrived in Te Anau and found our accommodation for the next couple of days; a rather lovely holiday home with all mod cons. After a quick unpack of the van we headed down to the lake. It was still beautiful even on that cloudy day, surrounded by mountains and not a lot else. We caught a boat out to see the glow worm caves on the other side of the lake. This is where words will probably let me down. We weren't allowed to take photos or film so I'll try and paint a picture with help from Joe and Ben's interpretations.......

This is the promo vid for the tour. Of course it stops just short of the main attraction!


First we watched a video about the glow worms and all their yucky habits, then we were led in small groups into the cave system, walking over fast flowing water most of the way. The noise of the waterfall within that part of the cave is deafening but we could already see a few glow worms on the ceiling. As we headed up the system we approached a platform where we boarded a small boat. Then the guide switched out the lights and we gently floated along a tunnel. IT WAS AMAZING!!!! The glow worms were thousands of green/blue lights on the ceiling. Joe said it looked like the stars and Ben said they were like Christmas lights. Of course it was over all too soon and we had to retrace our steps back to the low cave entrance.

The following day we drove the well worn road to Milford Sound to catch yet another boat! We started early and many of the mountains were still shrouded in cloud, but luckily the day cleared and became quite warm. There are so many little (and long) walks along the way, many through the beech rainforest, with huge tree ferns.There were so many photo opportunities that we were cutting it pretty fine for our trip!
We stopped a few times including at Mirror lakes, The Chasm (falls), Lake Gunn

and plenty of viewpoints.
The fjord was quite calm at the harbour and the sun was burning off much of the cloud, closer to the sea it was much rougher and misty!

We stopped at 'The Deep' on the return journey. A floating platform at one edge of the fjord that has an underwater viewing platform. There we saw corals and other sea life that is normally found in much deeper waters.

We drove back to Te Anau after a really long day, but did stop to cool off in one of the many rivers.
We would love to go back and see it all when there is more snow around, although the drive may be interesting - musn't forget to pack those snow chains!

Our holiday - stop 3 - Queenstown

Oh my word - how busy have we been? We arrived in town and realised that we didn't have an accurate address for the bach we were renting - cruising up and down the road didn't ring any bells and we eventually gave up, left messages with the owner and headed into town. Come 6pm still no reply so the 'I shop' helped us out and we google-earthed until we narrowed it down to a couple of properties. Luckily the key was under the mat and we got in!
The Bach had amazing views across Lake Wakatipu towards Queenstown and we woke up to our first adventure filled day. We headed up the skyline Gondola and took in the stunning scenery before indulging Joe the adrenalin junkie and taking the ski lift higher up to ride the Luge (a few times) we all (including Ben) loved it, but Joe was thrilled!


After lunch we headed to the birdlife park at the base of the hill for close encounters with Kiwi, Kakariki (native green parrots), Tuatara and even some NZ pests (rats and possum).

Our last day in Queenstown started with a nice sedate cruise on Lake Wakatipu on an old steam ship the TSS Earnslaw- built in 1919.


We extended the trip to take in the Walters Peak High Country Farm. Here we saw sheep dogs at work, how to shear a sheep in 41 strokes - the theory anyway. The guy below, whilst very skilled, took about 5 or so minutes to shear this one - some way short of the world record of 30 odd seconds.
The kids also got to feed some of the animals on the farm which they really enjoyed.

It was a nice hot day so required the obligatory paddle in the lake until the boat came back to pick us up. As usual, Matt got significantly wetter than he'd intended, courtesy of Joe and Ben!

We rounded off the day with an adrenalin filled jet boat ride on the Shotover river through Skippers canyon. The journey to Skippers Canyon was over some rough, hilly steep sided terrain with no safety barriers - in a bus with a driver who was a genuine lunatic! Still, we saw a few of the Lord of The Rings film locations.

The jet boat we went in was very fast (40+mph) and travel in just 10cm of water going very close to the river edges The driver threw in plenty of 360 degree spins - below. Joe loved it, Ben was not so keen.


Everyone still managed a smile after the event though. Some were happier to be on dry land than others. When asked what he thought, Ben said 'it was fun, I liked it fast'. When asked if he would like to do it again? An Emphatic 'NO!'

Next stop some less adrenalin filled activities, but hopefully some stunning scenery! Love to all!

Our holiday - stop 2 - Wanaka

We so loved this place! It is stunningly beautiful, but still relatively unspoilt. The town is small and compact and the views are to die for!
We started off a fun filled couple of days at Puzzling World which the children adored. They loved the illusion rooms with faces that follow you, holograms, Ames illusion room (one side you look like a hobbit, the other like Gandalf) and the tilt room. This last room caused lots of hilarity as we fell over and began to feel quite giddy. Joe liked the illusion of water running uphill, snooker balls rolling up a tilted table and a sliding chair rolling uphill.
We spent an hour or so exploring the very frustrating maze, managing to reach 3 out of the 4 corner towers. There was lots of traipsing up and down stairs and getting stuck in dead ends. As it got hotter, we got slower and snuck out an emergency exit!
The next day we went swimming in a very cold Lake Wanaka, (yes that is me - sooooo cold!)picnicked and then visited the Toy and Transport Museum. The boys loved all the old cars and Fire Engines.

Our last day was probably the highlight - we took a boat out to Mou Waho island. It was a bumpy trip because the wind was getting up. Once at the island we landed on a beach and climbed the steep sides to about 200m above lake level. There we saw Arethusa pool, which is about 11m deep. So weird to see a lake so far above another lake!

We left Wanaka via the Cardrona highway/Crown Range road (the highest sealed road in NZ at 1100 metres) It was very windy but gave spectacular views! - Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown in the centre disance.

Our holiday - stop 1 - Twizel/Mount Cook

After a little dodgy start when Matt lost his wallet in Tekapo we made it past the lakes and to Twizel - a bit of a nothing place left over from the hydro-electric works. However, the place is a fantastic starting point for visiting Mount Cook
which we did bright and early next morning. We did a lovely walk up to the Mueller Lake and a great view of Mueller Glacier. In the afternoon we indulged the petrol heads and took an off-road ARGO trip to see the Tasman Glacier, lake and ice-bergs. Great fun, nearly lost Ben's teddy and had to back track to find him. Ben was less than impressed with the bumpy ride and decided to sleep through the return trip.