One of the types of swing bridges that i encountered often on my walks. Lovely.

Thoreau did a better job than i might hope to about describing the magic and beauty of waterfalls and their effects.

Walked to a lovely waterfall in the afternoon and stopped off in Te Anau on the the drive back round towards Queesntown. Couldn't find a backpackers with room in Wanaka (predictably in ski season) so slept in the car and woke up to a beautiful view. Today has been laszy and spent around the shores of the lake but im soon heading up the west coast to the Franz Josef glacier and hope to do a bit of walking on that.


On Sunday i went to a crazy church called 'Queenstown Baptist'. It made Crossroads look normal! But it was good and the talk on 'Learning to love by Faith' was good stuff. Plus they really make visitors feel welcome and the more churches i visit all over the show the more i realise how important this is. Then i drove 4-5 hours round to Milford Sound through some serious alpine landscape and an AMAZING tunnel. Got into a quite cool and very remote backpackers for a good nights kip before attempting the other end of the Routeburn Track. This was an 8 hour day and very good exercise. A hot shower was very welcome back at the hostel. They had no tv and very limited communications but did have a piano :o) and a boy giving me free hot ports! wonderful. Just my kind of place.
Next morning i went on a cruise on Milford Sound (which is not actually a sound but a fiord) to see the Mitre Peak - the largest seacliff in the world apparently. So there you go. Saw some little fur-seals and many beautiful waterfalls etc. It reminded me very much of Norway.

Next day I went and walked the Queenstown/Glenorchy end of the Routeburn Track up to the Routeburn Falls which was a great fun 4.5 hour hike. It was also a lovely drive out to it (pictured below) Had to finish in the dark though because beforehand i went looking for a wee place called 'Paradise' which was on the map and signposted on the road but it wasnt there! Haha! I even went an extra mile and still didnt find it. I though this was quite interesting and got all philosophical about it!...Maybe people are always searching for Paradise where it doesn't exist. Hmmm....


I went on to Queenstown and did the Nevis Bungy jump which was a good laugh. 134 metress (440 feet) out of a cable car arrangement down a big mountain valley towards the river. Next day I went skiing at a nearby resort called Cardrona. All in all it was pretty poor....very limited skiing, any recent snow was very windswept making for a particularly good icy fall, the base of snow wasn't even a good covering, and of the 3 lifts one closed! Honestly...and they call it 'world-class skiing!' I think not. But maybe i'm spoiled with what i'm used to. Plus it was school holiday time so there were loads of precocious brats pushing for those 2 lifts. But i struggled on and did my best! Haha! Oh, and last complaint....there is no door-step skiing...it was a 1.5 hour bus journey EACH WAY to get to the slopes. Not fun.

Hannah took a notion to do a spot of surfing. I think she did just brilliantly...total natural.
this poor beached whale was having enough problems of his own when we rocked up and decided to take silly pictures....but i think he looks happy enough, doesnt he? Well. wouldn't you be with a mermaid on your tail?

we found this giant paua sheel and i seem to be defying gravity by perching alongside of it!

On Monday we went to the museum, sorted out our flat tyre, went to Bluff (pictures below) and had a swim before our dinner of Bluff Oysters followed by Blue Cod fish'n'chips. Now they tell me these oyster thingys are aphrodisiacs and i dont know how that works but i think i'd rather manage on my own thankyou very much. That said, i was quite committed to my new tasting experience and managed to eat 9 RAW OYSTERS! But i don't class them in my list of favourable delicacies. Give me mussels in cream and garlic any day. (Although that is likely to have the opposite effect to an aphrodisiac! haha). We slept in the car that night by the ocean in Riverton. The most awesome storm came in from the sea over the top of us. It lasted for ages and we weren't entirely sure if it was safe to be in the car...so i texted my lovely friend Ruth who is always reliable enough to expect a reply from....could she find out if it was safe or not....helpfully she replied immediately. Unhelpfully, the reply was this: 'I don't really know but they said on 999 one time that you should get out of the car, take off all jewellery and stay away from trees.' For some reason at the time this caused unspeakablke amusement and considerable laughter. Thanks Ruth. Anyway, the storm passed, we were fine, and I slept well. Can't say the same for Hannah, but when you're as committed to sleep as I am you learn to sleep anywhere!

Tuesday we took a coastal drive to Gore and on to Hannah's beloved Millers Flat (pictured). It was lovely to see where she spent her summer working on this massive farm in the middle of nowhere. Her boss Dougal McDougal gave us a great tour all round the extensive 8.5 thousand acres it covers during which time we saw some of the 11,000 sheep he rears. Plus cattle. Plus horses. Quite the operation. His lovely wife also made us a yummy chicken dinner. We went on from there to Cromwell ... famous in the Goldrush times over here, and walked round an old mine and the village. The next day Hannah went on a 7 hour bus journay to Christchurch so that I could have the car to carry on travelling. She then had to fly to Wellington, stay overnight, bus it up to Palmerston North and then cycle miles to work on the farm. VERY BIG THANKYOU :o)

Driving down south we were on gravel roads most of the day and Mr Miyagi did us proud. Went to Nugget point (pictured above) and saw some little blue penguins (from a great distance though!). There was a lovely lighthouse here too but i decided to spare you another one! ...also went through a cool disused railway tunnel, and found a nice youth hostel - with a fire! yoho! in Invercargill.

This was the view we woke up to at Waihola Lakes.

In Dunedin we spent a pleasant Saturday...chatting in the square over hot chocolates....driving the Otago Peninsula down to Taiaroa Head to see the lighthouse and albatross flying. We then climbed the 'steepest street in the world' according to the Guiness book of Records. Don't know if you can get the idea from the picture. Apparently they have a race there each year where people run up and down it in <2minutes.>

This was our very own beach for a couple of hours...we went exploring through the sand dunes and found a hunters hut

Here is our 'Southland' beach heart to match our Northland one at the other end of the blog! We leave a loving mark everywhere we go! Ha ha :o)

This was very much off the beaten track along an endless gravel road for Mr Miyagi to endure and then a short walk through dense forest. Part of the southland scenic drive.

this was Waipapa Point lighthouse...it looks so sad and uncared for...but that is partly because it is wooden! wow! Nasty barbed-wire fence makes it look even less pretty but keeps it does still work! It has been standing here protecting sailors since 1884 and is now solar powered. The last lighthouse keeper was withdrawn in 1976 :o(

Today we had to call out a mechanic in Invercargill as we got a very flat tyre...we tried to get the spare wheel out but the bolt securing it had rusted into the bolt because it hasnt been used for so long! But we were up and running again in about an hour...

Beautiful. Just beside the ocean at Bluff on the south coast. I like :o)

Here we are at Bluff...London is 18958 km away but the south pole is only 4810 km away! And the temperature feels like it too! Hope you are all enjoying your nice hot summers!!! Sigh, hump, whinge! YOU SEE!!! And you all think im away enjoying myself!!! Haha!

one of the sad old vessels in the ships graveyard...

this was tonights sunset on the very south coast of south island, near an interesting little bay called 'The Ships Graveyard'. It was very interesting in its own way and a bit sad. I would love to hear all the stories that go along with it. This was just up from Bluff...the place they call the southernmost point of NZ...although geographically it isnt quite!

i know you've all probably seen these before but they still make me smile...still a bit of a novelty to see a proper 'truck' rather than a 'lorry' coming down the 'highway' at you with all lights blazing...they are seriously mean looking machines!

Hannah knew when she came to New Zealand to study veterinary that the ywere big into sheep over here...she didnt quite expect to encounter a sheep that big though....

These stalactites were on show at the glow worm caves...our he-she tourguide provided very elaborate comments and comparisons for the various stalactite/mite arrangements we saw...can you think of an appropriate one for this?!! hee hee

Hannah kindly took this picture of our sleeping arrangements which i was in no fit state to retaliate....this is our happy home on alternate nights to keep costs down....does the job rightly....of course we have to fight for who gets the short straw and sleep on the side with the steering wheel - usually this takes the form of a mud-wrestle, thumb-war, haka dance-off. As you can see i lost this particular round...

this is for a particular friend to test her to see if she reads about my life! haha! if you see this missy i expect a comment!

Hannah insisted on riding this ridiculous bicycle she found down the street...obviously i had to just pretend i wasnt with her and laugh and point like everyone else (and join all the Asian tourists in taking photos too!)..haha!

the old university quadrangle in Christchurch. The whole city has a very 'English' feel about it....i kind of cut off the top of the building...oops! my photography skills are up to about the same standard as my computer literacy!

the moeraki boulders...didnt quite get there in time so if the tide had been out there would be alot more on show, but still quite cool

oh, what is it about an open fire :o) hmmmm :o)

back to the north island for a moment...on the wonderful drive along the Forgotten World Highway we came upon these cow hides drying over a fence. Not something you see every day.

some seals at the colony on south island...

i know i look very giggly in this picture as i am tasting the different wines at Cloudy Bay but it was because Hannah was making fun of me! PROMISE!

how sad to leave such a beautiful place...paradise islands...

the view from the beach on Mana Island...mostly missed the sunset because i was playing some spectacularly bad volleyball!

a typical thing to see in the fijian waters...as i didnt have an underwater camera i cant show the beauty of the underwater reefs but this photo is taken through the water...gives you an idea how clear it was! wouldn't a dress in this colour be stunning :o) i dont know why two of these have appeared :o(

this was a view of new zealand from the air en route to fiji and it is one of my favourite features of the landscape this 'corrugated hill' effect. as usual pictures dont do justive but we can try...

...and this is THE flag which Sir Edmund Hillary placed at the top of everest as depicted in one of the most famous images of the 20th century. stored at the top of st. pauls cathedral in wellington for safe-keeping. pretty cool.

I saw this bike in the museum in wellington... seems like ages ago now but it was cool because homebuilt by a guy called 'Britten' in his own backyard...pretty good for a blue peter job eh?!

And the photo upload continues to give me unspeakably frustrating trouble. If you think you've only seen me be nice and friendly just put me in front of a computer to see how quickly that can change. It makes me a very angry Barbara. But it is good for me to learn to persevere. So here are some outlines of south island adventures with pictures hopefully to follow at some later date when the equipment decides to co-operate.

We took an evening ferry from Wellington across the Cook Strait to Picton and drove for and hour before crashing in the car for the night. That should read...camped out in the car...or slept in our wee run-about...or something other than crash and car in the same sentence! Ha! and we are fine.

The next morning we toured around the Marlborough Sounds - a famous wine region in New Zealand. First bought a dress for the vet ball at the end of July....had planned in advance to do a bit of charity shopping rather than bring a dress over. Managed to find a particularly pretty red two piece thing but was feelingly unusually optimistic and bought it despite the fact it is about two sizes too small! Haha! so the slimming begins for the next 3/4 weeks to try and make it look like something. Hmm. but the diet starts tomorrow. Perpetually! We visited a couple of wineries including Cloudy Bay. You will probably know that I am not one who appreciates wine and so had mentioned to Hannah in advance that she should try whatever was on offer and i would drive. But in what may be the beginning of a new chapter in my life i discovered wines i actually liked. So we reversed the plan and i tried everything that was on offer and Hannah drove! Not as brave as it sounds though because it was only tasters...a wee drop in the bottom of the glass...so i got to spit out the ones i wasnt keen on (charming!). But on reflection, i may not be following a new direction as a wine connoisseur because typically, the ones i liked are totally unaffordable. Roll on the rich man who wants to keep me in the manner to which i would like to become accustomed! So the Cloudy Bay vineyard was good craic and i stocked up on the dry crackers to absorb the wine. The thing you have to remember was that this was just after breakfast which is all a bit much for one who doesnt like or drink wine! But on we soldiered to the next winery - the mudhouse. Tried a couple of wines here - not wildly keen on them but did like the liquers in the little shop next door. Hmm. You could fill a cabinet with them...and unsurprising for me they were very sweet and calorific. After these we had a lovely lunch (venison burger :o) yum yum) and plodded out to the coast and had a look at the actual cloudy bay bay. Then drove to Kaikoura to find a youth hostel....finding hot showers and a roaring fire at 'The Lazy Shag'! haha!

So on Wednesday we went to look at the seal colony and went in search of penguins but no joy today. Found some beautiful Paua sheels on the beach though. Sometimes the beauty of creation is just overwhelming. I suppose that shouldnt be just 'sometimes'... Well, we enjoyed the beach anyway. We bought a Crayfish from the shop at the small local port and scoffed that on the beach...driving on to Christchurch we found a place called New Brighton and went for a run (check us out!)...found a BRILLIANT youth hostel with free everything apparently!...washing machines, duvets, hot chocolate, DVD's, open fire. AND it was Ladies only! What more could you ask for...so slept ate and well and next day looked around Christchurch....the Cathedral, botanic gardens, museum, did a little shopping - got Hannah an equally pretty but also slightly challenging dress for the formal. Went to the 'Canterbury' outlet store but was a bit disappointed with their range. Next we went to the Queen Elizabeth II park and swam lots of lengths of their Olympic sized pool and had a laugh doing some 'Aqua-jogging'. You can find yourself working quite hard - its a shame you look so ridiculous when it can actually be such a good workout. Managed to eat before hitting the road again and slept in the car in Timaru.

this morning we did a spot of shopping in the Swandri Factory shop...it is a New Zealand brand of outdoor clothing - hardwearing, warm and reasonably smart looking stuff as well. Hannah could get kitted out in her whole vet gear here....but we both made small investments...a little jacket that will be useful in Glasgow next year (waxed and waterproof!)...and the lady assures me they last for years and years. So i'll test her on it. En route to Dunedin we had two tourist stops - one at Oamaru...a cute coastal town - quite sleepy and somewhere you might think of retiring to, but with a lovely feel about it...like the lost village in 'Big Fish'. But from here we went to a hideout to spy on 'yellow-eyed penguins'...and right enough after waiting for an hour in a freezing cold shed we spotted 5 little boys coming home to roost (or whatever penguins do). They were very cute struggling out of the surf and waddling up the beach - lovely to see them in their natural environment - but it was a cold wait for them. Next stop was the Moeraki Boulders which are fascinating geological features sitting at the edge of the beach. They apparently form in the same way as pearls but with minerals that result in these huge boulders. It is a shame many of them have been 'souvenired' over the years...those that were in any way possible to be removed have been pilfered. Our ability to ruin this world we have been given to take care of never ceases to amaze me. I read a great quote from Nelson Mandela at a 'Make Poverty History' stand: 'Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made but it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.' It seems like a mammoth task...but i thought of this verse that '...with God all things are possible...' So the rocks were inspiring.

And on we trundled to Dunedin (translates from Celtic as Edinburgh) where we eventually found a hostel (again with an open fire :o) :o) :o) loving it on these cold winter nights!). Went for a wee run round the town and back for dinner...and so to bed...i have kept myself away from my beauty sleep but i can hear it calling to me...a real mattress! Luxury :o) Tomorrow we will probably look around the Scottish-Kiwi city....go out to the coast to see the lighthouse, the albatross and maybe more penguins...and find somewhere to watch one final crushing defeat in the last match of the Lions-All Blacks series. Rock'n'roll.

one final quote i found in the museum...'Travel is not new-people have always wanted to go to different places.' Funny eh?

this was a quote sculpture i saw in wellington harbour....so its a little late but im having a few technical hitches...

Children dancing at Polynesian night…Bika can move like no 4 year old I’ve ever met before!

So there were many of the good parts…so now on to the less fairytale aspects…the full story was more of a ‘what could go wrong did go wrong’ affair. Firstly, I got eaten by mosquitoes and sandflies and looked permanently diseased. It was an enlightening experience to feel like a leper for the week with people CONSTANTLY asking …’What is WRONG with you?’ …’Are you sick?’ etc etc. I have since been to the doctor here in New Zealand who cannot determine exactly what it is that likes the taste of my blood so much, and said that despite having made a bit of a mess of my skin it was nothing to be overly concerned about. Secondly, my digital camera went ‘missing’. The short version is that it was stolen and upon pressing the management that a police report simply wouldn’t be sufficient, it was miraculously recovered with a ‘no questions asked’ kind of sentiment. Unreserved apologies were abounding for the ‘misunderstanding’ that someone had lifted the camera from the safe spot behind the bar mistakenly while under the influence. Of course the fact that they wiped all my photos to cover their tracks kind of blew the cover on this story, but no-matter, at least we got the camera back. Next thing to be stolen was my flip flops…such a minor item it hardly seems worth mentioning and I figured that seeing as we were heading back to the main island the next day I could manage without them and whoever had stolen them probably needed them more than me in the longterm and good luck to them. Shame that didn’t cover me in the short-term and cliché of all clichés I managed to wedge my foot right into a rusty nail sticking out of the jetty (it was night-time so I didn’t see it). Cue lots of blood and sand in the wound walking back along the beach with no shoes. Nice. So that has been sorted out by the nurse back here and she stuck a sharp piece of metal in me to ensure the tetanus was up-to-date. Nice sore arm now. All these things were manageable until we got into Nadi for our last night before flying back to NZ the next day. One of Hannahs bags was stolen from inside the youth hostel. You just cant be careful enough. Dirty thieving gypsies. So gone were her mobile phone, camera, house and car keys, diary, studynotes (students will sympathise) and my travel diary – not such a big thing but still quite annoying. Plus personal items, books, shells we collected etc. So off the the police station to report that and get the details for insurance. Not the most professional operation I’ve seen to be honest. Firstly, the main office would compare to a condemned/derelict classroom at home. The chalkboard with all the essential information on it (in faded chalk writing) had as its primary and leading statement, Not Nadi Police Station, or Duty Officer, or Hospital contacts…but rather: ‘Manners Maketh Man’. Nice philosophy but just now we need to get the job done but everything is just plodding along at ‘Fiji Time’. That pace is fine out on the islands when you are relaxing but when you want things done you start to realise the drawbacks. After the station we went to Jone’s (John) home and enjoyed the company of his family for a few hours round the kava bowl and some lovely Fijian food. That was a highlight of the whole trip. The ‘sugar cane train’ passes right outside Jone’s house so the boys grabbed us a couple of canes to get a taste…lovely – just like honey on the comb. You see a picture of John and me dancing on Mana Island. We got to meet his wife-to-be (the next day!!) Sava and 10 month old daughter Salome, mother Rosanna, father Richard, sister Stella and cousin Simon. So there’s another positive. The final difficulty came the following morning when we went to the airport (in good time to allow for ‘Fiji time’). The check-in supervisors would not let me board the plane as if I was an Al Qaeda terrorist or something. Apparently I should have brought my NZ – UK ticket with me to prove I was going to leave the country and immigration would not budge. Fun guys. I left the ticket in NZ for safe keeping and ironically if I had brought it with me it would have been with the other documents in the stolen bag and I wouldn’t be able to show it anyway! Flip me! So poor Mummy had to get the SOS call and like the angel she is did the drive in the middle of the night to get to a fax machine and sent through my intinery to Nadi airport. Shame that once it arrived it was not adequate proof for me to check in. At this point a lady appeared from nowhere, turned out to be NZ immigration and said that while what I had was not acceptable she would sign it for me and take personal responsibility for the access. Pretty cool…perfect timing and likely the answer to many prayers largely due to mother’s frantic text-prayer-network.
So thankyou if that included you. So we made the mad dash through the security stations to get to our gate in time (and with just enough tome to grab a bottle of baileys and port in the duty free en route…so that will see us through the next cold weeks with hot port/baileys hot chocolate as a bedtime warmer :o) Sad to leave the lovely sunshine but happy to be back in the more steady and reliable NZ. Quite a trip.

Joe and Andy

So getting on to Fiji…we spent our week on Mana Island, a 40k boatride from the mainland and grotty city of Nadi. It really was like a tropical paradise and our hostel (Ratu Kini) was in the middle of a Fijian village and staffed by the local people. There were lots of positives – wonderful weather, lovely people, first time ever diving…this could be my new favourite sport. I felt like Dorie from Finding Nemo….the underwater world is spectacular…it made me think it is a shame to even blink and miss a second of it. My first dive was on the reed just off the shore in the morning and in the afternoon we went out on the boat to what felt like a random spot in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The spot was called ‘seven sisters’ and indeed turned out not to be random at all. Saw lots of beautiful coral and fishes…but thankfully no sharks. Hannah had seen some ‘lovely vegetarian reef sharks’ on her morning dive but I think on my first day out in the deep that might have been too much for me…I would probably have tried to scream, lost my air supply swallowed half the sea and drowned. In fact I found it quite difficult to be under water for that length of time and not be able to talk…particularly because everything was so pretty and new and exciting…so the only way I could communicate my appreciation of the beauty was to clap (in slow motion because the water was in my way)…but I think that might have scared the fish away! Oh well. It was all brilliant anyhow. The next dive we did off sunset beach was called the Wallace Wall or something like that. Again, all very amazing to be swimming with the fish down there…very relaxing. I would really need to read up on the old tropical fish to know what I was looking at but I did see plenty of clownfish, electric blue razorfish, some trumpet fish, a stingray, some manatua eel (?) and touched some soft coral which was the funniest texture….kept my paws off the hard coral though. It is sad to see the blunt breaks where people have damaged the coral. Missed me last dive of the package because I stood on a rusty nail and couldn’t get the flippers on. Next time. So the other plus of Fiji was the fine male specimens we had the pleasure to come across. They really are the epitome of what the male prototype should be. Feel free to disagree, but any guys who can wear flowers in their hair, flowery sarongs and dance around oiled up and barefooted and still ooze attractiveness scores some points with me. Of course this is a purely superficial impressiveness…but the culture has such a level of co-dependence and respect between the sexes that it is really appealing. Traditional roles are largely in place and men do the ‘taking care of ladies and taking care of business’ side of things. You might think that I would hate this but seeing it work in action is persuasive. The whole community focus is so different to what we are used to in our individualistic culture. I am really struck by how people who have so little give so much…whereas we are so at ease with people who have so much and give so little. I enjoyed a day at church and the little children are just wonderful…so innocent and easily pleased, so joyful and enjoying simple pleasures…so musical and imbued with a great sense of fun. They are very loving and appreciate every little thing and generally inspiring to be around. So this was some of the great stuff about Fiji. Also pictured here are the lovely Joe (left) and Andy (right).

On the flight to Fiji this reminded me of a verse in Corinthians....I had to look it up to find it was chapter 13 verse 12... and it was out the window of the plane so not great quality, but the point is this: 'Now we see only dimly…nothing but a poor reflection as in a mirror; but then we shall we see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.' Although it was a beautiful view to look out on, i was just thinking how dim the yellow reflection of the sun was on the water compared with the white brilliance of the real thing above the clouds. It is exciting to ponder on what that means for us for the future.

Oops…I shrunk Hannah!

I fancy myself as an All Black…see how I’m getting the practice in already! Actually I think this is a worryingly convincing stance! This is outside the Te Papa Museum.

So since I last wrote we visited Wellington – New Zealands capital city. Had a grand couple of day but it was rainy and miserable so it was nice to be heading out from there to some Fiji sunshine. While there we stayed in a bizarre hostel called ‘Beethoven House’. Got to play the piano for the first time in a few weeks which was nice but it was a bit too weird so we moved to something a bit more run-of-the-mill the next night. Enjoyed the national museum, waterfront, tour round parliament buildings and the new cathedral.

I am just back from watching the second test at the pub in Palmerston North. I am a Lions supporter 100%, but this boy rocks my world. Daniel Carter has so much skill, flair and style he could persuade me to switch my allegiance. And before you think its for some superficial reason related to his reasonably good looks, I assure you its is not….purely to do with his handling of the ball and ability on the pitch. In order to substantiate this claim I add in for your information that when he is not training hard to be an All Black all star he models ‘jockey’ underwear….and as you notice I have selected a rugby photo rather than one of the potentially more riské options from his portfolio. Well done me! So about the match…some good rugby, but the Lions just cant match the All Blacks on size, fitness, strength, pace or skill. Unlucky Woodward. So, predictably, the series goes to the mighty southern hemisphere warriors.