Christchurch and beyond!

This is a slightly abbreviated version of the end of the South Island because I want to catch up to the present time!! ( I'm only a year behind!!) The journey from Queenstown to Christchurch was phenomenal with Mt Cook as a backdrop how could it not be?! We really enjoyed our last few days in the South Island. We stayed at this luxury B and B as it was Rosie's birthday and enjoyed the very English feeling Christchurch (even the B and B was owned by an English chap)
Rich and myself took the long route home to bring back the cars while Rosie and Kath enjoyed a flight back to Auckland with the children.

All I can say is...the South Island is completely AMAZING...I hope we come back some time!

Milford Sound

A "must see" of the South Island but we were pleased to only go for a day trip from Queenstown. We went on an overcast day which probably did not do the place justice but we were mildly disappointed. I think we built up this trip and our expectations were perhaps too high. Nevertheless it was really impressive but there are so many amazing places in New Zealand that this did not necessarily out do any of the others. Still... we managed to see some more dolphins which was brilliant!

Queenstown

Moving on from the very cold to the "Remarkable" Queenstown (quite literally). The Journey via the Haast pass was amazing. The sights were incredibly stunning on the journey and even the pictures don't really do it justice. Queenstown is the adrenaline capital of New Zealand. It is famous for Jet Boating and other equally dangerous pursuits. We loved it!
One of the highlights of our time was going to a farm park on the opposite side of the lake to Queenstown and feeding deer. Unfortunately, Matilda was not overly impressed when she got kicked over by one of the larger deers!! Amazingly she did not get hurt but it certainly added a bit of drama to an otherwise brilliant afternoon!

Nelson and surrounding area

It's been a while since I last entered into blogdom. I am writing this in my parents' sitting room now back in the UK. I am missing New Zealand and so writing this helps me to remember what a wonderful time we had in such a brilliant country. Nelson was one of our favourite places to stay. We loved Rabbit Island (unusually named because we didn't actually see any rabbits!) and spent time messing around on the beach aswell as surfing in the sea.
Other fun stuff in Nelson included the Saturday market where we bought some gifts to take home (we found Harry a toy plane made out of old Coke cans and Matilda a lovely princess mirror). We also loved going to Seifried vineyard and a fun dairy (Neudorf) where they sold delicious sheep cheese.

Wet and Windy Wellington!

We arrived in Wellington in the rain... obviously the the old welly boots gag was banded around a bit! We have enjoyed the capital of NZ although the weather certainly has not been at its best! The museum, botanical gardens and cable car have been the highlights for us. We have also been enjoying some great meals out (the "1 red dog" was especially good).
Not sure when I will be blogging again but thought a quickie on Wellington was better than nothing!!

The Journey down to Wellington

This is the big one! You cannot spend a year in NZ and not visit the South Island! We have talked about this holiday ever since touching down in Auckland and now it has come. Obviously it has been fairly manic up until this point. I have worked my final clinical week at Papakura and will miss the staff, patients and community a tremendous amount. I feel that I have been stretched in many ways but also really thrived so thank you to all at Rosehill.
We packed and left Auckland Friday 1st Feb 8:45pm. Our first stop was at Turangi (about 4 hours south of Auckland) where we enjoyed a small family room at "extreme backpackers"! It was perfect and Harry and Matilda thought it was brilliant fun to all be sleeping in the same room!
The next morning we jetted down to Waikanae which is about 1 hour North of Wellington. We stayed with Andrew, Helen and their 2 daughters Philippa and Katy (?second cousins on Rosie's side of the family). The company, food and place were all lovely. We especially enjoyed a trip out to Otaki gorge(which was the setting for some of the scenes around hobbiton in the "Lord of the Rings"). We all enjoyed swimming in the river and the "wobbly bridge".

Tutukaka

The day after Boxing day we went up to a place called Tutukaka and a holiday resort called "Pacific Rendezvous". You may well think we spend all our time on holiday (which is partially true!) but I actually wasn't allowed to work in between Christmas and New Year because all the other staff from the surgery went on holiday. New Zealand practically shuts down from Christmas until February...Auckland is a ghost City and most Kiwis seem to be at the family bach for the Summer. (A lesson to be learnt?)
We tracked "Up North" with Paul, Laura, Gracie, Amy and Julia and spent a fantastic 5 days at this holiday resort with amazing views. Highlights of the holiday were body boarding at Sandy Bay, fun evenings playing Settlers and enjoying the facilities at the resort (including tennis court, great children's park, table tennis and private beach).
We also spent one day taking a boat trip to the Bay of Islands. The magical experience for us all was seeing dolphins on the trip (see video). Quite spectacular.

Rotorua and Lake Taupo

Amy and Julia in NZ has been a perfect excuse to do some more touring of the country (as if we needed an excuse!). We managed to stay at yet another friend's bach in a place called Artiamuri. This was a perfect location to visit the tourist centre of NZ otherwise known as Rotorua. This place is truly incredible. It is noted for its geothermal activity and is also known as the Sulphur City because of the egg smell this produces. We had an amazing day visiting Waiotapu geothermal park in the morning, having lunch at the "fat dog" and bombing down the luge in the afternoon. Amazing!
The next day was also fun packed with a visit to Lake Taupo and it's Hot Springs (a swimming pool complex heated courtesy of the earth). Matilda and Harry really loved the big water slide but we were not quite brave enough to let them go down it by themselves! In the afternoon we went to the impressive Huka falls and then back to the bach for some pizza and a movie. Life doesn't get a lot better!

Up North!

It feels quite a while back now but we decided to go on holiday for a week in the middle of November after a great weekend with Kurt and Sacha. We went "Up North" and contrary to popular belief it's not as grim as you might think! It may appear that we are constantly on holiday but in reality we actually haven't been away as a family for more than a long weekend since we arrived in NZ. It was brilliant to have fun as a family. We stayed at a "Top 10" holiday park in a little fully contained apartment. It was perfect. There were many highlights but perhaps the best part of the adventure was a coach trip to Cape Reinga (almost the northern most point in NZ and where the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea meet). We had this great Maori guide who gave us a great insight into the local history. The other great bits were driving along the "ninety mile beach" and I had a go at sand dune body boarding...wicked man!
Best beach of the holiday was Matai Bay. Best fish and chips of the holiday came from the world famous Mangonui fish and chip shop. Best moment of the holiday was seeing Matilda fly the kite that I made with her during a lunchtime and it actually staying in the air!!