Flight home to Spain

21st March Friday

Had about 10 hours sleep so feeling ok at the moment. Malcolm brought us tea in bed. Getting ready for our final flight home this afternoon. On the flight to Malaga we had our first delay of the holiday as someone had allowed a person on the flight from standby and the seat was already occupied but it was only delayed by 15 minutes. Arrived safely at Malaga and we were picked up by a friend. It was great to see our dog Scoobie again after 5 weeks she had been spoiled by our friends and not sure if she was that happy to be returning to bootcamp(thats our house). It took us about 5 days to recover from jet lag but we had enjoyed a great holiday.

Flight back to UK

19th March Wednesday

Early wake up at 7:15 had breakfast to use up the remaining food that we had and waited for lift to airport, got to airport with plenty of time to check-in. Had coffee to use up some New Zealand dollars and sent some messages from phone. Just managed to read the magazine during the 1 hour 20 minute flight to Auckland. Picked up luggage and went for a 600 meter walk following the green line from Domestic to International terminal (good job it wasn't raining). Queuing to check-in for our flight to Sydney at 12:15 no rush as the flight is not due to leave until 14:10 no worries. We had a short wait in Auckland and we were going to have a coffee to use the last of the New Zealand cash. We had $3.70 left and Chris did a search of the airport to buy one but they were all more expensive. As we went to the boarding gate later to get on the flight we had to go upstairs and passed a Burger King where we could have got a coffee for $3.20. Flight to Sydney was fine we had a meal and they gave us an icecream the first of the holiday. We only had a short wait for out flight to London. We had a stopover for refueling at Dubai and during the flight we had 2 more meals, one included another icecream, tried to sleep and lost track of time of day. The stopover was short and we got back on the plane into the same seats. We settled down for our last flight of the day(s) a 7 hour flight to Heathrow. Arrived safely after having another 2 meals. Taxi driver arrived on time and we got to Chris's brother Malcolm without any problem. Went for a little walk and had lunch with Malcolm. Latter had dinner and some nice wine kindly provided by Malcolm the wine connoisseur before going to bed at 9pm as we were shattered.

Goodbye Tiny

18th March Tuesday

Left site at 10 am drove to North South Holiday Park were we are staying for our last night of our stay in New Zealand. Booked a lift to the airport at 8:30 am the next day to the airport to give us time to check in for our flight. Tried to check in on-line from the campsite but were not able to. Went to airport and asked a girl at check-in if everything was OK as we could not check-in on-line and she said that it would be no problem and we could checkin tomorrow as it was open until 9:50 not 8:50 as it said on the website. Went back to campsite had lunch and went for a little walk around a resovior to get some fresh air before being cooped up on a plane for days. Took Tiny back which they check over and found that all was OK and we had not damaged it. They drove us back to the campsite to our deluxe cabin on the campsite where we showered and watched a film and had a nice bottle of New Zealand wine.

Christchurch

17th March Monday

Sun was shinning again today so we drove into town parked up and did a tour of the sites in Christchurch center, but a lot has been demolished by the earthquake. We managed to see enough in about 3 hours. We walked round a route from the lonely planet guide then found a nice cafe on the river Avon where you could hire a punt down the river. We resisted the temptation and just had a coffee. We walked around some gardens which were beautiful and part of them went along the river where we passed a punt on which someone was playing a guitar and singing. We ended up at the new cathedral made of cardboard because the old one was badly damaged by the earthquake and it was really good. We went back to Tiny and found a campsite for the night at Spencer Beach Holiday Park as the name suggests it was close to the beach so we had a walk there and it was what is said on the tin a beach nothing else. We went back to Tiny and took food and phone to the kitchen to cook and charge respectively. After dinner we went back to Tiny to play cards. After the first game I remembered that I had left the mobile phone charging in the kitchen, so I sprinted over there and luckily it was still there phew it would have been a disaster had it been stolen as we had taken over 400 pictures of the holiday. Played a couple more games of cards then slept the last night in Tiny as we had to take her back the next day.

Travelling back to Christchuch

16th March Sunday

It was raining as forecast so had breakfast and started on our journey to Christchurch. On the way out of Lake Tekapo we visited a small church which was very pretty and the statue of a border collie which was in recognition of the work that the dogs do with the sheep in that area.

The road was mostly straight and dull with nothing for miles not even trees. Still raining stopped at Geraldine for a coffee and managed to get wifi so sent some messages home. Drove to Christchurch to South New Brighton to book into a cabin for the night but they were full so we went to another site called All Seasons Holiday Park where we managed to get an en suite cabin. Had lunch watched 2 films (still raining)had dinner and went to bed. Not a very exciting day.

Mount Cook

15th March Saturday

Walked the Hooker Trail from Tiny to Lake Hooker and back about 3 hours, it was a beautiful walk with views of Muellers glacier on the way up to the lake and there were small icebergs floating on the lake from Mount Cook, got some great photos. Had a coffee when we got back then started our journey to our next destination which was Lake Tekapo. Before we left we went into Mount Cook village and looked round the I-site which had some displays on climbers and historical information of the area. We continued our journey but stopped at a visitors center where we could have bought fresh salmon caught in lake Pukaki. We had just made lunch when a man parked beside us who lived in Nottingham but came from Oldham, his son lived in Christchurch. We drove to Lake Tekapo and booked on the campsite. We were not that impressed but there was only one campsite so that was it. We walked into the village to the I-site and checked the weather for the next day and it was rain all over the south island . We decided to travel to Christchurch the next day.

Oamaru

14th March Friday

Left the site

and went to Te Kaihinaki (ancient boulders) on the beach nearby that can only be seen at low tide (which it was). After clambering over them for a bit we started our drive to Mount Cook stopping off at Oamaru first at the public gardens which were lovely then walked up the main street and had a coffee and sent a few messages from the phone as it had wifi. We went round a beautiful building which had been a bank but was now the Forrester Gallery and spoke to the lady on reception who said that she had lived in the house when she was younger as her father was the bank manager. We went to the Harbour-Tyne historic precinct which contained shops,craft centers, antiques & herbalists and also on old building with a train outside and a lot of metal sculptures which was very weird. We carried on driving until we got to Kurow where we stopped to buy fish and chips for lunch.  We were staying at a doc site tonight and would not be able to cook dinner. We arrived at Mount Cook and got a place on the campsite and did a small walk to the Alpine remembrance stone and took some photos of Mount Cook. We sat in the sun until it went behind the mountains at 6pm and it got cold.

Moeraki

13th March Thursday

We loaded up the van and went to Glenfalloch woodland garden which were very beautiful. We drove to Sandfly Bay (not because of the sandflys but because it was windy and sent the sand flying up onto the dunes), both on the Otago peninsula, this was a lovely sandy beach again with penguins who were away fishing today. We drove back to the beach to the outdoor heated pool St Clair Pool where we swam 50 lengths but it was very strange as the water was seawater and salty we had wondered why one of the swimmers had a bottle of water next to the pool. Next we drove to Warrington beach to have a look at a free campsite but it had started to rain and it only had a toilet. We did not want to spend the rest of the day stuck in Tiny so we carried on to Moeraki where we booked onto a little campsite call Moeraki Boulders Kiwi Holiday Park which was only $22 and run by a Swiss guy. He only dealt in cash as he did not want anything to do with banks (that was strange coming from Switzerland). The sight was nice and the walls and ceiling in the kitchen were covered with messages from previous campers.

Dunedin

12th March Wednesday

Left Kaka Point to begin our journey to Dunedin. On the drive there we came round a bend in the road to find it full of sheep, a lady came over to us and asked if we would not mind waiting for a couple of minutes (turned out to be more like 20 minutes). She was the farmers wife and the sheep were theirs which they were moving from one field to another and using the road was the easiest way of doing it. She spent the time telling us about the farm and the surrounding countryside. They were moving 2000 ewes to be sheared . They could only use about half of the land they owned for grazing as the rest was covered by coastal rain forest. When we arrived in Dunedin we decided that we would have a treat and stay in a motel for the night and sleep in a proper bed. We picked Manor Motel from its description in our lonely planet guide and they only had a 2 bedroom unit so we had that at a cost of $130 which was a good price. The room was not ready until 2pm so we left Tiny in their car park and gave the owner some washing to do for us and went for a walk round the town. It was quite busy but it is the second biggest city in New Zealand's south island with around 120000 people. We walked into the center of the city and the area was called the Octagan. We walked round the museum and art gallery and the cathedral before calling in a bar called Ratbags that played 60's rock music which we enjoyed whilst drinking a glass of draft Speight's which was the local beer as it was brewed in the city. There was also a Cadbury World just round the corner. We walked back to the motel passing the railway station which was a fantastic old building. We got back to the motel about 3:30 and had lunch and the owner brought our washing back. We could not get internet working (whats new) as the router was not strong enough. We drove to a beach where people were surfing (in wet suits) and walked along a track and spotted another lone penguin and had a look at the towns outdoor heated swimming pool which we decided to visit the next day. We went back to the room where we found 2 pieces of chocolate cake that the owner had left for us. We had dinner watched a film then retired to a big luxurious bed for the night.

Nugget Point

11th March Tuesday

Woke up and went to the kitchen to make breakfast but it was full so we drove to a viewpoint over the bay and had it there then drove to Tahakopa Bay where we did a nice little walk along the beach and up into a coastal rain forest which had some lovely birds singing that I recorded but later had to delete as the video filled up the space on the mobile phone. Chris tripped over a large vine and grazed her knee the first accident of the holiday. We continued our journey after that to Purakaunui falls which was 10 k along a gravel track . The falls were beautiful. We then drove to Owaka where we had lunch and called in a cafe for coffee. We drove to Nugget Point again along a 12k gravel track but it was well worth it as there was a lighthouse and fur seals at the point. We also walked down to Roaring Bay to see some yellow eyed penguins (there were 2 but they were too far away to pick up with my camera) We continued to Kaka Point which had a lovely campsite which we stayed on.

The Catlins

10th March Monday
Drove to Curio Bay in the Catlins. I drove first then we changed over at Tuatapere at a cafe where we had coffee and a piece of cake. Chris then took over to Invercargill where we filled up with petrol and decided to have fish & chips for lunch. We found a fish & chip shop in the lonely planet guide and drove to where it should have been but could not find it , when we asked where it was the guy said that it had been closed for about 10 years but he did tell us where there was one which happened to be a chinese take away so we had some and they were very good. I then took over driving again and we drove through Fortrose where there was supposed to be a shipwreck on the beach but we could not see it and the road ran along the side of the beach. So we carried on to Waipapa Point where there was a lighthouse and some sea lions on the beach. We carried on to Curio Bay which was 22 kilometres away of which 14 kilometres was a gravel track. When we got there we were looking for Curio Bay Backpackers where we wanted to book a double room with ensuite , but it no longer exists so we had to make do with the campsite which was only $20 but a bit primitive (good job we had had lunch as the kitchen was very small). We were told that yellow eyed penguins came to the beach at 7:30 so we went to have a look but there was only one there but it did try to put on a good show for us. We also went to another beach where we were supposed to see dolphins but we only saw the fins of 2 of them.

Milford Sound

9th March Sunday
Woke up early to a 7am alarm, had breakfast and were ready for the Milford sound trip by 8:15 so went to the campsite gates to await the 8:30 pickup. It didn't arrive until 8:45 the driver apologised saying that he had to go back into town before picking us up, Chris had been pacing up and down for 15 minutes her normal patient self. We got on the coach to join all the young backpackers that the lady in the I-site had warned us about. There was one couple that could possibly have been backpackers the rest were respectable couples like ourselves or young and posh. Later the couple who could have been backpackers took out their cameras and iphones so if they were, they were very rich ones. The coach driver was brilliant and gave us a running commentary all the way there, and stopped at a few places on the way to Milford Sound including mirror lakes where we walked along a board-walk with some reflections of the mountains in the lake where we took some great pictures. It took just over 2 hours to get there. We got straight onto the boat to do the cruise which was everything we expected and more and the weather was beautiful too. We had to stop at traffic lights at a tunnel which was 1250 meters on the way for about 5 minutes and the driver told us that during the day the tunnel was controlled by the traffic lights but between 6pm and 8am it was a free for all. While we were waiting the driver told us that every year in March there was a race from where we were downhill throught the tunnel and it had special requirements, you had to run the race naked!!! We eventually arrived at the ferry moorings where we boarded the boat and started the cruise. The boat was big enough for us all and when we got underway we made ourselves a cup of coffee and went up on the top deck to take photos and the captain gave a commentary of what we were passing in the fiord. On the way up to the Tasmin sea we stopped very close to a seal colony were we watched the young seals playing. When we got to the Tasmin sea we turned around and came back down the other side of the fiord. The coach driver had told us that this was a freshwater fiord and that there were not many in the world. The captain on the boat told us that the first 3 meters of water was fresh on top of salt water and this was because of the rain water that ran down into the fiord from the hills. We went very close to a big waterfall and had to go inside the boat so that we did not get soaked. We then returned to the dock area and on leaving the boat asked what we had to do with some tickets that the coach

driver had given us and they said that they were for lunch and it was part of the cost of the trip, so they made up 2 lunches and we had them later for dinner as we had taken sandwiches with us for the trip. On the way back we stopped at 3 or 4 places to take more photos and we got back to the campsite at 4:10 after a very nice trip.