4Days in The Catlins

Going to the catlins for four days was always going to be risky due to its unpredictable weather. Therefore it was a great surprise to have lots of sunshine and temps exceeding 20 c for our entire stay in this wonderful part of the world.
We stayed at the backpackers at Sloape point farm at a cost of 50 dollars a night or £25 a night. Tim and Shanti camped behind the cabins. We had a very comfortable double room with a shower just outside.
This really is an amazing place where there are no pubs, restaurants, tv's or shops. If you imagine the coastline of North Devon and Cornwall amalgamated with the rolling hills of Derbyshire and Dorset, remove most of the people and buildings  and add a scattering of farms plus some large areas of rainforest then that is the nearest you will get to picturing what its like. You drive along deserted rough shale and stone chipping roads to get here and walk for miles along gorgeous beaches where you will only see wild birds and sea lions. Sloape point is the most southern point in mainland NZ so its unlikely we will ever be this close to the south pole again.
Backpackers are great for meeting other people. A guy called Tyrone went out snorkelling and as a result offered us some shellfish....Pau and Kinner. We tried the Kinner and it tasted like nothing we'd tried before, a mixture of cabbage and a bicycle inner tube!
That night we all stayed up for a new years party with plenty of booze and some fireworks provided by some Czech lads. The next day Tim and Shanti headed west while we headed east stopping on route for another night at Oamaru.
We walked around the town again looking at the few places that were open such as the book and craft shops in harbour street.
We concluded that this really is a town that shouldn't be overlooked due to its old buildings, arty workshops and quirky monuments.

Catlins photos.

Tim and Shanti at new year backpackers party

kayaking.

Partying.

Sea lions at Waipapa point.

Porpoise bay near curio bay

Waikawa. A jail but no pub in site.

Nearby rain forest.

Rainforest.

Florence hill lookout near Papatowai.

Dunedin train station.

Oamaru, 2 night stop onway to Catlins.

Last night we went into Oamaru to see the rare blue penguins walk up the beach to there nests. This was a booked and paid for event where photos were not allowed. However when we left the event around 11pm the little blighters were everywhere so I took a pic without using flash.   At first Oamaru seemed a little tired and neglected but the following day we saw more of it and looked into its history it turned out to be an interresting town with some promise.

Blue penguin under street light.

Steam punk HQ a museum that takes everyday items and makes them futuristic eu a flying loco.

Oamaru street.

A Christchurch xmas in temps of 25 c

Enjoying a lovely xmas dinner.

Walking off the xmas pud. 

xmas day update.

Since returning to christchurch from Queenstown we have been staying in a very comfortable motel over the road from Tims. We've walked through the very beautiful Hagley Park and walked throughout the devastated city centre. It really is a city trying to get back on its feet. The new temporary cathedral made from huge cardboard rolls was interesting to see although its important to note that the cardboard is only one of the materials used in its construction. Having said that its amazing to see some of the internal fittings like the pulpit made entirely from cardboard rolls.
Last night we had our evening meal with some of Shanti's family. Just after arriving we had 2more quakes both measuring about 4. Today we go to Shanti's mums for xmas dinner and tomorrow we head to the Catlins national park right on the southern tip of NZ

merry xmas to anyone who reads this blog.

Just off to Tim and Shanti's for our xmas eve evening feast.

Sydney harbour.."Yo ho ho ho ho ho".

More Queenstown and Wannaka picd

Near Wannaka

Queenstown bowls club

Lake at Queenstown early morning.

Our week in Queenstown

The 7 days we spent in Queenstown with Tim were fantastic. We stayed in Bumbles backpackers at a price of £35 a night for a twin room with showers and toilets right next to our room. There was a well equipped kitchen and lounge area within the complex. We did loads of walking, most notably to the top of Ben Lomond. We also went mountain biking at Arrowtown. One day we went driving to Glenorchy and Lake Sylvan. Another day we went to lake Wannaka and walked around Diamond lake area. Some nights we ate out at the excellent choice of Queenstown restaurants, best of these was the Thai in Church st. Some nights we used the gas bbq at the backpackers. The great waterfront bars were a magnet for some brilliant bands, buskers and street musicians. We particularly liked a duo called Phil and Tilley who we watched on 2 occasions and managed to buy 2 of their cd's. Overall the weather couldn't have been better with temps averaging around 26c with loads of sunshine although it did rain for 4 hours on Saturday afternoon. When it got really hot after our 6 hour walk up Ben Lomond Tim and I took a body numbing swim in the lake ...temperature around 13c. Such a great week I can thoroughly reccomend this place and I can't wait for our next adventure in this awesome country

Queenstown pics

Wharf restaurant.

The evening beach party at sunset.

Queenstown sunset.

Glenorchy at opposite end of lake.

Glenorchy pier.

Walking in Glenorchy.

Sunset at Queenstown wharf.

around queenstown

On top of Ben Lomond.

on way to queenstown

Sundays drive to Queenstown

For sundays drive to Queenstown the temp shot up to the mid 20's. The scenary was spectacular and Queenstown proved to be amazingly beautiful. Positioned at the end of a huge lake surrounded by huge mountains. Ok so its a bit of a playground for the large numbers of international backpackers who flock here but they are all well behaved and good to talk to. We are actually staying in backpackers acccomodation which is pretty central and much better than the Manly accomodation that was twice as expensive.

Arriving in New Zealand.

We arrived in Christchurch on Thursday 11th, an uneventful flight until we stepped off the plane in temperatures of 11c.
Quite a difference from the Ozzie temps of around 30c!
These are shockingly low for this time of year but didn't dissapoint us as we were mainly looking forward to seeing Tim and Shanti. After being introduced to Shanti we all walked along the river avon. We walked past hundreds of devastated houses and empty areas where houses had been demolished, all the result of the 2011 earthquake. Most of the surviving houses where vacant awaiting demolition. The following day as we drove around the outskirts of the city we were confronted by thousands more devastated homes and traffic cones blocking damaged roads or isolating and protecting areas where the rebuild was taking place. We were not seeing this once attractive city at its best. As we went walking that afternoon Tim explained the effects of the quake on the city, but the best account was from Allison, Shanti's mum who described how she had been in the swimming baths during the quake. Apparently people were knocked to the floor,  the pool cracked when a wave formed in it, people had to leave their belongings in buildings as they broke apart. Car and house keys were left behind making it difficult for some to return home. The city is not expected to return to its former glory for many years. In the early hours of Saturday morning I was woken by the sensation of a moving 'force' as if someone was shifting the bed side to side. The following morning Barb reported that she hadn't experienced this so I put it down to a dream caused by all of the earhquake stories. That was until Tim told us later that there had been a quake measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale!
Later that morning we had a lovely breakfast for Shanti's birthday and after Allison joined us we went on a river and coastal walk. Tomorrow we head to the beautiful Queenstown

Saturday 13th December photies

Mount pleasant area south Christchurch.

Tim and l overlooking Christchurch coastal area.

Barb and Tim making the descent towards Christchurch.

Barb, Shanti, Tim and Allison (Shanti's mum) resting during Shanti's birthday walk!

10th november photies

Bond university near Anne's

Wild Parrots at Lamington

Bond uni.

Anne's pool

Wallabe wandering out of the bush at lamington.

The marble bar beneath the Hilton in Sydney

10th December 2014

Well tomorrow we leave Oz for NZ and although we've enjoyed it here we are looking forward to the changes and variety of scenery we hope NZ will offer. Since our return to the Gold Coast after our Sidney trip we've been back down to the attractive Byron Bay, and other coastal towns like Coolangatta and Broadbeach. The regular morning walks along Miami and Burleigh have also continued. Although we've had some fairly violent storms we've been lucky that these have occured when we've returned home after our daily excursions.
On Sunday Geoff and Anne took us up to O'Neils in the very beautiful Lamington nature park where we saw quite a range of wildlife including wallabe's, wild parrots and reptiles. We all really enjoyed this and managed to get some great photies of the wild parrots sitting on our heads. Although we leave OZ tomorrow we do have one more week to come here when we return before we head back to the UK. We are hoping this week at Noosa will be a real chill out time