We are so happy to be back in New Zealand again. The time has flown by since we arrived - and finally, after a couple of days of rain in Auckland, we've had stellar weather. Spent a couple of days in Auckland sorting out our onward travel plans, met up for a couple of beers with an old Kiwi friend Tim who Caroline worked with back in the London Andersen days, and enjoyed the art museum of Auckland. We then took a wonderful bus trip down through the North Island to Wellington at the southern tip. Quite a fascinating journey - the bus took all back roads stopping in many a town in the middle of nowhere to drop off or pick up passengers, but compared to taking the main roads all the way, we got to see a lot of interesting countryside along the way.
We loved Wellington - it reminded us in some ways of San Francisco - small cosmopolitan city, lots of cafe culture, lovely little victorian clapboard houses dotted around the hillsides. Sadly had very limited time there, so we enjoyed a late night opening at the Te Papa Museum (lots of superb dispays about Maori and NZ history), followed by a mouth-watering curry at the local curry house. We arose early the next morning to walk the streets of the city before taking a morning ferry across to Picton. The journey afforded us with wonderful views of Wellintgon nestled into the hills, and then an hour 'cruise' of the Marlborough Sounds, which brought back happy memories of our 4 day hike on the Queen Charlotte track 3 years before with Caroline's sister, Gill.
From Picton we headed off for some wine tasting (more like drinking in fact), and from there to Nelson Lakes (both covered in separate postings....)
About Us
- Caroline and Gary
- We are taking a year out of our regular lives in 2008 to fulfil a long held dream to travel around the world. We plan to visit some of the most beautiful mountainous and far flung places on earth, and learn about different cultures