New Zealand - Day Five

Day 5 - Wednesday 5th May 2010 Time to wake up and enjoy the view........

We stayed off the side of a road at a lookout in Nelson. It took us a while to find but was well worth it! Today we had to get to Collingwood so that we could take the Farewell Spit tour tomorrow morning. Motueka was a lovely little town along the way and we enjoyed wandering through.

The Gothic Restaurant was interesting and I loved the scale of their outdoor table!

I had to include some sheep! This is on the way up Takaka Hill.

WH had been to NZ the year before we got married as his parents lived in Collingwood for six months so he was somewhat familiar with the area. I had been warned that we would be travelling over Takaka Hill, climbing almost 791 metres from sea level and back down again. This was also the first place we had visited so far where the Lord of the Rings Trilogy had been filmed. We took the three movies with us and watched a bit on the laptop each night as we travelled!

Takaka itself is on the other side of the hill and the countryside is beautiful. It was one of my favourite areas that we went through.

The town was so pretty; I loved how all of the shops had hanging baskets full of gorgeous flowers!

After lunch we made our way to PuPu Springs. The water is amazingly clear! It is estimated that 14,000 litres of water are produced per second, approximately enough to fill 40 bathtubs. You are not allowed to touch the water as any contact could contaminate it.

We arrived in Collingwood with enough daylight left to grab an ice cream and have a walk around. Collingwood is a very pretty little town right on the water.

Nelson to Collingwood (133 klms)

Thank you to everyone who has been reading about our travels, it is really lovely to read your comments! xx

New Zealand - Day Four

Day Four – Tuesday 4th May 2010 Last night we researched the next stop that we had in mind, we wanted to get to Collingwood tonight and go on a Farewell Spit Eco Tour but unfortunately there are no tours available until Thursday and that puts us a day behind our proposed schedule and gives us an extra day to get to Collingwood. It’s not the end of the world so we can just take it easy and take two days to get to Collingwood. Picton is the port where the inter island ferry docks it is Marlborough's main commercial port and provides access to Queen Charlotte Sound. We watched the inter islander Ferry as it left in the morning on its’ way to Wellington. The 92km voyage takes 3 hours.

Just around the corner from Picton was this huge logging port. All of us were impressed with the size of it!

We chose to take the scenic Queen Charlotte Drive through the Malborough Sounds and it was a really beautiful trip.

Further along we stopped to “ooooh” and “aaaah” over the clear water at The Grove near Okiwa Bay.

We drove into Havelock and stopped for coffee at a cafe near the harbour.

As we got closer to Nelson we turned off the main road onto Cable Bay Road to stop in at an adventure centre and enquire about their four wheelers. Nicholas really, really wanted to drive a four wheeler however most places there was an age restriction and even though our son is tall he is only ten. No luck for Nicholas but lucky for us we found the ideal spot for lunch!

This was one of those moments when I really appreciated the flexibility of the motor home. Great views and great food and thanks to our wine tasting the day before, great wine! We arrived in Nelson fairly early in the afternoon so we stopped in the city to look around and explore. The church was outstanding and if I remember correctly cost $800 per day to maintain! We were able to go inside and look around as well.

This is where we stopped for the night.

Picton to Nelson (110klms)

xx

New Zealand - Day Three

Day Three - Monday 3rd May 2010

Yesterday we travelled from Christchurch to Kaikoura (181klms) and arrived in the dark, found a lookout and stayed there the night.

This morning we woke up early so WH could get some sunrise photos. This was our view from the bedroom, lounge room, dining room and kitchen! At this stage I am thinking that the Motor home might be a really good thing!

After breakfast we packed up house and moved on. We drove through the town and had a look around.

Today was wine country day and I thought we should wait until mid morning at least before we started wine tasting!

This Church was beside the highway with beautiful views to the ocean! Everything was so neat and green around this area!

Next stop Montana Cellar Door.

I could live here, the building is gorgeous and the gardens are fantastic!

We tasted the selection that was on offer for the day (pleased to say that we weren't the only ones tasting wine before lunch!) and we bought a few bottles, fortunately the cellar door had a playground for the kids to run around in, so Nicholas was happy too!

Next stop Blenheim town centre to find a map of the surrounding area and decide on what we wanted to see. Blenheim reminds me of Mudgee in NSW Australia and the Hunter Valley in NSW Australia. There are a lot of cellar doors in the area and plenty of choices. We decided to drive around, sticking to the main road and stopping at another two cellar doors to do some tasting and just admiring the rest as we drove.

Wither Hills was an impressive cellar door and the lady who served us was fantastic, she was friendly and knowledgeable making the experience even more enjoyable!

Wither Hills had a great area outside on the beautifully manicured lawns with bean bags and low tables where you could kick back and enjoy a drink or a meal! It looked so inviting, however it was time to move on again!

Unfortunately no playground here so Nicholas patiently waited by the fire.

Next stop - Saint Clair Cellar Door. This cute cellar door was nowhere near as big as the first two but it was lovely and welcoming. The outdoor eating area was lovely and we stopped here for lunch as well. I think we could have happily stayed here for longer in the sunshine enjoying the garden, the views and the wine but the road was calling! Given the short length of the days and the amount of travelling and activities we wanted to do in our two short weeks we really had to keep moving along!

We arrived in Picton late in the afternoon, stopped for a wander around the town and for some coffee. We decided that we would stay here for the night and get an earlier start in the morning.

We think this was meant to be Mickey Mouse (Donald Duck was standing close by) but something about his ears was not quite right!

Kaikoura to Picton (157klms)

Well I hope you are still awake and have stuck around for the end of Day 3.

Thanks for your patience! xx

New Zealand -Day One

Hello again! We are back from New Zealand and back to the real world. We had a great time and we all loved our trip away! We survived the motorhome for the two weeks and would do it again! New Zealand is such a clean country to it was easy to use the public facilities and showers whenever we stayed at a holiday park.

I aim to post a diary of our two weeks away here on the blog over the next few weeks. This will help me keep track of what we did as well as whoever is interested can follow along and see some of our photos and what we got up to. I apologise in advance to anyone who isn't interested but I will try to get it over with pretty quickly!

We booked our holiday back in September 2009, I love holidays so I get countless of emails with all of the current specials and this one for New Zealand really stood out! WH was in New Zealand when we first started to get to know each other so we talked a lot on the phone for the few weeks he was there and he loved the country and really wanted to take me to visit, so when the deal came up we made the decision to go. It wasn't easy to make as Nick had just started his own business and we really didn't know how we were going to be doing financially in the future but we stepped out in faith and booked, paid in full for the flights and one weeks motorhome hire then promptly put it out of our minds as we weren't going for another 8 months (oh and we set up a direct debit into our savings account to save money for the trip).

Next thing you know it was mid April and we were leaving in two weeks and we hadn't planned what we were doing! We finally managed to sit down as a family and plan what we wanted to see and how we would go about it. Tuesday prior to our Saturday flight we rang the holiday company and requested an upgrade to a 4 berth motorhome and an extension to hire it for the whole two weeks. At first we could get the 2 +1 Camper for two weeks but everything else was booked. We agreed to take the 2 + 1 but asked if the Rental Company could be informed that we really would like to upgrade to a larger camper and if anyone cancelled please let us know. Fortunately for us someone cancelled and we got a 4 berth motorhome for two weeks!

Day One - Saturday 1st May 2010

We flew out from Sydney airport at 9.50am on Air New Zealand. Arriving in Christchurch at 3.50pm. We were collected from Christchurch by the rental company who took us to our home for the next two weeks. We signed paper work, unpacked our bags and set off on our adventure. We didn't get far, we found the supermarket bought groceries, had dinner at all you can eat Pizza Hut and then searched for a Holiday Park to spend the night in so we could charge the batteries etc! As we got ready for bed we discovered that we had only been supplied with one lot of bedding so poor Nicholas got to sleep under dressing gowns with a jacket for a pillow!

Day two - Sunday 2nd May 2010

Woke up got ready and set off nice and early or so we thought. We forgot to change our clocks and got all confused and it was actually two hours later than we thought! Hmmmmm, that accounts for the strange looks we got as we were wandering around in our pyjamas mid-morning!

After resolving the bedding issue we decided to visit Christchurch Gondola and take a look around from a great vantage point!

The Christchurch Gondola rises 500 metres above sea level over a 945 metre ride.

The views are great and almost seem unreal looking through the windows at Lyttleton Harbour.

There are numerous walking paths at the top that you are able to access either by road or via the Gondola ride.

There is a shop at the top where you can buy all sorts of souvenirs and the complex includes a time tunnel ride that gives you some of the history of New Zealand.

We had lunch in the Summit Cafe and then decided it was time to hit the road!

Given the lateness in leaving Christchurch together with the maximum speed limit on the Campers of 90klm per hour we only managed to travel as far as Kaikoura. Even then the last hour of the trip was in the dark and I think we missed out on some spectacular views of the coastline because oft he darkness. We decided to try and ensure we didn't travel too much in the dark if possible and find a spot to stop before it got dark!

We arrived in Kaikoura and found a lookout where we spent the night!

I hope I am not boring you all with our trip and please feel free to ask any questions as I go, I highly recommend visiting New Zealand if you ever get the chance.

Thanks you for all of your lovely comments while we were away and I am looking forward to catching up with everyone over the next few days! xx

Hello and Happy Mothers Day!

Just a quick 'Hello' to you all! I am missing catching up with all of you and I am looking forward to stopping by and seeing what everyone is up to soon!

I had a quick opportunity to drop in and do a quick post to let you know that I am alive and well! (there was an Australian lady who fell out of the bungee yesterday in the area where we were at the time and we had relatives who thought it may be me).

We are having a fantastic time and I am surprised at how much I am enjoying the motor home experience!

Here is just a little taste of the sights we have had.

We have hired the motor home for the whole two weeks and we are loving it. This was our view one morning when we woke up. We watched the sunrise over the ocean at Kaikoura, had breakfast and then headed off further north!

Just in case you don't believe me, here is the view I enjoyed through the window while I was having my morning coffee.

.....just to make sure you believe we were there (please remember it is early morning and I am still half asleep).

Tonight we are staying at Franz Josef Village and we are hoping to walk alongside the glacier tomorrow morning before we leave to make our way to Queenstown.

I wish all of the Mothers a 'Happy Mothers Day' for tomorrow.

My son has promised me a Special Mothers Day I would remember always, then he promptly added that we were in New Zealand and how can it not be special and memorable!

Oh well.. at least I know he will be spending it with me!

Have a great week and I look forward to catching up with you all when we get back! xx