I have fallen behind again with this blog – we’ve been back home over a week. Leaving Clyde we set off for Tekapo, with a quick stop at Cromwell to buy some berries. Lake Dunstan looked beautiful. At first there were only Southland yellow lupins lining the road, but then colours started to appear. By… Read more

Where to after Te Anau? Well we have to be back home in 5 days’ time so Asti our wonderful home-garden-cat sitter can take off.  Clyde and our friends Graeme and Barb beckoned. We first met them some years ago in the North Island, travelled with them for a while, spent one memorable New Years’… Read more

We had an invitation to camp on new-found friends’ deer, sheep and cattle property some way out of town, but first we did a quick tour of the Lake itself and had lunch near the small boat harbour which was showing the signs of a lowered Lake level; the entrance channel was very shallow indeed.… Read more

it wasn’t a very long drive from Clifden Bridge to Manapouri but how the weather changed. We went from overcast, drizzly and chilly to brilliant sunshine as we climbed the range. Round the corner, what a lovely sight – blazing gorse and distant snow-capped mountains. So very NZ. Downhill we soon came to the Waiau… Read more

We left Invercargill on a lovely but slightly chilly day and headed west, through Riverton to Colac Bay where there is free seashore camping but in a very exposed position, so after taking various photos and admiring the multicoloured beach pebbles, we pressed on. Colac Bay must have some very artistic residents. The village’s name… Read more

No visit to Invercargill would be complete without a trip to the Museum to pay our respects to Henry the 100+ year old Tuatara. Here he is, plus some other Tuataras almost as big as him, so probably not his offspring. The Tuatara breeding program at the Museum is one of the best  (the only… Read more