BootsnAll Travel Network



Articles Tagged ‘New Zealand’

More articles about ‘New Zealand’
« Home

January 22nd – Christchurch

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008


Penguin Feeding Antartic Centre

Originally uploaded by roupiesontour

Our last night camping and it rained – a little joke I feel. The weather has seemed to turn today. It is also Sir Edmund Hillary’s funeral today so maybe a bright sunny day would have seemed wrong. He is so well respected here by all ages, graffiti walls have been dedicated to him. He sounded like a real character and will be sadly missed by NZ. Here’s to you Sir Ed and your spirit of adventure, may a little bit of the adventurer live on in all of us.

We have treated ourselves to some luxury for our last few nights and have a motel room in the holiday park – luckily the last one available. We even braved the rain and went into town to ride the tram around. It’s like stepping back in time as soon as you step onboard. The carriages are all leather and polished wood and the driver rings the bell and provides a commentary as you go along. Christchurch is more like England than any town we have come across here – the architecture, the rain and the annoying one way system. It feels a bit like Cambridge as there is even punting on the river. The town is hosting the World Busking Festival but no shows today – even the deserted information tent had blown over in the wind and the scattered programs were all soaked by the rain. No worries for us as we got to watch TV inside and sleep on a mattress!

January 23rd – A Sad Farewell

The car had to go back today. The chipped taillight cost us $140 which is annoying as I only noticed it after a few days hire – it could so easily have been missed by me at the pick up inspection. We managed to squeeze in the Antarctic Centre beforehand. Seeing penguins being fed was funny and experiencing the ice storm very chilly! It feels strange to lose your wheels and we had to catch the bus back. Again it surprises me how good the transport is compared to our own and how friendly the drivers are.

We are all a bit quiet today. One because we have seen how much stuff we have accumulated and has to be stuffed into our backpacks and two we are all sad to leave this beautiful country and laid back people. We have had such a great time here – it is like the perfect touring country and I shall always remember it with a smile on my face.

January 21st – PPP Penguin

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008


Road Crossing

Originally uploaded by roupiesontour

We explored the city today. Well we walked round and did a bit of souvenir shopping. Some of the architecture here is impressive and yes a lot like Edinburgh but honestly we did not fancy to going to see any of it in more detail so we headed north.

Omaru has colonies of blue penguins. The town even has “Beware Penguins Crossing” road signs! We stopped off at the colony but the penguins come out mainly at night and the cost to watch was quite steep so we decided to keep on moving. O got very excited on the way out as we passed a wooden pier covered in wildlife but no penguins just lots of birds!

We stopped for the night in Timaru. This is not really a touristy town but I have worked with people who come from here and wanted to pay the town a visit. The holiday park had 3 Italians who were just starting out cycling round the South Island. They each had a tiny tent, a bike and a little trailer to carry all their stuff. They were still all in high spirits and ate enough for a small army. I wonder how they will fare?

Traffic Jam NZ Style

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008
Traffic Jam NZ Style Originally uploaded by roupiesontour
January 20th – Dunedin The journey from Invercargill to Dunedin takes you through the ... [Continue reading this entry]

January 19th – So Far From Home

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008
Monkey Far From Home Originally uploaded by roupiesontour
Invercargill was described as a town seeming with souped up cars racing along ... [Continue reading this entry]

January 18th – Te Anau

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008
Milford Sound 014 Originally uploaded by roupiesontour
The Top 10 Holiday Park has to be one of the nicest we have ... [Continue reading this entry]

January 16th – Queenstown

Thursday, January 17th, 2008
Queenstown 047 Originally uploaded by roupiesontour
Another beautiful blue day but it was nice to not have to pack up the ... [Continue reading this entry]

January 15th – Exhausted From NZ

Thursday, January 17th, 2008
Queenstown 020 Originally uploaded by roupiesontour
What a day. I’m happily exhausted. We started off at the brilliant Puzzling World in ... [Continue reading this entry]

January 14th – Glacierland

Thursday, January 17th, 2008
New Zealand 199 Originally uploaded by roupiesontour
The tent can definitely withstand a rainfall – it pelted it down last night ... [Continue reading this entry]

January 13th – Greymouth

Thursday, January 17th, 2008
New Zealand 142 Originally uploaded by roupiesontour
Grey in the name grey is the colour. Everything form the sand to the ... [Continue reading this entry]

January 12th January – Kaikoura

Thursday, January 17th, 2008



Whale Tail

Originally uploaded by [Continue reading this entry]