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Hi from South New Zealand, just had to update my blog as you'll see from my comments from Kaikoura !
Wellington (Sun 14 Feb) - We arrived in Wellington at around 1pm and after a quick bite to eat, we (Francein, Gillian, Carolyn & I) explored New Zealand's current capital city - Wellington. We started with a cable-car ride from Lambton Quay to the Botanical Gardens, which is at the top of Wellington. We decided to walk back down to the City, and saw some fantastic sights of the city from this viewpoint. The Botanical Garden and the Rose Garden within it were stunning and suddenly we all became "David Baileys" of this world and started clicking away at every rose we could see, and yes, I will share a few of these pics with you !
On the way back to YHA, we dropped into Te Papa (Museum of New Zealand), which hosts a number of artefacts and interactive interpretations of New Zealand's life and culture.
Nelson (Mon 15 & Tue 16 Feb) - where is the time going, it sudenly seems to be going very fast, can't believe that we have already crossed over to the South Island. There is still so much to see and do in the North. But anyhow, we now arrived in Nelson and so far from my point of view, this has been the warmest place and should I emigrate, it would have to be here as it's supposed to have the most hours of sunshine in the whole of NZ !
On our way to Nelson we made a couple of stops, once to a gorgeous chocolate factory, I would have bought all the stock if I was coming home from here (sorry folks), but you'll be pleased to know that I did sample enough for all of you - yummy ! Oh yes, and we stopped at a winery, and of course I didn't do any tastings there !
Nelson is home to beautiful beaches and crystal waters of the Abel Tasman National Park. Half the group opted to Kayak to Torrent Bay and then sail back with lunch on board the sailing vessel, whilst the other half of the group (Francein, Jo, Jason, Carolyn & I) took a water taxi to Bark Bay, then a 2 and a ½ hour walk to Torrent Bay (which actually took us 4 hours as we kept stopping to take in some fantastic views), then a water taxi back to Marahau.
Kaikoura (Wed 15 Feb) Today as we headed towards Kaikoura, we drove through some dramatic landscape sceneries with the ocean on one side and the Southern Alps on the other - it was amazing to see the view unfold as we drove round each bend !
Kaikoura was the place I was most looking forward to coming to in the South Island, as I was hoping to see the magnificent "Sperm Whale" and see it I most certainly did. We watched the Sperm Whale rise to the top to take in its next supply of air and then saw it going back down to the depths of the ocean, and just before it did we saw the awesome tail go up in the air - that was a magical moment for me ! I think I may do this trip again at the end of this tour, as I have 6 nights to explore the South Island on my own.
On the way back from whale watching, we were lucky to see a Humpback Whale and further on we saw some dusky dolphins. I may swim with them at the end of my trip, as the others who swam with them said they really enjoyed it !!
I'm running out of words to explain the beauty I'm seeing as I move across the world, so I'll just have to stick to the usual, beautiful, awesome, fantastic etc !
Have a great weekend, it's nearly Friday ! Dee x
- comments
'M' Hi 'D' I watched you all through your expedition, in 4 hours!. I know you're having a fantastic time. Go girl!. Love youloads 'M'