When last we spoke, the three of us were in Queenstown, being extreme. That didn't last long. Being extreme is very expensive and so we decided to spend our money elsewhere. Well, we really wanted to go and see Milford Sound but it was a 5 hour coach journey there, and the same back and the idea of 10 hours on a bus was not one that lit a fire in either of us. The Sound is meant to be beautiful, but for 10 hours on a bus, I'd be expecting all 7 wonders of the world plus a few bonus ones thrown in. The only other way to get there is to fly, and so we looked in to this. Costs were a little more, but not horrendous, but sadly the weather at Milford was, and so the pilots were refusing to to fly!! The idea of 10 hours on a coach to see something in terrible weather made our minds up for us and instead we decided to head south, very south.
The most southerly tip of the south island (well sort of) is called Bluff and it's famous for having a signpost saying how far everything is away from it. Being famous for everything being miles away is a bit like being the smelly kid in class, but we thought we should go. We did the photos (18,900kms from London by the way) and then drove to our campsite in Invercargill. Wow. What a crazy place. If ever you want to see what the world looked like inthe 1950's, go there. It's almost as if they miss the days of rationing. The museum is more like someone's living room with a collection of random objects the owner found in their garden. Not a patch on Te Papa. The person that put Invercargill on the map, was a fella called Bert Munro, who for a while held the land speed record for motorbikes, on one he'd customized himself. Without sponsorship he designed and built one himself. Pretty impressive. There's a film with Anthony Hopkins called "The Fastest Indian" or something similar about this guy. His bike was called an Indian in case you were wondering.
So from Invercargill (or Inver-Vegas as all other Kiwi's call it) we drove up the coastal road to Dunedin. En route we saw a petrified forest, waterfalls, and seal colonys. Dunedin is home to our friends Si and Bobby and their gorgeous new arrival, Georgie. We stayed there a few days, in a bedroom without wheels, and it was lovely. We looked around Dunners, caught up on sleep, washing and gossip, and made massive fires in their fireplace. It was wonderful hospitality, but after a few nights we had to leave, as Chopper was itching to get back on the road.
So the final stretch, Dunners to Christchuch. We did it in one hit to get it out the way. The route was largely flat and so our foot was down a lot of the time. On arrival in Christchurch we booked in to our last campsite and fell asleep. Next day we started looking round. It's a lovely place, like England but emptier, cleaner, safer and cheaper, but on the flip side it's a bit of an older person's place. There are bars and clubs but on the whole it's laid back, almost fully. We saw the musuem and it was great. Loads of interactive things for the kids (i.e. ME!) and very interesting. The Arts Centre was also brill, with loads of outdoor events going on.
The next day had its ups and downs. The down was we had to say goodbye to Chopper. He'd been a good car/bedroom/kitchen/living room and kept us safe. We won't be able to think of NZ without thinking of Chopper. But, like "The Littlest Hobo" he's off to help some new people now. And as the theme tune said, "Maybe tomorrow he'll want to settle down, until tomorrow he'll just keep moving on". The up followed soon after. We got the bus out to Sumner to spend it with some of Leanne's family and their new arrival, Benjamin. It's like all we seem to do is go to museums and see babies. I think i'm turning in to my nan!! Anyway, they lived in a really nice house up in the hills with awesome views. Their other son, Nathaniel, was great fun and we spent a lot of the day playing games with him, although he had far more energy than we did and we were soon very tired. Generously, we were invited to stay for dinner and it was roast chicken. A home cooked roast dinner. Honestly it was heaven.
It was a great end to our time in New Zealand. If you've been here you'll know how sad we feel to leave. If you haven't been here, make time. And let us know what Milford Sound was like!!!