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The
New Zealand journey has now begun, liberally laced with visits
to sites where they filmed Lord of the Rings. Bob and I are still
making it up as we go along, but I have split the journey into
four parts. We start off by heading south down the east coast
of the North Island, so that is, originally, called North Island
part 1. Then we spend 2 weeks in the South Island, so week one
will be South Island part 1, then the second week part 2. We finally
return for our last week in the North Island, so that will be
North Island part 2.
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Itinerary
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We
begin the journey in Auckland, heading first to Mt. Maunganui,
then Tauranga. Next stop is Rotorua, then on to Lake Taupo.
We then head for the Hawkes bay wine lands, and finally on
to Wellington for the crossing to the South Island on a ferry.
North Island is absolutely beautiful, and we have both been
overwhelmed by the stunning scenery. |
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The
second week was spent on the South Island. We managed to miss
Christchurch, so apologies to that city, but we did see some
really stunning scenery, especially the Banks Peninsular in
Christchurch. Both Bob and I fell in love with the Otago peninsular,
not just for the scenery, but the wildlife. I love bird watching,
so the Albatross was a special treat, and Bob loves penguins,
and we saw two species, the Blue Penguin, and the Yellow Eyed
Penguin. We reached the foot of South Island, before turning
North. The end of the week was spent in Te Anau, a wonderful
place. |
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A
short week this time. We set off from Te Anau for Queenstown,
where we had a Jet Boat ride. We then headed for the Fox and
Franz Joseph Glaciers, with very poor weather for the first
day, but gorgeous weather for the second day. We then meandered
up the west coast to Westport via "Pancake Rocks".
After that we went over to Nelson, then on to Blenheim, before
leaving the South Island from Picton. |
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We
returned to the North Island, with the weather very variable.
The first day and a half spent finding something good in the
sun. We eventually achieved this with a quick return to Taupo,
followed by a trip up Mt Tarawera, near to Rotorua, before
heading for a few days rest in the Bay of Islands. We leave
New Zealand on 12th October, me for Australia, Bob for UK
via USA. |
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