Te Anau and Milford Sound 21-22 Feb

We decided to drive to Te Anau via a small diversion to Arrowtown. Arriving at 9:30am we were almost the first ones there and a quick visit to a cafe for very yummy hot chocolates set us up for a good hour's walk along the river Arrow. It was an interesting old gold mining town with buildings looking like they belonged on the set of a spaghetti western, it was also interesting to learn of the Chinese miners who were there in the late 19th century. After Arrowtown we continued our journey to Te Anau, another one with virtually empty roads. The first part of the drive along the eastern edge of Lake Wakitipu was, yes, you guessed it, simply stunning. After checking in to our Youth Hostel we thought one walk in the day wasn't enough so we did a really great two hour walk along the edge of Lake Te Anau. Sleep came easily later!

On day two at Te Anau, the day of our cruise on Milford Sound, we woke to a dry, fine day. It rains on 264 days a year at the Sound so you could say we were lucky, but I'd go further and say we were blessed. We made an early 7:20am start on the 72-mile drive and the cloud lying low in strips across the mountains was yet another insight into this majestic country. A highlight on the drive there was the raw, rugged state of the Homer Tunnel. No fancy surface or smooth walls here but instead rough hewn granite and water dripping from above. Absolutely loved it. And then came the main event, namely our Milford Sound cruise. It's very hard to put this into words but here goes - waterfalls three times higher than Niagara, mountains two kilometres high, sunshine, fur seals, dolphins, a great, knowledgeable guide, a glacier, a rain forest and so many photos taken. You had to be there.

Queenstown 19-20 Feb

A 190-mile drive took us inland to Queenstown. I could try to describe the awesome and diverse scenery that we're privileged enough to take in as we drive from place to place, such as range upon range of mountains, gorges, rivers and valleys, but you might get bored, suffice to say this country is stunning, it has to be seen to be believed.

Our Queenstown motel, Amber Lodge, was well located just off the end of the busy Shotover Street and our room was large and comfortable. We went and found the gondola and took it to the top of its quite steep climb and spent most of the afternoon up there, including two runs down a great luge run and a good walk too. An early night soon followed after all the fresh air of the day!

Day two in Queenstown was a highlight for me as we hired bikes for the morning and rode the Queenstown Trail around part of Lake Wakitipu and then on to the Shotover river. I rode along in awe of our surroundings, everywhere I looked was simply stunning, what with views of the lake, mountains and the river. I'd happily spend the rest of my life riding along trails like this, they put the Downs Link in the shade! After returning our bikes at lunchtime we went for a 90-minute cruise on the lake on the TSS Earnslaw, which was nice and relaxing, although neither of us thought much of the loud piano playing singalong to old songs on the return leg.

Oamaru and the Blue Penguins 18 Feb

Day three in New Zealand saw us making our first long drive of the holiday, south from Christchurch to Oamaru. We were struck by just how flat the whole journey was, but then they're not called the Canterbury Plains for nothing. We noticed that almost everywhere you looked there were very high hedges, or windbreaks would be a better description as the wind really whips across this area. We just loved the easy driving on virtually traffic-free roads compared to back home, it was so relaxing. We stopped in a place called Timaru for a break where we discovered a pretty place called Caroline's Bay for a nice walk out to the beach.

Arriving in Oamaru we checked-in to our Backpacker hostel where we just about squeezed our luggage into our room. The manageress was a friendly, helpful lady who gave us some good tips on where to eat and so on.

Our evening in Oamaru can only be described as amazing. We had booked to see the Penguins come ashore at the Blue Penguin Colony and I don't think anything could have prepared us for how incredibly adorable and cute these little creatures are. As it was getting dark we started seeing them half running, half stumbling along with their bodies almost horizontal to reach their nesting area. We were very glad of our premium seating as that gave us a really close-up view as each raft of penguins came in. After watching and hearing them calling to each other for about an hour we exited back across a boardwalk, where the Penguins' cuteness only increased as we saw them in or near their nesting boxes, looking small, plump and adorable. We wish we had been able to teleport Justin in from Canterbury to see them, he would have loved them.

Christchurch 16-17 Feb

A shorter, 9.25 hour flight saw us arrive around 10:30am in Christchurch, NZ to blue skies and 27 degrees. Lovely! Picking up our hire car, a nice Mazda 3, was easy and we made our way to our motel which was in a nice peaceful location. After a couple of hours grabbing a bit of sleep, our next door neighbours' daughter Karen, who lives near Christchurch, met us at our motel and drove us around Christchurch to help us get our bearings and we then parked in the Botanic Gardens and did a whistle stop walking tour of the city.  We've never seen the aftermath of an earthquake before and, despite it being 5 years ago, the devastation is still very evident in places like Cathedral Square where the old cathedral is largely supported by steel girders; all the empty spaces where buildings once stood; the numerous condemned office blocks, hotels and other structures; and the many cordoned off areas. What is great to see though is the people's spirit as demonstrated through many huge murals on the sides of buildings and lots of stunningly designed new buildings. Doing a bit of food shopping was interesting, we went to Pac & Save that was like Aldi or Lidl in its layout/presentation but had Waitrose prices (or higher!). During our second day we walked into the city via Hagley Park, which is so big it includes a golf course! Another visit to the botanic gardens included the hot house that had some very large cactuses and some beautiful flowers. We ate lunch at the Re: Start Mall, the area where shops and bars are all housed in semi-permanent shipping containers.

Singapore 14-15 Feb - much more than a stopover

The grey and damp journey to Heathrow and slightly delayed flight were very quickly forgotten when we realised just what a good decision it had been to fly with Singapore Airlines. The courteousness and level of service offered by the friendly cabin crew was something we'd never experienced with other carriers and being given menus to choose our meals despite flying economy made it feel quite special. Having said that, 13 hours on a plane was a very long time, even having watched three movies.

On arrival in Singapore we soon found our way to our hotel by taxi and persuaded the reception staff to let us check-in early to our room at 10am, where we managed to grab a few hours sleep before meeting up with our friends and ex-neighbours Gary and Maxine. When we originally booked the Singapore stopover it was just for somewhere to rest for a night before continuing on to NZ so it was a very pleasant revelation to discover this great city through Gary and Maxine's experience of having lived there for four years. During the two days we were there we ate in Chinatown, looked around active Chinese and Indian temples, drank mint tea in Arab Street and saw many amazing pieces of architecture, the highlight being the ship on top of the Marine Bay hotel. When we left the city we were glad at the thought of returning on our way home.