The blog is evolving!

Stay tuned for new features including journey maps, some missing posts, linked photo albums, minor tweaks and ultimately... the earlier trips...

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Day 3 - NZ

Cookie says...
This morning was colder than yesterday but it didn't stop us from checking out some markets at the train station. The markets weren't big but they had some good stuff. Afterwards we were on the road heading to Te Anau which is on the other side of the island.


Four hours, five towns and six million sheep later, we'd made our destination in time to book a glowworm tour and risk salmonella poisoning with a servo pie. The tour was good and Julz and I returned to the room while Mim went for a stroll to a wildlife park.

Julie says...
Today we went to the market where my fingers froze. I took a 'short' nap in the car, even though I'm the designated navigator, and helped Mim find a new word to describe the scenery ('pretty' just doesn't seem to cut it). I then contemplated how easy it would be to murder someone in a dark cave...


Mim says...
On the drive from Dunedin to Te Anau, my exclamations of the scenery evolved from pretty to, scenic to stunning to just WOW!


It really is a beautiful part of the country. Pity about the effect that the pie had on my digestive tract.

Friday, June 29, 2012

Day 2 - NZ

Cookie says...
Kicked the day off by stepping out into the fridge called Dunedin which had a wind whipping though the place. The tourist information was the first port of call where we found a helpful guy who was genuinely afraid of Mim's tourist thesis. After answering all her questions, I caught a glimpse of him wiping his brow as we exited the building.

Baldwin Street was the first tourist sight to see which is the steepest street in the world where apparently residents are marooned during the winter months due to their street effectively turning into an Olympic ski jump ramp.



Dunedin has kept a proud heritage influence from Scotland (including the weather) and Dunedin is Gaelic for Edinburgh. They even have their own castle. After visiting Larnach Castle we drove around the Otago Peninsular before hitting Cadbury World where we saw the worlds largest chocolate fall which was followed by a brewery tour of Speights and dinner in their original Ale House.

Julie says...
Whenever I went looking for Mim, I found her at a tourist brochure stand collecting another five or so maps. If she makes it out of NZ without incuring more than a $50 excess baggage tax, I'll be surprised.



Mim says...
I swear the tourist guy was eying off my 35 page folder of things to do in Dunedin and I found out that it takes 24 hours to make a Jaffa.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Day 1 - NZ

Cookie says...
Back into the swing of things and we're road tripping around the south island of En Zed with the Rodda's... well, She Who is Incubating is with us as the Keystone Cop has to work. Even though New Zealand is only three hours away, today was still written off as a travel day as we made our way to Dunedin via Auckland. The closest thing to a highlight was Mim managing to make a special kind of trifector while travelling with me. First it was after some grappa, then it was food poisoning and this time it's pregnancy related.

Julie says...
I've been through a a few airports over the years but none quite like Dunedin. It's literally a fenced off runway in the middle of a sheep paddock.

Mim says...
Pass the barf bag please...