Author archive
11 April 2009
We stayed the night at the local youth hostel opposite the Penguin Centre in Penneshaw, where our ferry landed this morning. Incidentally, it isn’t the largest town. That honour goes to Kingscote not far away. After dinner, guides at the Penguin Centre, helped us look for penguins coming ashore.
11 April 2009
Getting to Kangaroo Island The time difference (Auckland vs Adelaide) worked in our favour when it came to waking up early for our 0620 pickup. We were collected by bus for the drive to Cape Jervis, a journey of nearly 2h, where we would connect to the ferry to Kangaroo Island, the self-proclaimed Galapagos of […]
10 April 2009
Upon arrival, we hopped on to the public bus to the city but didn’t have small notes. The kind driver wanted to conserve his change so gave the both of us free rides. This is the way New Zealand used to be!!! I love it!!! We stayed at the Mercure Grosvernor in the city centre, […]
10 April 2009
We were flying standby from Auckland to Adelaide early in the morning on standby. It is a longish flight for the A320 and apart from the passenger load (which can be high being Easter weekend), there are sometimes weight restrictions which could see us not get on despite seats being available. Fortunately, we got our […]
28 February 2009
Above: This copy of the Cardona hotel in Auckland didn’t conceal a garden behind. Today is officially the last day of summer. Tomorrow it will be autumn, and Marie will hop on the plane home after a two month visit. Who knows where and when we will meet again! We commiserated the twin-event at the […]
22 February 2009
It was an uneventful flight back to Auckland. The weather had been glorious and I’m glad I made the most of the summer with visits around the country.
22 February 2009
We had breakfast where Jo and the Navy Band was playing, then headed out to Mission Estate, a winery that is often the venue for summer concerts by famous stars. Lionel Richie was coming to sing in a week. But as it turned out a week from today, it became the venue’s first ever cancellation due […]
21 February 2009
We flew down to the Art Deco Weekend in Napier today. Napier is the (self-proclaimed?) Art Deco capital of the world because it was rebuilt in the style of that era after being levelled by an earthquake 1931. Like Nelson, it has known for good weather and a seaside setting. Oh, I want to move here […]
20 February 2009
It’s back home and back to the “salt mine” again until my next weekend trip in a couple of weeks.
7 February 2009
We did a circuit around the region today, heading north to Arrowtown, Cardrona and Wanaka. Arrowtown is an old mining town that has been kept in the style of the period … to the extent possible I guess. It was home to the first Chinese in New Zealand who came to work in the gold […]