Articles from this Category
25 February 2020
I fly at 1145 today from Nelson airport back to Auckland. The drive and the rental car return process off-airport meant that I had to leave after 0800. My drive was uneventful. As I passed Richmond on the outside of Nelson, I topped up the car and then continued to return it to Omega Car […]
24 February 2020
The “main event” of my visit to Takaka is Farewell Spit, a long piece of land at the top of South Island. It was a little hard to coordinate the dates of the daytrip because it has to fit in with the outgoing tide and daylight hours. Eg. on a certain day, it may start […]
23 February 2020
Pupu Springs My plan for the day had been to revisit some of the sights around here, and discover some new ones. Talking to my hosts, some proved too much to fit into the day. It was just the driving as some would involve a long walk from the carpark. I invited Simon, an Australian-born […]
22 February 2020
Flying off again Today I make a 3 night trip to Golden Bay at the top of New Zealand’s South Island. By flight from Auckland, Nelson is the gateway to the area for me. My flight departs at 0945 and with light weekend traffic on the roads, I left home at 0725 and made it […]
7 January 2020
Above: Lake Pukaki on the drive back to Christchurch. The wind last night was worse than the night before. I had a long night sleep to make up for the interrupted sleep due to the wind and noise. After breakfast, we packed up and said goodbye and thanks to everyone. We hit the road around […]
6 January 2020
Despite the windy conditions, I slept quite well through the night. I did wake a few times wondering if the tent would blow over or if branches from the tree above would fall on us. Kim and I knocked on Brent’s caravan around 0815 for breakfast and a cuppa. It was around 1000 when Brent […]
5 January 2020
Kim arrived from Auckland at 0925 today. Despite the bad weather (again), everything went like clockwork. I picked him up from the airport, went to the supermarket to get some groceries for our camping hosts before going to the car rental agency. We had to add Kim as an additional driver simply by showing his […]
4 January 2020
Quite surprisingly, I woke to good weather today. Purau Bay looked even better in the improved weather conditions. I thought I’d make the most of the good day by exploring Christchurch city, a place I was once very familiar with. But the earthquakes of recent years have changed the cityscape considerably and I had never […]
3 January 2020
I arrived around 1130 and was picked up by a friend for a yumcha lunch together with several university mates. The afternoon went quickly with endless chats in the restaurant and at a friend’s house. I had organised my rental car for 1700 so that it would coincide with our intended return time on the […]
8 March 2015
We were a bit worried about the weather impacting our flight back. We were told not to worry; I guess the locals can read the weather better than we can. We explored a bit more of the island by car today, taking in the Kaitoke hot spring which involved a scenic hike. By the time […]