January 2002

This is my first time ever in New Zealand - the furthest I've ever been from home, and a 13 hour time difference!

Deb met me at the airport, and we saw in the New Year in Cathedral Square, Christchurch.  Deb knows her city and country inside-out, so has been able to help me plan my tour of New Zealand.

I headed for the very south of the South Island to visit some relatives.  I was given a guided tour of Bluff (a lot like Land's End, without the theme park), and Invercargill.  It's very cold down south, so I didn't stay too long!

Further north is a small town called Te Anau, on the banks of a lake, and from where I took a tour to Milford Sound.  The cruise on the fiord reminded me a lot of a previous one I did in Norway, although it was marginally less cold here.  

From Te Anau, I travelled to Queenstown - the adventure capital of New Zealand, where I did nothing!  And on to the glaciers.  

I've always wanted to ride in a helicopter, and I wasn't disappointed.  The views were quite incredible, and I got to fly over both Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers, and landed on Fox Glacier.  

In the North Island, I spent a couple of days with friends Graham and Karen in Wellington, before heading to Rotorua.  The Lady Knox Geyser is set off at 10.15 each morning, by pouring soap into the top!  They say it would go off anyway.  

I didn't get to see as much of New Zealand as I'd intended.  Travel fatigue has finally got the better of me, but I can always come back one day and see the rest.

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