We spend a night in Christchurch, then head off to Lake Tekapo to look at some beautiful scenery, maybe take a walk (before returning for a bottle of wine) and stay the night. Next day, we go and look at Mt Cook before driving to Dunedin for two nights. We'll spend a day doing this:
With picnic and bottle of wine. Then we drive to Te Anau for two nights. There we'll be walking, maybe horse riding and definitely drinking wine. We will spend a day having a look at Milford Sound. Then we drive through Queenstown and have a night in Haast before driving to Franz Joseph and Fox Glacier , to see where the mints come from and have a go at this:
Well - only if we've drunk a LOT of wine first. A night in a homestead on the coast and then we drive to the part of the world that we've always wanted to go to - Marlborough Country. (No, not the one where they gallop horses and smoke cigarettes) This where our favourite every day drinking sauvignon Blancs come from, and we intend to taste them all.
Luckily, we have three nights in Blenheim to do this. And even luckier, my daughter's friend has an uncle, who just happens to co-own Dhall and Nash wine sellers, and is already giving us recommendations. But we will also have time to do this:
After that, we take the ferry from Picton to Wellington. We've heard it's one of the most beautiful ferry crossings in the world - and we've heard it can be one of the roughest. So we'll hope for good weather. After a night in Wellington, we drive to Napier, via some vineyards. After some more sampling of Hawkes Bay wines, we drive (next day, when we're sober!) to Lake Taupo, to see some falls and maybe take a bottle of wine for a walk.
A night there and we're off to visit Tongariro National Park, home of Mt Doom, which was made famous by Lord of the Rings. Then it's a night near Otorohanga so we can visit the Kiwi House and the Waitomo Caves (not sure whether to tell Eddie these caves have glow worms in them, not wine). Then it's a night in Cambridge, before going to Rotorua, to see some of these:
We'll spend the night with children's writer Susan Brocker, before heading through Auckland to stay a night near Puhoi. Then we'll head north, visiting Waipoua Forest, to see some of these:
We have a night in Ahipara, from where we can have a long at 90 miles of beach. Then we drive to Auckland via the Bay of Islands. There we meet up with Puneet Dhall to talk about this:
And that is the end (nearly) of the New Zealand bit. It's been exhausting writing all this and I'm doing that sitting down at my desk. Still, we will then have a wonderful four days of rest in the Cook Islands.
Click here to rest your eyes in the Cook Islands
And here's some more cake:
| Taieri Gorge Scenic Railway |
Well - only if we've drunk a LOT of wine first. A night in a homestead on the coast and then we drive to the part of the world that we've always wanted to go to - Marlborough Country. (No, not the one where they gallop horses and smoke cigarettes) This where our favourite every day drinking sauvignon Blancs come from, and we intend to taste them all.
 |
| Marlborough Country |
Luckily, we have three nights in Blenheim to do this. And even luckier, my daughter's friend has an uncle, who just happens to co-own Dhall and Nash wine sellers, and is already giving us recommendations. But we will also have time to do this:
 |
| Something I've always wanted to do |
After that, we take the ferry from Picton to Wellington. We've heard it's one of the most beautiful ferry crossings in the world - and we've heard it can be one of the roughest. So we'll hope for good weather. After a night in Wellington, we drive to Napier, via some vineyards. After some more sampling of Hawkes Bay wines, we drive (next day, when we're sober!) to Lake Taupo, to see some falls and maybe take a bottle of wine for a walk.
 |
| Huka Falls |
We'll spend the night with children's writer Susan Brocker, before heading through Auckland to stay a night near Puhoi. Then we'll head north, visiting Waipoua Forest, to see some of these:
| The mighty kauri trees, inspiration for a forest from a YA fantasy novel I'm writing |
We have a night in Ahipara, from where we can have a long at 90 miles of beach. Then we drive to Auckland via the Bay of Islands. There we meet up with Puneet Dhall to talk about this:
And that is the end (nearly) of the New Zealand bit. It's been exhausting writing all this and I'm doing that sitting down at my desk. Still, we will then have a wonderful four days of rest in the Cook Islands.
Click here to rest your eyes in the Cook Islands
And here's some more cake:
Rosie's chocolate Amaretti cheesecake
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