Tension mounts

The cases are packed, the creams, sprays and documents are sorted - all that is left is to travel to Manchester on Saturday for our 8pm flight to Dubai, then on via a short stop in Australia to Auckland. For both of us this is a very different holiday from anything we have done in the past 40 years. Normally we have travelled on either two, three or four wheels to many parts of Europe although we have both ventured to the USA through work and in the winter 2012 we tested the waters with a weeks holiday in Malta.

 

We are however going to be free agents in New Zealand, we have a route organised and all accomodation from tiny seaside villas to nice hotels all arranged in advance. We pick up a self drive hire car in the south island so in some ways it's not so different to our years touring mainland Europe. Through the wonders of the internet we have researched everything from shopping to restaurants, insects to walking routes and most things in between.

 

New Zealand is 13 hours ahead of the UK so I can only presume we will have some confusion in the sleeping department for a few days. Fortunately we are in Auckland for 3 nights so that should be sufficient to settle down after the long flight.

 

 

Dates	Location
9th -11th	Fly from Manchester
11th – 13th Feb	Auckland then train down the North island to:
14th – 15th	Wellington then boat to Picton on the south island, pick up hire car and drive to:
16th – 18th	Golden Bay - north of south island then drive to:
19th	Punakaiki then drive to:
20th – 21st	Fox Glacier then drive to:
22nd – 24th	Queenstown where we have booked to attend a live outdoor concert with bands and singers from the 70's & 80's.
25th – 27th	Te Anau - Lord of the Rings country then drive to:
28th – 1st March	Lake Tekapo
2nd – 3rd	Kaikoura for whale watching - we hope they turn up!
4th March – 5th	Fly back

We hope to post blogs along the way and invite you to join us on our journey - feel free to post comments too!