Before I continue with some stories and pictures from the South Island, here’s something I forgot about flying on New Zealand Air. On the video menu were a few short videos about driving in New Zealand – typically, stuff like driving on the left, giving way on one-lane bridges, allowing longer for your journey because … Read more
I’m going to take a slight detour from the usual topics of this site to talk about my recent New Zealand and California trip. After all it was pretty much all I was thinking about for three weeks! If you just came here to read about obscure 1970s artists you’re welcome and there’s lots of … Read more
Farewells to N and E and and a four-hour flight to Brisbane. Met by Madame’s aunt (actually only a couple of years older than her) Liz and her friend Marie. Sky overcast. They’ve had a heatwave that’s been pretty unbearable. Well, it’s over now, we thought, and it was. I have a quick drink at … Read more
Last day in NZ. Back to Te Papa with Madame and Pestilence, then we went our separate ways in the shopping streets. I got a half hour internet time in a cafe, then eventually found the book I’d been searching for after a recommendation, The Years of Rice and Salt, an alternative history of the … Read more
Long drive to Waitomo Caves, but what an experience when we get there! Down long staircases into the vault-like caves, then a boat through a pitch black chamber (steered by the guide standing and gently moving hand by hand along cables, to remove the need for light and to ensure silent movement) into a cathedral-high … Read more
Before leaving Taupo Pest and I took a trip on the Huka Jet, a speedboat that spins around the river by the Huka Falls. A real thrill, enhanced by the deadpan driver/pilot/skipper/whatever ‘Somewhere about here, if you look down, you might just see some bits of the first Huka Jet.’ Then a drive to Rotorua, … Read more