New Dubai

As the metro doesn’t run until 1pm on Fridays, we caught two buses to Umm Suqein Beach, where we swam in the warm waters next to the Burj Al Arab (a famous hotel in Dubai). We then walked down to Madinat Jumeirah, a collection of shops, hotels and restaurants that have been built in the…

Read More

Old Dubai

The flight from Auckland to Dubai took about 20 hours, which meant we were able to get some sleep and also enjoy the great movies selection, food and service. Having last flown on budget airlines we were amazed to discover free toothbrushes, blankets, eye masks, drinks etc. It won’t stop us travelling on budget airlines…

Read More

Kaiteriteri-Picton

We had a great few days in Kaiteriteri. We decided to spend some time relaxing on the beach and reading, and then spent some time exploring Motueka. The rains came down and left huge puddles all through the campgrounds, but our tent stayed dry. It meant that we did some exploring of craft shops and…

Read More

West Coast

We drove from Fox Glacier to Westport, stopping for lunch at Hokitika. The west coast put on a stunning day weather wise for us – none of the famous rain in sight.  On Hokitika beach people had been really creative and made all kinds of driftwood sculptures – my favourite was the horse.  We went…

Read More

Fox and Franz Glaciers

We headed to Fox Glacier over the Haast Pass and did a couple of small walks on the way, including to the Blue Pools. When we got to Fox Glacier, we walked to the Glacier face and had a great clear view of the Glacier. We drove out to Gillespies Beach, and were lucky to…

Read More

Queenstown to Wanaka

One of the highlights of our time in Queenstown was taking the gondola up behind Queenstown in the late afternoon. The Remarkables were nearly clear, and while we were up there we went luging. Luging is incredible fun – a lot like sledding but on a concrete surface. Reuben managed to beat me down the…

Read More

Milford Sound and Queenstown

We drove to Te Anau via Gore so we could see friends, and then set up camp at the Totara campsite in the Eglinton Valley on the road to Milford Sound.  We had almost the whole camp to ourselves, and it was nice not having the whole 2 hour drive from Te Anau to Milford….

Read More

Dunedin

We had four nights staying with friends in Mosgiel, just outside of Dunedin.  I had lived in Dunedin when I was little, so I was keen to revisit some places as well as see some new things. As well as catching up with friends, some of our highlights were: Walking up Baldwin St, the steepest…

Read More

Tekapo-Mt Cook-Twizel

  We spent two days in Twizel, located south of Geraldine.  On the way we stopped in Tekapo, seeing the Church of the Good Shepherd and the famous dog statue. We based ourselves in Twizel, and on the day of our 2nd wedding anniversary went to Aoraki Mt Cook for the day and did a lovely…

Read More