walks on the beach, best waterfall and great lamb

Margaret here: Today we started with coffee and a walk on the beach just outside our hostel. Awesome but no sea lions this a.m. Saw a few yesterday though. We then ventured to some ocean caves to view at low tide and they were pretty nifty aside from the booter I got. We then hiked to majestic Mclean Falls which were worth the hike. Of course we were a bit peckish following all that and went to Whistling Frog a cafe/bar in the middle of the Catlins and had the best lamb sandwich ever. The lamb comes from the cafe owners farm. Then to burn some of that off we walked for 2 hours on Tautuku Beach and saw no one. Unbelievable. We are back now at our very crowded hostel and head to Invercargill and points west from there. Not sure where we'll be tommorow evening but probably out of the Catlins which have been stunning.

I can't say enough about the cheese, lamb, wine and beer here. M

Error Correction

We had two posting disappear into the ether. It seems we posted comments to our previous postings...here they are. B/M

January21/09 We are sitting in the Sydney airport awaiting our flight to Auckland. It is 5 p.m here and 12 midnight Wpg time so we are a bit zonked -travelling since 7 pm last night!. I think our flight is about 4 hours so we will be ready for a real bed tonight. We had an absolutely superb flight from Vancouver to Sydney. Upon boarding executive class, we took a few moments to figure out those wonderful seats (pods) that actualy recline into a bed as well as many other positions and actually provide a back massage. Shortly after we had a wonderful menu option meal complete with assorted wines and then I fell promptly asleep. Bob watched a movie and then slept about 5 hours and I slept approx 6 -7 hours. You actually wake up feeling quite refreshed and then have to amuse youarself for the remainder of the 14 hour flight. The pleasure of actually having a bed to lay down on really made the flight enjoyable. I realized that using the credit card over the years has paid off in the number of points to fly executive class.We were met by old friends in Sydney and spent a grand day with them walking, having coffee,and a fish and chip lunch at an outdoor cafe with panoramic view of Sydney harbour with sailboats and ferries; and then catching furthur amazing views of downtown before coming back to the airport. Slightly sunburned!

January 23, 2009 12:01 PM
Bob and Margaret said...
January 25, 009 we have been enjoying Christchurch and surroundings. Went to the buskers festival here two days ago. Unbelievable performances. Great beer and wine to be sampled all over NZ. Auckland was a bit tiring the first day as we had not caught up on our sleep but when we did we strolled around and saw Leonard on Thursday evening. Unbelievable performer and he was on stage for 2 /3/4 hours. Went to Akaroa yesterday on some hairy roads but it was worth the trip although the relationship suffered a bit. We had some fish and chips and found the place as beautiful as last time but more touristy. Venturing furthur south tommorow. I'm trying to attach some pictures but lost my whole entry last time so will give that a go for now. Back out to see buskers. Margaret

Oamaru to Catlins

We spent two days in Old Bones Backpackers' hostel at Oamaru. Several Km out of town on the beachfront road, overlooking the Pacific. Harry Wright and DeeDee Rizzo were there too, and it was good to catch up. We ate and drank like royalty, then drove yesterday to Surat Bay Backpackers' hostel south of Dunedin. Today we drove to local hikes to waterfalls, drop-dead gorgeous beaches and lovely pastoral views. We saw more sheep than you can imagine, including a huge pack of them being moved down the road by several dogs. It drizzled a bit, but we noted that we didn't have to shovel it...wonderful! Oh, and the colours were so saturated - really! More of the same tomorrow, including a beach-walk to check out sea lions, some sea-caves accessible only at low tide. Next day we move along the Scenic Southern Route past Invercargill, on the way to Te Anau where we will be for a week or so, including our Kepler Track hike.

We've been driving on the wrong side of the road with reasonable success, no collisions, shaking fists, quaking NZers. Wish us continued luck.

Bye for now; B&M

Happy 2009

Hi everyone: We are getting our blog together and wanted to share a photo of Rocket being left at the Munro's at xmas. He really isn't troubled at all so the NZ absence shouldn't be too painful. We are quite excited about the discovery of posting photos on our site so you can expect more of that.

Our travel agent Brigetta has made some changes to our flights but the great news is that we get to get those sleeper pods from Vancouver to Sydney , Australia. Now that we are into jan 2009 we are very excited. More soon.