Apr 8, 2012 - Timaru

Hi all, Esater Sunday. Do you remember the days you could't get a drink on an Easter Sunday? No neither can I, if you answered yes you must be old hehe. Every pub we went into we were told we must eat if we are going to drink. We had just eaten and were not going to pig out for just a couple of beers. Now NZ strictly enforces Good Friday and Easter Sunday No Trading Laws, this was very strange to a couple heretics from England. Walking around a town that was completly closed down on a sunny day (eateries excluded) was like something from...

Mar 2, 2011 - Timaru

We are having to learn a new language – KIWI! They don’t half speak funny over here & we are having to interpret what they are saying. The main difference between Kiwi & English is their use of the vowels, especially “e”. They pronounce an “e” & sometimes “a” as “i”. For instance we went to a supermarket yesterday to stock up our campervan with food & drink. Viv was trying to find the breakfast cereals & asked a young employee where she could find them. The answer came back “Oil Tin”. “Pardon”, says Viv. “Oil Tin madam”, he says again....

Dec 14, 2009 - Timaru

We continued down from Hamner Springs to Timaru to stay with my friend Cerys and her boyfriend Blair. We had a crazy golf competition which involved drinking forfeits for the losers, we visited Lake Tekapo and we drunk lots of wine on their lovely sunny deck!

Feb 8, 2009 - Week 31 – Week ending 8 February 2009 – South Island, New Zealand

On Monday we are awake before 8am so we haven’t had enough sleep at all. I am tired again as soon as I get out of bed. We watch a bit of the news and have a coffee before checking out and going to Bunny Lodge to collect Logan and Poppy. The EFTPOS machine at Bunny Lodge isn’t co-operating so we have a bit of a wait before they bring out Logan and Poppy. When they finally come out I don’t know who is happiest to be seeing each other. They are so excited and we are quickly back in the car and we are off to pick up the caravan. Poppy has lost...

Feb 1, 2009 - Week 30 – Week ending 1 February 2009 – Mackay, Australia

I am up early on Monday morning as it is my 40th Birthday and Australia Day. I can not believe that I have turned 40. It seems so old. Gary has given me a gift voucher for a hot air balloon ride that I will use in NZ. Mum, my Aunty and Julie gave me jewellery that matches together. We went around to Julie and Lukes place and they had put on a cooked breakfast for us. It was yummy. We all ended up in Lucy’s wading pool and cooled off. Greg, Joan, Matty and Chris came over for a visit and we played bocce in the yard. Gary and Luke spent the...

Jan 25, 2009 - Week 29 – Week ending 25 January 2009 – South Island, New Zealand and Mackay, Australia

Monday is a sunny but cool day. We lazed around in bed until after 9am before getting out and having breakfast. We have a heap of running around to do so we leave Logan and Poppy in the van and get going. We went to the Jayco Caravan Dealer here as the van is getting its first service and they are storing it for us while we are away. We ended up chatting to the owner for a while and we had a look through some of the vans he is selling. Prices in Australia are so much cheaper than over here. Next we went into Riccarton to Westfield to sort...

Jan 18, 2009 - Week 28 – Week ending 18 January 2009 – South Island, New Zealand

It’s Monday, a fine, sunny, warm day and our second last day of work! There are only four of us working, Gary is working Riena and I am working with Mel. It is a crazy busy day. We end up working until about 4.30pm. I went over to make a booking for some beauty work in the Day Spa tomorrow. We returned our “Exit Interview” paper work to the office and Gary and I headed into town to return our DVD’s and drop into Tango’s to say goodbye to Erico. Erico is so busy with stacks of customers buying ice cream and we don’t get a chance to say...

Feb 13, 2008 - Timaru to Mt Cook Village South Island 5th to 7th Feb 2008

Sylvia's Comments. This morning we woke to a nice sunny day with a few clouds in the sky. We cannot complain as the country is experiencing a drought and badly needs rain. We have just had the announcement from the weather men that January was the hottest one ever recorded in NZ South Island. We seem to keep hitting these records as when in Queensland, Australia, we experienced the coldest, wettest June ever recorded. We also had a van full of wet washing to sort out and this was kindly dried by the manager from the site, who informed us,...

Jan 26, 2008 - סיכום שבוע ראשון - בן

הגיע תורי לכתוב משהו. אחרי שבוע בטיול ולאחר שבועות של תאומים מול כל מיני גורמים גם בחו"ל וגם כאלה הכרוכים בסגירת הבית וניתוקו למספר חודשים ולאחר שהיינו עסוקים בהתארגנות מקומית לרבות טלפון, חשבון בנק, העברת והחלפת כספים, התארגנות בקראוון וכו' - יש כבר איזה פרספקטיבה ובעיקר רגע פנוי להתרכז במשימת הכתיבה. ובכן אנו באיזו עיירה קטנה שקשה להגות את שמה (להפתעתי חלק גדול מהמקומות נשמרו כנראה עם שמות ברוח הילידים המקומיים) שנמצאת כמאתיים קילומטר ממקום גדול ומוכר כבר בוודאי לכולכם בשם קרייסטצ'ורצ' - כמעט בסוף העולם. השמש עדיין לא שקעה (עתה קרוב לעשר...

Jun 25, 2007 - Timaru stopoff then to Christchurch

Luckily the snow held off, but the roads were awful on the steep sections out of Dunedin. We drove for a long time, stopping for lunch in Timaru. We had also managed to arrange a sale for our camping equipment by putting up a note in the supermarket in Ashburton. So on our way through we stopped off at the girls work to do the exchange. She had bought our 2 tents, cooking gear and loads of other bits and pieces for $150, she was really nice and excited about using it, so we were really pleased to sell it to her. We then drove on up to...

May 4, 2007 - Rangitata

The Kiwi bus left early from Queenstown on the 3rd and headed towards Christchurch, over 500km away! On route we stopped at Lake Pukaki for views of the lake and also Mount Cook in the distance, the highest mountain in New Zealand. At lunch we stopped at Lake Tekapu, where there were amazing views as well as a tiny church, yet it's the most visited church in New Zealand!! There is no stained glass window in it as it was decided that nothing could be as beautiful as the views of the mountains and the lake. There is also a statue of a sheep...

Dec 31, 2006 - Pictures and thoughts

It's all nearly over. I'm back in Christchurch, a bit like Townsville really, uni students, mainly flat with a couple of hills and about the same size (but colder). Last night was at Timaru. I'll put a few more photos up for those who are looking. Overall the places we got to were where very few other people will ever go, and we had so much freedom to suck up teh surrounds on the sub antarctic islands and around the Mawson's hut site. The gang on board the boat, the tour organisers and chefs being Kiwi, Ozzy and German, and the Russian crew...