Our lodge owns a secret penguin breeding area that is closely guarded from the public. Protection of these birds includes keeping the area free of dogs, rats and stoats to limit predation. Due to the mild human caretaking this rookery has grown from 30 breeding pairs to over 100 in the last 30 years. Meanwhile…

We completed the drive through Arthur’s Pass today, heading to the west coast with plans to stop several times. Our first surprise stop was about 1km down the road. The Bealey River Bridge was having some work done and closed to traffic for about half an hour. There are tons of one-lane bridges out here…

At breakfast this morning our B&B hosts invited us to watch the rugby World Cup game between the New Zealand All Blacks and the South Africa Springboks. Alas, after a nail-biting match, the All Blacks lost by one point. We think all of New Zealand is grieving today. After the devastating loss, we set out…

Punting on the Avon River is a popular tourist activity in Christchurch. We had booked a ride Tuesday afternoon but the high winds forced them to close for the day. We managed to rebook for early this morning so we could still squeeze it in. Our punter took us about 20 minutes up the Avon…

We were caught off guard this morning by cool temperatures and rain that quickly turned into snow. So we bundled up in all our merino wool layers and headed out. We drove about an hour north of Christchurch to the Canterbury wine region in Waipara to visit two wineries. At Terrace Edge winery, a small…

Today we explored Christchurch. We got a day pass to ride the 1900’s vintage sight-seeing trams that run through the Central Business District making 18 stops on their figure-eight route. Each driver offered up a running commentary about local sites often with some humor added. Our first stop was Victoria Square. New Regent Street is…

Unfortunately, air travel is often still a messy experience. We have done tons flights and have learned never to trust that things will just go as planned. When Air New Zealand moved our flight back a day it meant we couldn’t check into our Auckland-Christchurch leg on the day we left Vancouver. When we weren’t…

We enjoyed our overnight flight from Vancouver into Auckland although Air New Zealand’s business class seats are a little odd. They fold into beds but are kind of narrow and don’t face the windows. It felt a bit like sitting sideways on a bus! Still that’s way better than the usual economy seats so we…

“Kia Ora” – a Maori greeting meaning “be well and healthy”. After 3 years of cancellations and changes due to CoVid restrictions, we are finally on our way to New Zealand!! Our original trip slated for October of 2020 was going to take us to the North Island but in February 2023, just as we…