Australia - Sydney

After a 2 1/2 hour flight we were 3 hours younger and in Sydney! Our apartment is lovely and right by central Station so very handy for town. On our first day we went our separate ways, Denise to the art galleries, me sight seeing - although I did accidently buy a very expensive crystal opal and white gold ring. I couldn't help it - mum made me do it!

 Needless to say I encountered some birds on my travels

What a racket this Magpie makes!

Yesterday we went to Manly beach by boat for some R&R - it was lovely just to spend the day relaxing and reading

South Island - Part three

The next section of our journey was to Te Anau. We stopped off at Cromwell to see the remains of the old town which was flooded by the creation of a dam

We then went on to see 'Roaring Meg' (any similarities Megan?)

This one isn't a Meg!

At Te Anau we stayed at a motel that overlooked the lake - it was lovely

The next morning we were up before the sparrows had a chance to fart as we were going on a big trip to the glow worm caves and Milford Sound

As you can see I encountered more birds and I knew what they were - SWANS!!!

(it's a joke by the way)

Our visit to the caves will remain a mystery as we were not allowed to take photos although I did manage to sneak one picture inside - the caves were full of fast flowing water and we were walking on platforms above it

A view of the lake from the boat - stunning

From there we drove to Milford sound via a wood where we had a walk and I saw some birds - I bet you were wondering when that was coming!

We also stopped off at Mirror Lake - how happy was Wendy, after the disappointment of Lake Matheson, we found a beauty!

Milford Sound was magnificent

The snow was discoloured from the smoke from

the bushfires in Australia coming over to New Zealand

On the way home we had to stop at some roadworks and look what sauntered down the road - they have become endangered now so I was ecstatic to actually see a Kea

I am now in Queenstown where I am having a lovely time with my nephew and godson Joseph. I use the term loosely as since we have met up he has got me quite drunk (that was last night) and then kindly took me on 'walk' up a mountain to see a view of the town this morning - I now have legs that feel like jelly and I'm sure they will be even worse by tomorrow, thank god I am on a plane to Sidney and don't need them much!

The 'hill' we climbed

Oh! and I forgot to say that before we went out on the lash last night Denise and I went on a jet boat on the Shotover river - yikes!!!!!!!!!! front row seats too, god knows when I'm going to grow up..................

Now that we are leaving New Zealand I can say I truly enjoyed it, seeing the beautiful varied scenery and meeting up with friends. I have to say though, despite the abundance of clean public toilets - who thought it was a good idea to make them unisex? Please allow us girls a dry toilet seat and floor in front of the bowl!!

South Island - Part two

 We woke up next morning extremely optimistic - Denise had booked a helicopter ride at 9 am (see her facebook page) and it was sunny - hoorah!

Our accomodation

Franz Josef Glacier

Interesting moss

There is a bird in here somewhere!

We couldn't get near to see the Fox Glacier so we drove on to Lake Matheson to see the famous reflection in the water that Wendy has always wanted to see and to get a view of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman

Above is what Wendy wanted to see - below is what we got!

Our view of the 2 mountains wasn't brilliant either - but I did like the idea of the frame

Afterwards we drove to Haast where we tried the well known delicacy - whitebait patties which sent me into a bit of a frenzy as they looked like worms. I shut my eyes, dug deep and chewed quickly!
So I've done that, got the tee shirt and will never do it again!

I did get some nice pictures of birds though - in fact some of my best of the Tui

We drove on to Wanaka where we stayed the night - it was a lovely town on a lake

I found this bird in a nest above a restaurant

The next day we drove to Mount Cook, the journey was spectacular and we had lunch at the Hermitage Hotel and Sir Edmund Hillary Centre

I would like to say that I took this photo but I didn't! but I did take this video below