And so it begins :0)

Another stamp for the collection!

We visited three conservatories:

Floral Fantasy

Had a 4D vibrating bottom experience - note to self- never leave your feet on the foot rest!

Stopped for a quick bit of lunch in CBD after finding a small piece of home

Then we went to the Cloud Forest

Followed by down the rabbit hole at the \240Flower Dome

Then over to MacRitchie Reservoir for animal overload- macaques , monitor lizards, little lizards, and kingfishers around beautiful surrounds

Then home before an evening out drinking champagne and Singapore slings

We spent a lot of time looking for crocodiles

But instead mainly saw lots of birds, including kingfishers, crabs, a terrapin, monitor lizards, mud skippers and bats

With our guide Tom we saw

White bellied sea eagle

Clouded monitor lizard

Boar

Brahminy Kite

Long Tailed Macaque

White bellied sea eagle

Hornbills

As well as experiencing our first biking in the torrential rain experience and our first bikejack experience

The walk started at Kent Ridge Park - or for us the construction site we got ushered away from because the start slightly wrong 🤣

Follow the yellow brick road! Kent ridge park had lots of stairs that made us think Macchu

Beautiful trees

There was a gorgeous canopy walk

And heart shapes ivy

From Kent Ridge Park we found Hort Park

With a beautiful centre and lots of allotments

From here we cross Alexandra Arch leading into Telok Blangah Hill Park

Here there was a beautiful hill top walk

Leading us to Henderson waves

Which finally took us to Mount Faber with the Happy Steps

And the Bell of Happiness

After walking back through the Marang trail and back to the hotel it was off to the airport for our night flight to Brisbane!

Happy to have made it to Cairns

Our hotel was the Holiday Inn right on the Esplanade with a great ocean view and boardwalk

We went to Fusion tapas bar with questionable decor

But a great choice in alcohol

And gorgeous food

We also found that Cairns is overrun by bats

Today was Quicksilver Day!

This was a massive catamaran with a fixed mooring at Agincourt outer Reef. So we had our first Great Barrier reef experience.

Whilst on the reef we went in a semi submersible and learnt a lot that we hadn't really realised. \240The first is that coral colours are best seen at night with a uv flash. So this changed our perception of the reef. \240Great amount of coram diversity but not as much marine diversity as we wanted.

Although we did see the gigantic seagull eating fish from blue planet 😱

And finished the day with the best burger in town at Cairns Burger Cafe

Hat and sunglasses buying

A nice night walk

And more bats bats bats. Which we now know are flying Fox bats that bite 😱🤣

This is our 4 day 3 night cruise with Coral Expeditions

Our journey will flex based on the weather but today we went to Sudbury Cay. This is basically a sand island.

First we had a glass bottom boat tour which showed us even more diversity of coral than before.and taught us that this time of year the coral is unlikely to bleach because it hasn't got warm enough yet

Through we saw amazing autumnal colours of yellow purple blue orange green and brown coral. Such an abundance. Spaghetti mushroom brain whip horn coral with some soft and some hard.

Followed by our snorkel we had a lovely set of drinks on the cay and during sunset. We even saw a cheeky wee couple of black tips eating a fish.

So this morning we woke up next to Dunk island after travelling there through the night.

This was what we woke up to - our vista just opposite dunk island

A fun days itinerary from a hike up Mt Kitabaloo to a snorkel on Yamacutta reef with a presentation and good food in the middle.

We took the glass bottom boat across to dunk island

We climbed all the way to the top

See termite paths

Scabs on trees and ultimately dodging the very big very scary and very low hanging spiders on route.

Well worth it for the view from the top

Back to the boat before our presentation theb snorkel on the reef

Interesting things we learned:-

- coral is more like a jellyfish than a tree

- it's an entire ecosystem with hard and soft coral

- coral actually has no colour but the algae that inhabits them does

- bleached coral isn't dead but rather stressed. So it expels the algae and put calcium carbonate on it's outer making it seem white

Not easily visible but a most gorgeous coral reef with stunning channels so many different types of coral, clown fish and a white tip shark and blue spotted ray.

We then went sborkellingnin the morning

Steve and I saw two rays

Plus clown fish

And best of all

We got the horn sounded to return to the boat. Had a mild panic this was a shark after the divers had encountered a bull shark the day before, turns out it was a reef manta ray!!!

amazing experience following it until it dove so deep we lost sight.

Back on the boat for lunch followed by an adventure snorkel. This time we saw a blacktip shark

A bat fish

And many more clown fish

Returned to the boat we saw a beautiful sunset

Followed by dinner on the Captains table (his fiance is from Bristol!!!!) and a quiz which we got hats for :0)

We woke up at Fitzroy island. There wasn't much coral here and the water was a lot less clear bit we did see

- lots of beautiful fan tailed rays

- a puffa fish

- a giant clam that had a nostril

then our day was made by

Lots of green turtles. They're green not on the outside but on the inside because of what they eat. Wed given up after seeing one until our group told us of another two just off the shore. We headed back in and found a baby followed it for ages and we're so engrossed we missed the second turtle it was approaching. They did a dance. We did a dance. And suddenly \240realised there was a black tip (apparently rarer than the white tip here) in the background.

After turtle heaven we went to the local rehabilitation centre

And met Jules. Two holes. Probably speared. In recovery but so beautiful. A true hero in a hard shell. 24 months circa to recover :0(

So alas our journey was at an end

And our group disembarked.

We had a failed attempt at a thickshake (which closed on Mondays, WHAT!!), did some laundry and generally caught up with some r and r at the hotel.

The airplane ride was super beautiful with gorgeous views across the Whitsundays

The transfer was bubbly 🤣

And on arrival we hummed and hawed about a ground or upper floor

We picked ground for our own pool access and and sun deck. Yes I did ask if I could go topless 🤣

This night we just had a couple drinks at the bar with a cheese board for dinner.

We found our way around

Got joined for breakfast by our feathered friends

Had a morning in the sun, a gym session, lunch at Aqua, more sun, more r and r and then a dinner out at Amici Trattoria.

A 2 hour trek

All around the island

Through barren and super green parts

Accompanied by:

- wallabies

- lots of skinks

- a wedge tailed eagle

- more wallabies

- an osprey

- cute green parrot bird

- a kookaburra

- a sea turtle

We then grabbed a quick breakfast before chucking on snorkel gear and snorkelling (against the current) across the bay to a paddle board. After multiple adventures with the current and wind (and a few swims for Steve #involuntary) we came back to the room via sweet potato fries.

Sun. Gym. Dinner @ Pacific.

Our route for today.

We started at Bowaraddt creek hiking up a sand dune

We found out all of this black and brown rock was actually sand

We then walked up the creek

And had a dip. This was fresh water all the way and was about 8 degrees difference in temp from the sea because of how fast moving it was

After this we went in the sea for a quick snorkel with a couple of green sea turtles and a really big flat fish (to be identified).

Next on to Awunya creek. Here we first went on a doughnut run (see go pro If it’s not broken 😂🤦🏻‍♀️😩)

Then had a kayak through a gorgeous fresh water creek again through mangrove twists and turns. And we drank the water up where the sea water doesn’t quite get. Very lushes because the sand filters it.

Then after a nice lunch we went to our final stop,Wathumba Creek. Here we started with a Kayak up the shore. We saw a massive ray, some whistling kites, pelicans and A DINGO!! ❤️

Then we walked into the camp and saw some kookaburras and ANOTHER DINGO!!!

So no whales 😩but we saw the purest form of dingo (only c250) so all good!

With fantastic views of the Botanical gardens where we have spent our day.

We decided to walk around and try and find all the points of interest from the botanicals site... if you like... a botanical hunt. Sadly no gin was harmed in the making of this story.

We found an immense number of trees we didn’t even really know.

And beautiful scenery and wildlife we didn’t expect

The aus duck (we will call it this until we learn its actual name

Bearded dragons

Massive eels

A tree snake

A very protective set of moor hens that kept attacking people to protect their babies

Some small nosey birds which we think we saw their mating dance

A beautiful blue created bird

This is us thinking we saw everything but still to check 😬

So after an quick snooze a short respite by the pool and a gym, we headed our for our paddle steamer boat cruise

Complete with an early bonfire night 😬 and some Rat Pack

And found the waves were no joke

Neither was the wind which blew us up the beach

And had retired most of the surfers 😂

From our beach we walked to main beach and went to Finn Poke - and made our own poke bowl! Was so nice. And then we decided as we weren’t busy we’d walk to the lighthouse ..

We met a bush turkey (we only know it’s called this because after passing and asking ourselves “what is this crazy bird” we then passed a guy wearing a T-shirt with one on 😂)

Saw the rough seas from on high

Found the most easterly point of Aus (note hair for wind effect)

And came across this gorgeous fella

After this we walked back to town for a froyo 😬

Past this most famous rd 😬🥰

and on to Coffs Harbour where we stopped at the Forest Sky Pier at Seally Point - a stunning viewpoint.

and then onwards to the Koala Hospital at Port Macquarie (we are now the proud adopters of Barrington Xavier who sadly will not regain his eyesight or ever leave the hospital).

But at least he has this cuddly girl next door. Tsanini.

Next we headed for Port Stephens for our next base for a few days where we hope to see the elusive whales and dolphins as well as some quad biking and a visit to Tamari National Park.

Onboard this whale watching boat...

But before we boarded we saw our first dolphin playing in the marina (see videos)....

After some very fruitful spotting of humpbacks and dolphins (tick and tick!) we walked back along the coast spotting parakeets and another kookaburra (yay!)

Took a stroll along this beach back to The Anchorage

and found this friendly fella on the breakwater (thx for the close up Mr Pelican).

and so after all this we opted for room service and a few drinks to round out an awesome day

After this we went back to Nelson Bay and found Tomaree Head Summit Walk

Got to drive across the Sydney Harbour bridge which was quite cool and because we arrived so early we went for a walk

We mapped a path of graffiti to different parks

The first park was Victoria Park

Later on our way back we saw lots of people doing really cool tight rope walking and head stands.

We found the I have a Dream memoral

And some other awesome graffiti

Then made our way to Sydney Park

After a bit of dinner at Gigi’s pizzeria it was back to the hotel for a bit of r and r.

This is the bridge we are also walking up later today. Just checking it out!...

Hilarious we didn’t actually pose for this one 😂

Mary’s secret garden started by a local rebel who took over this piece of government land in front of her house and now it’s a beautiful recognised by the government as an official park space. Well done lady!!

Meet Graham our guide and a great fun guy..

This is a wefie. A plural for selfie 😂

This superb fountain was gifted by the French for doing their fighting for them in WW1.

And these little blighters have a nasty bite! See video for the extended version of Pips feeding frenzy....

No Sydney cycle would be complete without a cycle around the famous Opera House (cue Graham’s opera mix and a bit of Andrea Bocelli when it was time to say goodbye) 😂

One for the brochure......😜

Lots of coves all the way

Some more Rocky others more beach

And on route we happened to be there when there was the Sculpture by the Sea festival

Steve worked out this one wasn’t the clock numbers

This one was called the Choir. We are still trying to work out why

This was super because when you looked through it

It had a mirror to the ocean - was so beautiful

These were little houses dotted about called “out of reach” - loved this

This was called end of an empire - was this a reference to the Trojan horse perhaps?

This was called Mad Liberty- well we can read a lot into that one!

This was called level - thank god steve remembered because I still think this is called jellyfish 😂

We also saw some really low flying airforce planes

And Steve may have forgotten sun cream 😮😂

Our day started at Jenolan Caves which really was fascinating

Good wallie opp 😂🤦🏻‍♀️ (wall/selfie- Graeme is catching)

So throughout the caves were lit at various points so we could see the spaces / sizes/ shapes

We learnt about when they were discovered and how they were formed. Essentially this was coral under the sea bed and eventually as it grew up + with tectonic movement it ended up above the ocean

Then the magnificent stalactites (hold tohh g t to the ceiling) and stalagmites (might touch the ceiling)

Where they joined they form columns (sadly not tightymighties) and this picture shows where with continual movement over many years it’s broken

And this was the blue river leading to the blue lake outside. Blue from all the minerals from the stone (limestone)

Our trip then moved to scenic world

Here they had 3 rides - one across the valley

One down into the valley

On the worlds steepest fanicular (hence my laugh #shock)

At the bottom we learnt the area was an ex coal mine

And after a wee walk where we saw some beautiful lyre birds we took the final ride back up from the rainforest by 🚡 cable car

This valley was famous for its rock formations and is aboriginal land. One of the stories about the three sisters (Above) goes that three sisters were playing on the mountain when a giant centepede was seen coming up the mountain. Scared, one sister threw a large rock at the centepede, scaring it from coming up any further. However the rock landed in the water below, waking a frightful beast, who saw the three sisters and raced up the mountain to devour them. The tribal leader, their father, seeing his daughters in imminent danger, used his magic bone stick to turn them into three rocks. The beast saw him do this and turned his attention, and attack to him. He turned and fled with the beast in pursuit. Realising he could not outrun the beast he turned himself into a kangaroo. \240He passed many community members on the way, and protecting them, turned them into rocks, bushes, trees. \240The beast, furious, raged on further. \240However, he made a fateful mistake and turned towards the water, trapping himself between the water and the oncoming beast. \240Again he turned his magic stick on himself, this time, turning himself into a Lyre bird. He flew to hide behind the waterfall and dropped his stick on the water as he escaped. He hid behind the waterfall and thought to himself he would get his stick back when it was safe. As he slipped behind the waterfall the beast caught up, just catching site of the lyres feathers disappearing behind the waterfall. He attacked the rock at the waterfall trying to scramble after the leader. For hours he tried, with no avail. Deveated and exhausted, after many hours he gave up and returned to the river to sleep... only this time.. unbeknown to him.. he slept on top of the stick. Legend says when it is safe, the leader will regain his stick and turn everyone back.

This one on the right was called the Orphan. We didn’t get as story on this sadly.

We walked into Sydney and climbed aboard a tall ship

It was belting it down with rain 😂

We did a mast climb

And actually made it to the crows nest

Then we helped set the sails

And then we steered the ship

And learnt all about how sailors use to tell depths with a lead and line. Depth is measured in fathoms. So:-

One leather

Two leather

Three leather

Four was nothing

Five was white calico

Seven was red bunting

Ten was leather with a hole

Then they would repeat

Twenty was cotton with two knots

So seemingly pip has pulled a muscle quite badly on her hip / big butt so today we chilled out packed and went to the movie to see Terminator!

Then back to chill out at the Moorings at Metung

We have decided that this experience has been on par with seeing the puffins at Lunga in Treshnish Isles. This was such a fab experience. Thy see penguins are the smallest in the world. There used to be 10 colonies dotted across Phillip Island but sadly now only one. So these guys are now heavily protected. So much so a housing estate was relocated and no photos allowed (except for the a**holes who ignored this).

Anyway, these penguins swim 10-30km out from shore to find food. They may be away from a day, a week, even a month. When they come back they hover around the ocean break until it’s dark enough.

Fortunately for us as today the weather has literally been pish, we had underground viewing tickets. This meant we were in a sheltered bunker basically at eye level with the little dudes waddling past. They came up in large groups honking, swam across a puddle and then waddled to their burrows dotted all about. After getting giddy watching them at eye level we popped outside to see them lined up in massive groups waiting to cross the puddle then walked along the path with some as they waddled on.

Amazing to hear them honk to each other and their young too. Super special. Now onwards to car drop off, and to the walk tomorrow :0)

And today it began. The Great Ocean Walk. But not before getting out of Melbourne and travelling the three hours to Apollo Bay. Via a pharmacy for Pip (yet again more ailments 🤣), a boost (hotel food not edible for Pip) and ticket collection!

Anyway after a train to Geelong it was a 2 hour coach journey to Apollo Bay.thank God the bus driver made a pee stop half way. Arrived, checked in, grabbed a bit to eat then met Mike who gave us our walking introduction.

Got a fab pack: map, guide book, decision points, tide info, plant and mammal guides. Then got dropped off at Shelly Beach whilst It was torrential rain.

We actually walked the first bit backwards today but that's our route. Tomorrow forwards to the 12 Apostles.

We have decided, that due to the epic weather predictions of constant rain we WILL enjoy this walk anyway! straight out of the van we saw three koalas up high which helped set us off in a great mood. Now let's start with some of the high lights:-

1. Donkey Bear Beast: so as we set of we heard the wierdest noise that just about freaked us both out. It was a flipping koala bellowing whilst climbing up a tree!!

2. Peeknee: we stopped for a synchronised pee... And true to form.. My sheepee skills were not 100%

3. Put your foot in it! Great effort from Steve to dodge the wet by stepping right in it 🤣

A few spats of rain as we walked but as we arrived for dinner it was torrential hail. So all in all... A successful rain dodge today.

Will tomorrow be as lucky.....

As for key wildlife spots...

Donkey Bear Beast. Mark, our drop off guide, saw the first, then Steve the 2nd and we think a third, then me Donkey Bear Beast

So the route today was 12.5km to Blanket Bay

Lots of inland walking through lots of forest that resembled walking reams of Blair Adam

But a few coastal crossings in between like this one

And lots of flipping steps steps steps

More animal spotting on the way (see below)

And lots of pole vaulting of paths. Doesnt look it from here but because of the torrential rain yesterday lots of paths were boggy. We both managed to avoid major foot submersion though. Hurrah!

And finally to Blanket Bay

So our wildlife for today included:

For donkey bear beasts

Another gorgeous fairy-wren

And we think this guy but are unsure.

Finally, the hilarity for today:

So... today’s awesome tale.

Day 2 of our self guided walking tour on the Great Ocean Road. We started the walk with another couple but swiftly went so far into the distance they were miles behind. In my true faffing form, half way through, I have an overriding urge to pee. And get food. And sort a blister. The Pippa hattrick if you will.

In true solidarity, Steve and I have taken to peeing next to each other on this walk. Me with my sheepee. Him with, well, I’ll keep this PG. Anywho, we compeeeete, (get it?! 😂🤦🏻‍♀️)Steve won, and I am still, quite literally, fannying around, as apparently it’s a long stretch of lots of little pees. (TMI?) After a few minutes of Steve standing there and me still peeing, I look up... only to see that we now have the other couple, we shall call them from henceforth, stealthy 1 and stealthy 2, about 100m and closing.

Yes, both of us, in all our games, totally forgot to man the lookout tower. 😂.

The saga continues.

Luckily (you can’t make this up) Steve had moved my chosen location (to the left of a big fallen tree, to the right, so we were sort of shielded from view. As they approached from the left) So as the last 100m closed in:-

- I shoved my sheepee at Steve and told him to hide it (no lie- he’s gold.. 😂)

- I yanked at my zip and pulled up my over trousers, and

- Steve hid my sheepee under the map and we started pretending to have a conversation about where we are and how long to go

Stealthy 1, starts to pass, until hearing our conversation, stops to talk to us about progress, forcing Steve to magic trick the sheepee out of site to show them his map.

Little did I know ..

the hiding place was in his coat pocket

😂😂😂😂

Different terrain as we are now out of the forest and out of the rain (yay!) and now walking along more of a coastal path still with lots of greenery. B.E.A.utiful...

...and now we come to the creek which, at high tide needs the sockies and shoesies removing...

...voila....

1-2-3 Aaawwwhhh xxx

Our first Echidna sighting. So they hear us coming bury their head and reckon we can't see them. Talk about hiding your head in the sand eh!.

Just wow. stunning coastline...

Ahoy there. First glimpse of the lighthouse.

Funny tourist story here. We get to the lighthouse and we're saying we're not too fussed but seeing as we have tickets included in our trek, we have a wander in and up the stairs.....only to get a bit excitable about seeing right up into the light workings and some awesome and scary views down the cliffs. Fair dinkum!

Sadly though we are now down to 3 knees but have had enough banter to fill a billabong!...

So to wrap up our nature count for the day (see bug camera for the proof.... 7 koalas, 4 black swamp Wallabies, 3 Echidnas, 1 sea eagle and of course...a partridge in a pear tree (well it's nearly I'm as so don't choke the editor!)....

Stunning unspoiled coastal views around every corner and more than you can shake your walking pole at!.

Saved this little fella from an attack of the ants. Think he was grateful....

Just wow...

The happy couple....

Well now what a birthday treat for Mrs F who wanted to see Koalas on her birthday. First of all we saw 11 today but it started with a group of 7 in one area. 1 mother with a tiny kid in her pouch, another mother with a small baby who had moved out of the pouch and was now cuddling her and then a family of 3 with the kid as below....a veritable nursery if you will..

More of that raw, rugged unlittered and inaccessible coastline...

and 7 of these blue tongues lizards to add to the stash.....

Met a couple who said we had just missed a metre long big snake (phew thank God = pip, dammit = Steve)

Near the end of our trek today we walked under these cool cliffs too...

Smile through the pain and hay fever (what a pair!)...

and of course a wee surprise birthday cake back at the ranch....

Followed by ice packs.....yes plural....3 actually. What a trooper!!. Next up some dinner and a birthday bottle of Veuve Clicquot to top it all off. Xx

And the daily nature count for today is....11 Koalas (inc 1 running / bobbing along the road), 1 wallaby, 3 Echidnas, 7 blue tongues lizards, 1 snake, 1 hairy caterpillar (saved). 1 Beatle saved (we reckon it was George and although we couldn't fully hear him it sounded like he was saying ”its been a hard days night” ” help! I need somebody”, oh and 2 black cats and lots of little skinks (think newt with an Ozzie accent).

But that didn’t hold back the smiles for too long!.

We had a really cool beach walk with crazy sand formations another overflowing creek and more running from waves chasing us along the beach...

But the afternoon was a dream with more of our hop along Aussie pals including little Joey (yay!).

and after an episode of trying to help a duck family who seemed hell bent on losing each other (grrr...) we bumped into the Trail Angel at the end of our days trek for a refill of water and a photo opp. Thanks guys!.

Then to our next home for 2 nights which was freezing (sorry about the heating bill) and a wood fire with no wood (sad face). But still a nice place and fantastic food from Chi.

Cross able creeks without taking shoes off - what a luxury!.

Stairs, stairs and more stairs. We go up and we go down and we go up and we go down....

G’day mate! Don’t mind us just a quick snap and we’ll be on our way. Amazing to see another ‘mob’ of kangaroos today - we are now well over 100 sightings and still loving it!.

Adults can stand to over 7ft tall and apparently if they wanted to box us they could kill us with a single punch......awh....but they are cute heehee

Could this be the 1st apostle.....nope it’s actually the 13th (lets call it Judas!).

Back to cold house with a bag of (wet) firewood and a failed attempt at starting a fire even when Steve offered up his right arm hair as kindling. Oops....

Walked much more along the cliffs today and the views of all the bays were stunning.

Although the walk not uneventful 😂I may have thought a spider had fallen on my head, when actually what had happened was sunglasses had fallen off of my head. Cue Steve running back about 1km to find them 😂🤦🏻‍♀️

We the thought we had made it to the 12 Apostles (the end game for our destination If you will) but couldn’t understand why there were only 2 apostles to see

Cue a bit more walking

And we actually reached where we were meant to be 😂

Beautiful stunning scenery shaped all by Mother Nature.

With a bonus pit stop once we were back in the pick up van

And now.... our legs may rest 😂😱 100kms with 10,000 feet of elevation and approx the same decline over the course of the walk. No easy walk in the park but amazing fun!.

On the way back to Apollo Bay we are chatting to our new American friends Tom and Linda (who were on our heels a few days and did the whole thing in 5 days!). We decide to go for drinks and food to celebrate our hard won victory

Our final photo from Aus. And what an adventure it has been.

And in true fashion, we leave in style.

My name is Anne, Phillipa Anne.

Or

Phillipa A according to husband here. Luckily 45 minutes and a lovely flight guy later and I am back to being allowed in Nz. 😂

Role on Nz, more adventure, sights and most importantly,incredible memories experiences and banter with my forever hubby.

What adventures do we have in store??

And arrived at our ‘Holiday’ style cottage

This place is setting up to be a good base 🥰

So, it wasn’t just Albie that made this tour rock (btw Albies purpose is he can hear high pitch frequencies to detect marine life)

Our itinerary:

And we saw

The worlds smallest and most endangered dolphin - Hectors dolphin

A white slippered blue penguin

A white capped mollymawk albatross

A brief stop to do some cow whispering resulted in everybody in the field coming for a nosey 👍

...and of course that was not enough for the finnys who also had a night excursion planned (after a pub lunch and a well earned nap!). So we went to see the blue white footed penguins in their natural habitat with Pohatu Penguins tours.

Apparently penguins make us dress up in these groovy camouflage capes in order to perform for us...hmmm...

Smile and wave boys....smile and wave....

After viewing a number of habitats and some cool binocular work to see p-p-p-packs of penguins in the bay waiting darkness to come ashore, we started to see the little fellas and fillys make it home. Yay!.

So a busy and rewarding day again in the beautiful town of Akaroa...

Today we drove from Akaroa to Lake Tekapo

And just drooled at the scenery the whole time

When we reached the banks of Lake Tekapo we were just inundated with these stunning flowers

And views of the misty mountains we were below...

Then, for the evening we took a time capsule back 100s of 1000s of lightyears ago....to galaxy's far far away....where we were beamed up to Mt Cook.

Our dark sky experience was amazing, mind-boggling and informative all mixed together.

We learned that you can't see Uranus when in the southern hemisphere 🤦‍♀️....

But more cool was that light year means the distance light can travel in a year.....and the closest start to the sun (Alpha Centauri) is a mere 140 thousand light years away. So a bit more than a hop a skip and a jump!

Also saw the Milky Way, southern cross, North Star, Beta Centauri, 2 other dwarf galaxies much further than the Milky Way and thousands upon millions of stars. Just wow.

Behold!. Finny towers...

Next stop before reaching Dunedin (twinned with Edinburgh), Moreaki boulders...

While most photos are on the big camera, here’s a list of what we saw and a few photos of the day...

Plover

Blue headed Pukecho

Pied stilts

South island pied oyster catcher

Sacred kingfisher

Paradise shelduck

White faced heron

Black swans

Australia’s Ian harrier

Little Owl

Giant Petrel

Royal Spoonbill

Sooty Shearwater

NZ Furseal

Royal Albatross

Little Shag

Sea lions

Yellow eyed penguins

Battered by winds from the South Pole

Beautiful sunset and a bit of star spotting, this place is giving us serious home build envy and ideas!

Oh I do like to be beside the sea

So after a gorgeous beach walk this morning we decided to take our travels to new heights

Literally 😂as Steve was on a part Clydesdale

And saw beautiful views across the Catlins across a 1600 acre family farm

Thanks to Angel and Kevie for a brilliant ride. They even let us wash, groom and send them off to their pals for play time

2. McLean Falls

There was so much life on life on life

And I learnt a new camera trick - queue seeing it for EVERY waterfall

3. Tautuku Estuary

In this place there were hundreds and hundreds of little crabs

4. Lake Wilkie

5. Shanks bush

Here we had so much fun

Although at signs like this I swore a LOT (and ignored 🤣)

And shall we say the video that accompanies this is gold.

We walked through this whole section. Only when we saw the signs did we realise HOW unobservant we both are 🤣

And then we played who can spot the most. Thankfully we both got more than 5

6. Picnic Point

7. Old Coach Road

There may or may not also be a video of my climbing up a steep short hill with a rope that looks fit to burst. Steve decided filming was better than saving 🤣

So with our tired feet we then returned home and enjoyed a gorgeous bath with a view

Not not of me and Steve - THE view ❤️

Matai

Horseshoe

The evening was spent in front of a lovely fire before an early night.

And then decided to head for a gorgeously big lunch at the local pub. After which we went for a number of little local walks to walk off said grub...

This was a beautiful memorial bell

A large anchor

We completed lots of walks

Wish we could remember what Steve owned up to here but we can’t remember 😂

And a beautiful Peterson Hill water wheel

Then to the main event of the day, our glowing sky’s evening kayak with Phil. We started with a safety briefing whilst being attacked by hundreds of bugs. It was a relief to get on the water 😂in a fab massive kayak with its own rudder so Steve learned to kayak with his feet :0)

We went all around Stewart islands Peterson inlet. Saw Faith Hope and Charity islands.

We saw:-

Black headed turns nesting

Baby shags and their parents in nests in the trees

Oyster catchers (bright red / orange eyes legs beak which doesn't eat oysters but eats small in vertebrates within a mussel shell by tapping on it)

Then we saw some sea tulip planimal

And are some sea kelp- it was super tasty and super nutty

And to the finale. This photo is edited hugely but the idea was what we saw. The water was red. The sky was red. It was the most magical gone in a minute sunset we’ve ever seen. Magical.

Now, since we’ve been in NZ we have learned that early settlers destroyed around 95% of the landscape by feeling what was then, an island covered in rainforest. \240Ulva, was however protected by a very clever man who had foresight of protection. It was one of the earliest protected national parks and has all primary forest on it. It is one of the best places in NZ to see birds as it is predator free and grazing animal free (with the exception of about 2 deer on average at one time as they apparently swim across)

There is one small house only on the island which belongs to the family of the man who protected the island, and actually had the first post office running out of that house :0)

Some beautiful pine trees all over

Lance wood is another native tree here. This one was broken by something but just kept on growing. These young trees are so strong.

Unlike our moss here they have umbrella moss

Spider orchids

Christmas orchids

Bracket fungi

And parrot beak orchids

We also did a couple of beautiful walks

And had great successes on the bird front:-

Kaka

Big wood pigeon

Parakeet

a waka attacked my shoe

Tui

Robin

Variable oyster catcher

Fan tails

Tom tit

South island Saddle back

Grey warbler

Bell bird

Weta (insect in hote)

Yellow head

Brown creaper.. Bd photo

Riffle man

So after a super successful morning we stopped for a lovely lunch back at Oban harbour, before returning home for a few hours. Because this evening was all about Kiwi spotting. Well and possum

But to the main event.. the South Island kiwi

Who honoured us by running across the road

Then sticking with us for 15 minutes and walking right up to our shoes.

Sp kiwis. Very bad eyesight. Nostrils at the end of their beaks. 1/3 of their body weight is in their very thick legs. They are flightless birds.

Here we met Holly the dog ❤️ as the wind and rain howled around outside

And watched our first Christmas movie (the Christmas Chronicles)

Holidays are coming....holidays are coming 😬

And the festivities continue into the 2nd day of 🎄

We passed by a few lakes eg Lake Mistletoe ( how festive)!...

and for the budding Hobbits we passed this spot used in the film where the hobbits crossed the little stream

A beautiful little stop at this lake and boardwalk.

And then continuing to our boat pickup point through some amazing Fiordland scenery

This is the NZ Kea that kindly posed for a few photos. And clearly followed the road sign! Very well behaved!..

And now for our cruise around Milford Sound. Truly amazing and inspiring scenes

Here we have the first of our tripartite wildlife spots. The bottle owes dolphin. We also saw Fiordland Crested Penguins and NZ Fur Seals to top off some top nature spots.

Yay then there were two elves!...

Next activity is a trek to Key Summit. 919 metres asl. Took us 2 hours instead of the allotted 2.5 AND we also squeezed the extra 30 min walk to Marian Viewpoint. Good to stretch the legs and see some of the peaks more closely.

and then back home for a takeaway Indian, bottle of bubbly and another Christmas movie. Holly (pictured) is our new friend as is the 1 day old lamb we meet a little later in the evening.

Great day.

Then driving through the Wilmot Pass...

And on to a very wet very murky moody doubtful.

Where we saw New Zealand fur seals, fjordland crested penguins and lots and lots of waterfalls (most of them temporary because of the perpetual rain)

Of course we were festive.

So we couldnt get into deer park heights as it’s private land and shut to tourists after tourists do what they do best, start to ruin it 🤦🏻‍♀️

This was our little lunch stop. Unfortunately we couldn’t get into the woods where filming was done due to flooding but we still dressed up and had a laugh.

Really made us appreciate how much CGI went into LOTR

All the 4WD were names and we quite liked our second half of the day name 😬although might we mention that the driver , wow, talk about a bumpy crazy rollercoaster!!!

This was perhaps one of the coolest stops. Here the pillars of the kings were built. The kings represented the ancestors (father and grandfather ) of Aragorn. And what was a b cool and sweet touch is that apparently Peter Jackson got in touch with Vigo Ms wife and the faces resensible his Dad and Grandfather.

I think we realised at this point our driver should not have a license. However it was my favourite spot of the tour with Arwyns beach. “If you want him, come and claim him”

Our final bit of the tour wasn’t LOTR related but went into Skippers Canyon where they filmed the Iraq helicopter scenes for MI6.

We just saw a gorilla 😂

Gorgeous scenery!