Happy New Year!

To be honest, new year's eve was a bit of a non event. Everyone was tucked up in their bed. The next day we made the long drive to Makarora. En route we stopped at the Franz Josef glacier. Impressive and impressively touristy. Almost exactly at midnight (central European time) we took this picture.

We wish all our friends and family all over the world a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

A rainy New Year's Eve

The last day on 2017 and it rained constantly. We found refuge in a charming little cinema. It was packed: all fifteen seats were filled!

The film, Ferdinand the Bull, was very cute.

Hokitika

Saturday 30 December and we had a relatively relaxing day after the driving yesterday. So instead of visiting Punakaiki and the Pancake rocks we headed inland towards Hokitika Gorge, crossing the Swing bridge there. Then we went around isolated Lake Kaniere , stopped at the spectacular Dorothy falls and finally headed into Hokitika for some ice creams, yum!  So all in all: a day on which the kids had a lot of opportunity to throw rocks into water...😋

Traveling from Richmond to Awatuna

Friday 29 December and a traveling day: about four hours from Richmond near Nelson to our next temporary home, Mont's Cottage in Awatuna. On the way we stopped to visit a seal colony. Check out the beaches and remember it's high season! Incredible!

Pelorus Bridge: waterfalls and one cold river

Thursday 28 December and we visited the Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve. After an hour's walk through a dense forest we found the two waterfalls. They were no more than trickles as they haven't had much rain recently.

After hiking back we went for a dip in the beautifully clear but very cold river.

Kaiteriteri: sun, sand and factor 50

Kaiteriteri is a lovely little beach resort with golden sands and clear water. After splashing around in the sea, we went on a short walk to capture this view.

You really have to be careful of the sun out here. Our lilly white European skins would frazzle in a minute without the factor 50.

Merry Christmas everyone!

We had a wonderful relaxing day in Te Kauwhata with Esther, Rodney, Colin, Corina, Phia, Sally and Dough. And Lizzie the dog of course. Opened presents, played on the Wii, went to the playground and enjoyed a lovely meal!

And: Oma Phia had all her four grandchildren in one place around her!