Visitors - January '05

Part of the reason we haven't written much recently is that since we returned from Abel Tasman, we've had a succession of visitors coming to check out the Dunedin summer.

First off were Kieran's parent's, Aidan and Jacqui, who came to walk the Milford track and came to stay for a few days afterwards. We picked them up from the airport in Christchurch when they arrived and drove them down to Queenstown where they'd be joining their guides for the walk. On the way down we stopped at Peel Forest (near Geraldine) for a few quick wanders through the forest.






After Aidan and Jacqui had done the Milford track we met them at the sound for a boat cruise, before we headed south for a two day wander through Southland.










Yes, it was a touch windy that day.


The glacial cirque below the Homer Tunnel turned into a series of waterfalls as the rain started to fall.

Down in Southland we stayed overnight in Bluff, the southernmost town in New Zealand. It's a dump, but we found the one good place in town to stay and had a fabulous seafood meal. The next morning we checked out the Invercargill Museum (absolutely first class), then went to the southernmost point in NZ - Slope Point - then drove back along the Catlins Coast to Dunedin.


Kieran and Rochelle at Slope Point.

Our next set of visitors were Christian and Alice, who were cycle-touring round NZ looking for jobs and/or a nice place to live. Amazingly, Dunedin turned on some summer weather, giving them a pleasant, but totally distorted view of the city.


Chris and Alice at the Taiaroa Head Seal Colony - about a 1 hour ride from our house.



Oh, and Rochelle's been racing in the Macandrew Bay Boat Club Wednesday evening regattas held out the front of our house.



So what's next? Well, maybe a weekend hiking with Dan somewhere in the southern half of the island, then a trip up to ChCh to watch Australia thrash New Zealand in the one-day cricket. After that, maybe the NZ rogaine championships. Oh, and mixed in with all of this is more sailing, lunchtime swimming at the fabulous Moana Pool, summer evening orienteering, gardening and cycling. Roll on summer.