Our together adventure

April - June 2018

Steve, Maree and Ben Read more

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- Apr 27, 2018, 10:01am
- ☀️ 16 °C
- Altitude: 22 m
- Australia Tasmania Shag Lagoon Conservation Area -40.15703, 148.1891840°9’25” S 148°11’21” E
Day 1
Bye Flinders, see you in 2 months
April 27, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
We're off! On our together adventure. First stop - Melbourne.
When we get into Essendon we see a few other Island jetsetters returning home.
Check in at Park Royal hotel at Tullamarine and chill for a few hours before pizza and footy at Jimmy's placeRead more
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- Apr 28, 2018, 7:05am
- ⛅ 7 °C
- Altitude: 116 m
- Australia Victoria Hume Tullamarine Airport -37.66906, 144.8475937°40’9” S 144°50’51” E
Day 2
Kia Ora Kiwi-land
April 28, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C
Second stop- New Zealand
Up fairly early to get the 9.10 am flight to Queenstown with Air New Zealand. We meet Brent, a bloke from Victoria who is going on the hunt with Steve and Chris. It's a good flight but cloudy when we come in so the landing up the Lake in Queenstown isn't as spectacular is it could be but OK. When we get to customs, we get held up as a biosecurity bloke thinks Steve's antlers he's brought over to give to Casey aren't cleaned well enough and they need to be irradiated etc in Auckland. It takes a while to get sorted but in the end Steve has to leave them there.
We get our hire car and drive to Hawea Flats via "the long way" because the Crown Range Road is closed due to snow and rain. We go via Cromwell, wet and cloudy and cold. No shops are open at Cromwell on a Saturday afternoon so we get a pie at the servo.

We get to Our destination - Lake Hawea Hunting Safaris NZ. Run by a now good friend of Steve's Chris McCarthy. Casey from Colorado, a guide is also there to meet us as well as Chris' wife Bronwyn and girls, Gretchen, Emily, Lilly and baby Lucy.
When we have tea, Chris' cousin Nikki and her hubbie, Graeme and son Max join us. A lovely night.Read more
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- Apr 29, 2018, 9:43pm
- 🌙 5 °C
- Altitude: 347 m
- New Zealand Otago Queenstown-Lakes District Hawea Flat -44.66006, 169.3028744°39’36” S 169°18’10” E
Day 3
Exploring Lake Hawea, Wanaka, Cardrona
April 29, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 5 °C
Today the men pack up and get ready for their early morning start tomorrow in the helicopter to get them up past the Fox glacier area to hunt. Brrr.
Around lunch time Steve and I had off for a drive around beautiful Lake Hawea, Wanaka and Cardrona. On the way to Cardrona is a fence full of bras called BRAdrona - a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness. Bronwyn says it's been there for at least 15 years. We then keep going to Cardrona Hotel, an old done up pub, restaurant and coffee house. Very lovely, open fires, dark, lots of knick knacks everywhere and money stuck to the ceiling, pasted up by tourists.
Home again to a warm house and another lovely tea.Read more
Looks like your having a great Holiday Maree & Steve
5/1/18Reply
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- Apr 30, 2018, 6:52pm
- 🌙 7 °C
- Altitude: 675 m
- New Zealand Otago Queenstown-Lakes District Arrowtown -44.93324, 168.8114344°55’60” S 168°48’41” E
Day 4
Separate adventures for 5 days
April 30, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 7 °C
The weather has improved! Today Steve and the boys go off on their hunt. Bill is another bloke going with them who turned up through the night or early morning.
I leave home about 9 am and drive to Arrowtown via the Crown Range Road, it is open today. At the Cardrona Hotel I stop in again for a coffee and monster cheese scone - yum. Then onwards and upwards and then downwards along the Crown Ridge. This is a very spectacular drive, especially now as the autumn leaves and light make the snow caps and blue sky so vivid.
I stop into Arrowtown as Steve said it's worth a look. It is - pretty little town with 1 street full of shops and cafes done up from the 1800's. After there I head down to Invercargill via the Southern Scenic Route via pretty Lake Hayes, Kingston, Lumsden and Winton. I don't need to go into Queenstown but have a remarkable view of The Remarkables. The section down to Winton is another winding, hilly road following Lake Wakatipu, very pretty. After that it becomes flat farm land.
I'm a bit early for my accomodation so drive through Invercargill down to Bluff and check out Stirling PointRead more
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- Apr 30, 2018, 7:12pm
- ☁️ 15 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- New Zealand Southland Invercargill City East End Stirling Point -46.61632, 168.3545746°36’59” S 168°21’16” E
Day 4
Clever loo
April 30, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
Of all the out of the way places to find a toilet that talks you through everything, makes sure you're still there " my sensors detect no movement, please move around a bit or I'll open the door", AND plays jazzy piano version of "what the world needs now, is love sweet love" while you tinkle! I was blown away! It deserved a story on its own, I thought.Read more
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- Apr 30, 2018, 7:16pm
- ⛅ 22 °C
- Altitude: 8 m
- New Zealand Southland Invercargill City East End Morrison Beach -46.60103, 168.3440746°36’4” S 168°20’39” E
Day 4
Bluff, most southern NZ town
April 30, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
With a bit of time to kill today and a bit to do tomorrow, I headed down to Bluff, a good sized port and gateway to Stewart Island. I found a road to a scenic lookout which was pretty high and a good all round view of the area.
I then followed my nose, and a few signs, and found Stirling Point. A nice cafe for a cuppa and some walks to the beaches. Big dark pebbly beaches and lots of big bull kelp.
Then back to Invercargill to the Tuatara Backpackers Lodge.Read more
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- Apr 30, 2018, 7:17pm
- ⛅ 22 °C
- Altitude: 13 m
- New Zealand Southland Invercargill -46.41158, 168.3469346°24’42” S 168°20’49” E
Day 4
Funky little backpackers
April 30, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
Home tonight is the Tuatara (biggish NZ lizard) Backpackers Lodge. Very funky "art deco" type place. Looks impressive but pretty basic, nice and cheap. No kettle! I did bring my travel kettle from Europe but forgot to bring a cup! Must get one tomorrow. They have their own cafe so I just got food from there. It is in central city, I managed to get a car park, a warm bed (all to myself), a hot shower, free wifi, so all is good.Read more
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- May 1, 2018, 9:00pm
- 🌙 8 °C
- Altitude: 15 m
- New Zealand Southland Invercargill City Hawthorndale -46.40562, 168.3810646°24’20” S 168°22’52” E
Day 5
Bill Richardson Transport World
May 1, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 8 °C
Wow! I can see why this was recommended. Worth the soaking I got walking in and out to the car.
It is very well done and if I had the hubby and 4 sons with me I never would have got out of there ( and so I said in their visitors book).
Thete were 3 loos and all were themed. 1 was Betty Boop, 1 was lego, 1 was 1800's ladies decorated - don't know what the men's were.......strangely enough 😕😆Read more
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- May 1, 2018, 9:19pm
- 🌙 7 °C
- Altitude: 13 m
- New Zealand Otago Dunedin -45.87943, 170.4997345°52’46” S 170°29’59” E
Day 5
Driving in the drizzle
May 1, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 7 °C
I spent the morning in Invercargill exploring a bit. My impression - it's a sad, old dirty peeling city in need of a major facelift. Many empty shops too. Or at least city centre was.
I went to their museum but it was closed - something about an earthquake??
It started to drizzle quite heavily then but I found an Automobile museum recommended to me by the internet but also Chris' cousin. I'll do a separate page on that one!
I was thinking of going to Dunedin via the Catlins but there was no real signage to it that I saw plus the weather was dreary so didn't bother. Stayed on highway 1.
Gore was a pretty, well kept happy looking place though.
When I got to Dunedin I went to the Dive shop as I'd been emailing them about a dive tomorrow. The weather is still a bit crappy so their last resort site is the only dive tomorrow. We thought Thursday would be better so we'll see.
Google Lady led me to the Geeky Gecko Backpackers. Settled in there, ordered pizza to be delivered for tea as it's still raining.Read more
We found Invercargill a bit weird too, had a great burger there though! Catlins was lovely, and Mick and I do love Dunedin :) Got great tapas style food at Vault 21!
5/1/18Reply
Traveler I'm loving Dunedin too. Easy to drive around. There's so much to see and do, I'll sure to be back.
5/2/18Reply
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- May 1, 2018, 10:14pm
- ⛅ 30 °C
- Altitude: 14 m
- New Zealand Southland Invercargill City Hawthorndale -46.40626, 168.3760546°24’23” S 168°22’34” E
Day 5
FibreOctave wearable art.
May 1, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
"Enter a world of enchantment and intrigue with wearable art in Southland. FibreOctave is set to be staged at Bill Richardson Transport World on 15 June 2018. In this unique and apt environment, surrounded by a collection of world class vehicles, the show will be a spectacle of colour and creativity. Designed to grace the human body wearable art knows no bounds and is limited only by the imagination. FibreOctave is a spectacular show of wearable art, music and dance.

Wearable Art entries are invited from artists with a flair for dramatic artistry designed with that X factor that is wearable art. The brief to those creating wearable art is simple. It has to be art and it has to be wearable.

FibreOctave is presented in Invercargill in June each year and plays to a capacity crowd, tickets selling out 6 weeks in advance. FibreOctave is an artistic experience in Southland not to be missed." From the website.Read more
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