Clive & Melanie Morris - Narrowboat Folkies

March 8th 2011 – We took our leave of Hanmer Springs and headed back to the coast, our destination Kaikoura.  Kaikoura is a very special place, it is the whale watching centre of New Zealand! The reason for this is that just off shore there is a 1000m deep trench called The Kaikoura Canyon.  This is very close to the shore and is where Sperm Whales feed on squid, sharks and fish at depths of up to 800m!  When the whales come up to breathe that is the time when you ge...

March 5th 2011 – Lake Tekapo – When we woke up this morning we were so glad that we had come as far as we did yesterday and saw the lakes and the mountains in glorious sunshine because now it was grey and overcast and not very warm!  After breakfast we set off again but made a short stop further along the shores of the lake to visit The Church of the Good Shepherd as instructed by Vicki!  This tiny little church was built in 1935 in memory of the pioneers of McKenzie cou...

March 2nd 2011 – We left the campsite in Dunedin after breakfast and drove to the Orokonui Ecosanctuary.  This place is along similar lines to Tawharanui up in North Island where Lindsey took us at the beginning of our travels.  It is an area of land which has been cordoned off with a predator proof fence and all the predators eradicated eg possum, rats, mice, stoats etc etc thus providing a safe and natural habitat for New Zealand’s threatened forest species. When ...

February 27th 2011 – just to carry on from yesterday, whilst I was typing the blog another campervan rolled up and took the pitch next to us.  We passed the time of day, as you do, then I continued working on the blog.  However later on after I had finished I ended up chatting to our new neighbours.  They are both retired teachers from Kent, John and Mandy.  Later, Clive and I went over to cook dinner in the camp kitchen and John and Mandy were making theirs as well....

February 25th 2011 – We didn’t wake up until 8.00am this morning surprisingly and some of the other campers had already left.  I had heard it raining in the night but thankfully that had stopped by the time we got up.  We had a cup of tea and some cereal for breakfast then went to explore the campsite a little more.  We wandered down to the lake shore, the view was amazing, a beautiful lake with a backdrop of towering mountains, lovely!  Still a bit cloudy but ...

February 21st 2011 – continued – We decided in the end to go and see 127 Hours, it was fantastic.  We actually remember hearing about the incident on the news back in 2003 so we did know what the outcome of the film would be.  It was very well done though and we really enjoyed it, even though it is a very gruelling story and a bit gory at the end!!

February 22nd 2011 – Our son Gareth’s 31st birthday!  It was pouring with rain when we woke up so we ...

This is the second attempt!  I sat for nearly two hours last night doing this blog, first typing it in word then transferring it onto the website and downloading all the photographs, just as I was editing the very last photograph I must have some how hit a key combination which suddenly took me to a different page, I clicked "back" but it had all gone!!!  I was pretty miserable I can tell you, had to walk away and leave it, couldn't face doing it all again last night so now, here go...

Well there I was completely up to date with the blog and we go and enter an internet black hole and now I'm a day behind again! Meh!

February 18th – We had a lovely surprise last night, just after I had finished posting the blog! The cloud had llifted and we had a wonderful view of Mt Tasman and Mt Cook peeping out from behind some of the closer, tree-clad mountains.  They looked lovely with the sun gleaming on their snowy peaks.

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February 15th 2011 - continued.  In the last blog we were just crossing over the Grey River into Greymouth.  We decided to drive into the town centre, park the van and go and see if we could find a Vodafone shop.  Since setting off on our travels around New Zealand we have been relying on WiFi, which is accessible, at a price, at nearly all campsites, however there are various companies providing WiFi around the country and some are better than others. One or two have been...

Feb 13th 2011 – We took our leave of Motueka and took the road towards the West Coast. Immediately after leaving the town we were surrounded by fruit trees, mainly apples, some plums and lots and lots of hops!  Well they’re very fond of their beer in New Zealandand and have several breweries around the country so they will need lots of hops!  Clive’s current favourite is Monteith’s Original, on draught, which may have just eased Speight’s Gold into...