Land of the Long White Cloud

With two weeks to spare before our flight out of New Zealand we found ourselves with little of the country left to explore and a long journey back north through previously visited places still to complete. Needless to say it hasn't been the most exciting part of the trip. Being re-acquainted with an abundance of spare time has, however, been somewhat rewarding for both my body (lots of lovely lie-ins) and my mind, which is beginning to reflect on the trip as a whole - more on that in my final blog - I bet you can't wait!

So, where the Maori's found long white clouds (and named the land accordingly) we have endured long 'big green bus' journeys but thankfully the clouds have been few and far between. If I were to name this country based on it's appearance it would be called 'Land of Lakes and Mountains under the Big Blue Sky'. From the stunning autumnal leaves of Queenstown reflected in it's lake, the mountains of Kaikoura flowing straight into the ocean, through the Canterbury plains that reminded us of home - complete with John Deere tractors, everywhere has been bathed in glorious sunshine. Even Windy Wellington and the beautiful Bay of Islands have had good weather for our stay. Unfortunately our Milford Sound experience was lacking in the blue sky department but atleats there was no precipitation that day. In a regoin which has an average annual rainfall of 7m, that was a miracle in itself.

To avoid inevitable boredom, without relying on our dwindling funds, we have visited many a free museum, sat in parks, walked the hills and doubled our list of books read. Window shopping has become one of our favourite past times despite it's tendency to disappoint as we find bargains that just won't fit in our backpacks. We have, also, invented games using our diaries to test our memories of the trip - it seems I have inherited my Mother's unusual memory for dates.

Now all our bus buddies have dispersed, homewards or in more tropical directions, our last days in New Zealand have felt rather lonely and cold (though presumably not by current English standards). Not to worry! Our long anticipated flight to Fiji is almost upon us. I am hoping to be able to name our final destination 'Land of tropical islands, white sand and turquoise water' or in other words... Paradise!

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Enjoy the rain for now - I will try to bring the weather back with me from Fiji (unless ofcourse there's a cyclone!