And finally ...

The flight from Christchurch to Sydney was all the better for us being upgraded to Business Class. They had overbooked Economy and, being a Gold Card holder, we were the first to be moved up. And this was also our wedding anniversary so all the better. We had booked into the Marriott, Sydney Harbour - certainly not the cheapest place to stay but very convenient for the sites and not a bad view!





The next morning we wandered round the Opera House, booking tickets for what turned out to be a superb performance of the ballet Don Quixote by the Australian Ballet that evening, and then strolled round the Botanical Gardens.

We then got a ferry up the Harbour to just look at the houses and buildings, including this example of particularly bad taste!

On the Thursday we hired a car and drove down to Woollongong to visit Gordon Joughim who I had worked with on a couple of occasions recently at Hong Kong Institute of education but who has now moved to the University of Woollongong.

Next day we flew to Hobart to see our friends Janet and Chris who own the Hobart Bookshop in Salamnca Square.
They joined us for the obligatory cup of 'flat white' at the local cafe.















Janet and Chris had arranged to take a couple of days off from their very busy routine and come with us to Launceston in the north of the Island.

There we visited Tamat Island Nature Reserve

... had an absolutely wonderful lunch at a local winery














... visited the Design Museum

and a local historical house, Woolmers.

Finally, we had a morning at Hobart Museum looking round an Antarctic exhibition and another coffee in Hobart harbour

Before the flight to Melbourne.

And here I am sitting in the Emirates Business Lounge waiting for the 14.5 hour flight to Dubai.

It's been a great trip, meeting friends and work collegaues and seeing some wonderful scenery.

We'll be back!

Our favourite part of New Zealand

It's Tuesday morning after the Easter weekend and we're about to drive over to Christchurch for the flight to Sydney. We've had a great time in Wanaka with brilliant weather and wonderful scenery. Yesterday we walked up Mount Iron, a hill on the edge of Wanaka, amd confirmed for ourselves why this is our favourite part of New Zealand.

We also got a good view of Wanaka, which we were to add to in the afternoon with a jet boat ride up the Cluthra River.

On Saturday we visited Queenstown but it was so crowded in contrast to Wanaka that we didn't stay long. On the way there we had watched bungy jumping and later went to Arrowtown, a quaint ex-gold mining village, though again fairly crowded. However, we heard the normal 6,000 population of Wanaka rises to over 30,000 at Christmas and the New Year. From June onwards it is also a popular skiing area - think about it!

Sunday was a great contrast as we drove into Mount Aspiring National Park - the mountain is the second highest in NZ - the snow-covered peak in the top picture. The road was unsealed and included driving through fords and over rather rickety wooden bridges.

On Friday evening we had been to the cinema - quite unusual for us - to see Miss Potter. It only had 70 seats, 3 of which were in a Morris Minor convertible! The rest of the seats were a mixture of couches and comfy chairs and it was possible to have a meal during the interval. The bizarre structure on the roof is to promote a film about sheep - something you can't avoid in NZ as there are 4 million people and over 40 million sheep.

Macdonalds on tour 'down under' 2007 - part 1

Viv arrived at Dunedin after her long journey from the UK, accompanying Joan, the mother of a friend - more of which later.

We spent a day on the Otago Peninsula - a visit to the Albatross Centre and then more penguins and seals! Though we did go on a guided tour we then went onto a beach and found a solitary penguin and couple of seals.

The following morning we went for a run round Ross Creek before checking out of Hyland House. We went round the permanent orienteering course - which is actually at a scale of 5800 - the map below is a board at the start of the course.

Down through the Catlins, including the most southerly point on south Island - unfortunately we didn't have time to get to Stewart Island which is the most southerly point apart, I suppose, for bases on Antarctica.

Then a night at Te Anau where in 1993 we had visited the glowworm caves and taken a trip on Milford Sound. This time we just drove out to the sound and got some wonderful veiws of Mitre Peak.

After Milford sound we returned to te Anau and on to Wanaka where Gwen, an old school friend of Viv's, had an apartment. Viv had brought Gwen's mother, Joan, out as far as Christchurch and now we met up again for a night.

Next morning Gwen and Joan set off for Queenstown and a flight back to Rotorua and we had a further four nights in the apartment - more to follow ...