I ummed and aah’d about whether to blog on this holiday.

It’s just a quick trip, and whilst it does fit the bill for requiring passport use, lets face it, it’s New Zealand, and therefore pretty much part of Australia 🙂

It was a last minute decision to have a week in the South Island of New Zealand, and hence we are a tad less organised then we might normally be. We booked return flights to Christchurch only about a month ago. By the time I started leave a week ago all we had achieved was booking a hire car, had the first night’s accommodation under control and also a B&B and dinner reserved for New Years Eve in Invercargill. The other five nights were an unknown, and what and where we were going to do was anybody’s guess!

We flew with Emirates, but on a Qantas ticket so we had access to the lounge. (Helen will understand 😉 ) We had front row seats in economy which is downstairs on the A380. Service was good and even though we took off a couple of hours late, the time flew by quickly and we landed around 90 minutes past our scheduled arrival of 2pm NZ time. A shuttle to the car hire place and before long we were on the road to our hotel just north of Christchurch.

I always read reviews of hotels closely and on reflection remembered the reason I choose this one… the promise of freshly baked bread on arrival! (or maybe it was the spa looking over the lake 🙂

We drove into town and walked around a little before boarding our dinner expedition… on board a 1907 restored restaurant tram. The food was surprisingly good (OK – I also checked the reviews closely and wouldn’t have booked unless the food was going to be OK). Salmon for entrée, venison for main and a cheese platter for dessert.

The tram roamed around central Christchurch for three hours, where it was still very evident the significant damage endured by the city in the 2011 earthquake, where 183 people lost their lives.

Day two began with the leftover bread toasted, then a long drive down to Dunedin. It’s about 390kms from Christchurch to Dunedin, but took around five hours. It’s single lane most of the way and a fair bit of the time we travelled at 80kmh behind a variety of campervans. Gotta love tourists (yes, I realise I am one!)

Stunning views along the way, and some other interesting sites, along with a great strawberry milkshake! (Yes, Canola that’s in bloom in late December and Woolworths is called Countdown).

We stopped at the delightful Whitestone cheese factory at Oamaru and enjoyed a delicious tasting plate along with a nicely presented pot of tea (note extra jug of hot water) and for Dave, a hot chocolate, which was nice and hot, just the way he likes it.

This afternoon we explored Dunedin a little. We had a quick lunch… Dave a toasted cheese sandwich and me a tasty local Seafood Chowder.

We then walked to the historic Dunedin Railway Station where we embarked on a fabulous train journey on the Taieri Gorge Railway. 57km of winding track up the mountains, 120-year-old viaducts, unbelievable scenery,  gorges and limestone. What an experience!

People who know me well understand my eating out rules. No one can order the same thing. Tonight for dinner I did something even more audacious… I had the same thing for dinner as I had for lunch haha!

I’m thinking a Seafood Chowder tour of the South Island of New Zealand… your thoughts?