Introduction

Christine and I had promised ourselves a holiday in Australia and New Zealand since I retired six years ago. The plan had been to visit daughters Louise and Emma in Wellington and Sydney respectively before their return to the UK. We partly missed this objective as Lou (and Dan) returned to the UK in April 2009, so all the more reason to make the trip now before Emma also decided that blighty held some attraction!

We decided that six weeks was a reasonable time to spend away from home and our dog Chester and travelling during Jan and Feb gave us the benefit of missing part of our winter and exploring these countries during their summer, so tickets were booked for our big adventure arriving in New Zealand on 16th Jan and leaving Australia on 26th Feb. We had always realised that six weeks was insufficient for anything like a full tour of both countries so we decided to concentrate on New Zealand with a quickish stop (two weeks) on the way back to stay with Emma (and her partner Charlie).

A general plan was hatched to fly to Auckland and then on to New Plymouth for the first few days to be spent staying with my brother Richard and sister-in-law Jackie at their house in Opunake. We would then head south to Wellington with an overnight stop in the city before catching the ferry to the South Island. After an anticlockwise tour of the island, going as far as Milford Sound if possible, we will return to the North Island and head up through the east/central area to Auckland before returning to New Plymouth and our flight to Sydney via Auckland.