West Coast

I see that I haven't posted since the 6th March but life has been hectic.  Most of the time has been spent just settling in.  Among other things, Doug has been busy building a new cupboard in the kitchen which is just about finished.  As well as this we have just  been on a trip to the West Coast of the South Island.  We booked with a local tour group some months back.

Neither of us have been on a coach tour before and were a bit apprehensive.   The weather forecast for the week was not good as the remnants of Cyclone Debbie were due to hit New Zealand after causing havoc in Australia.  On Saturday (April Fools Day) we had to be at the nearest bus stop at 5.45 a.m.  with our luggage.  Needless to say we were hoping it would be fine and it was.  People were picked up around town and we headed to Auckland Airport where the coach was left and we flew to Nelson on two separate flights.  It was a beautiful day and a good flight.

Gary (the tour owner) was on the first flight and collected a coach he had hired in Nelson and picked us up at the Airport before taking us on a short tour around town and dropping us at our very nice hotel.  We had a short time to settle in and he picked us up again for another tour on the other side of town before returning to the hotel.  We had a delicious evening meal.

Views of Auckland

The harbour at Nelson

View across the river from our hotel