Rain, rain, go away - and more about New Zealand

I really wish it would, but I doubt my pleas will help.  We had over 500 mm in November and in the last two days we have had 120mm - and it is still pouring.  The forecast is for a very wet summer with several cyclones - I don't want to know about any of that.  Ten minutes later we have had another 15 mm.

I will tell you more about our trip, that is a much happier subject.  We really did have the most wonderful luck with the weather.  This is Mt. Egmont, or now called Mt. Teranaki, near new Plymouth.  We were on our way to it and stopped to take a photo with the cattle being very interested in the proceedings!  The sun was shining and we had wonderful views when we got to the visitors centre.

Later that day we visited Pukeiti Gardens, named as one of the significant gardens of the world.  The sky was very overcast, but that did not matter.  The rhododendrons were all gorgeous and there were so many other interesting things to see.  The sun came out later on in the afternoon and we found the bridge which I relocated in my previous post - not just to anothe city, but to another Island!  My apologies to new Plymouth.

 In Wellington, we went for  a trip on the cable car in the sunshine also.  Then we walked through the Botanic Gardens, but gammy knees and those steep hills don't go very well together.  We even became quite hot while walking!
The ferry trip across Cook Strait was in very good weather - unlike the next day which turned quite nasty we heard.  Queen Charlotte Sound is very beautiful, unloading the car was interesting, but didn't take very long.

 I think Kaikoura was one of my favourite places to visit.  Coming from the tropics, I was fascinated by the snow and the sea and what they called beach all together.  This is most definitely not my idea of beach! We saw the seals and visited some gorgeous galleries and craft shops (Bill was bored!)

The South Island of New Zealand have these wonderful beaten up caravans on the side of the road which set up as cafes.  We sat at tables and ate a whitebait sandwich for lunch!  The couple alongside us was tucking into crayfish, which we had had the night before, buying it from another beaten up caravan!  What fun.

We took the train trip to Greymouth and back the day before the mine explosion - such a tragedy.

The scenery is truly magnificent, again we were blessed with a hot sunny day.

We couldn't have the sun all the time, and some rain came to Dunedin, but not too much.  We visited the Botanic Gardens - even steeper than Wellington, and Barb's knee was definitely protesting by this time.  They are beautiful gardens but the rain chased us home.

I am always fascinated by what houses and motels etc look like in other countries, there are always some quirky bits.  This is the shower which was in a motel we stayed at for just one night thankfully.  Bill thinks it may have been retrofitted, with all the fittings underneath it.  You had to step up nearly a foot to get into it - no grab bars - then you had to step DOWN the same distance to get out.  Apparently they are quite common over there.

We didn't see nearly enough of course, so of course we would love to go back, just over the ditch isn't really very far!

This year has passed in a blur, I can't believe Christmas is only three weeks away, I haven't started on anything yet, but at least today I bought the last of the fruit to chop up for my Christmas cakes.  Nothing to show you on the creative front, I haven't done anything.  That has to change soon.