Take a hat

Under construction  The Wild West We left behind our Suite at the Copthorne and set course for Te Anau, the jumping off point for Milford Sound. Quite a straight forward route. We stopped for a coffee at an old fashioned place that sold just about everything. We bought a cuddly Kiwi and headed on to Te Anau. We'd pre-booked the Parklands Motel and checked in early and headed for lunch. The Lady Owner was very helpful and gave us some good tips for our trip the next morning. Not least where to park. Her lunchtime recommendation was also very good, the Sandfly in the centre of town. It was a typical Kiwi Cafe, very busy but we were happy to wait for our veggie breakfasts. We were booked on our Milford Sound Cruise on the 26th March so we needed to be up early as its about a two hour drive. We had to allow for stops on the way to take in the view so we left at 8.05 for an 11am cruise. The best stop on the way was at Mirror Lakes.We arrived at about 10:30, time for a coffee before boar

 Nelson  Its great to travel but its even better to stay somewhere for 2 whole weeks. No packing up for 14 days -whoopee! And we are staying Nelson. Nelson has a great deal going for it. It's a pint-sized City that has just about everything and is also great base to explore the surrounding region with is its lovely beaches, lakes and vineyards. We visited some old favourites and found some new ones. Oh, and there are plenty of Pubs, Restaurants and Coffee Houses. The Vic in Nelson Tw's on the Ginger Beer Our new Apartment was just North of Nelson underneath a residential property in Atawhai, a hillside residential suburb. We did not have much of a view from our basement but it was inexpensive and only 5 minutes from town by car. Atawhai - hilltop view Lake Rotoiti Lake Rotoiti was a must-do for us. It's an interesting drive to St. Arnaud very close to the Lake. We were surprised to find that there's a good lunch spot there. We thought we would be picnicking but found th

  Good as Gold - A trip to   Golden Bay The Courthouse Cafe Golden Bay was probably the area I was most looking forward to visiting and it did not disappoint. The road from Motueka to Takaka goes over the Takaka Hill and is steep and winding. Happily TW was OK. We stopped at the Mussell Inn for coffee on the way to the town of Collingwood where we had 5 nights booked at the Potters Cottage. It was a little rustic which seemed very appropriate for the area. It was right next to the Courthouse Cafe which was lovely.  We had a celebratory arrival lunch of very tasty smoked fishcakes there before checking in. Probably our nicest lunch in NZ. TW really liked the Ginger Bear.  Ginger Bear for TW The Tide is in at Collingwood St Cuthberts in Collingwood Tide is out in Collingwood Above our cottage there was an old wooden church, St Cuthberts, that was worth a look-see. Potters Cottage is only a stones throw from town so we were in a very convenient location. The tide was out when we took our