New Zealand...... Again!

In 2012 Bruce and I spent 6 weeks in New Zealand, and I wrote enthusiastically about our memorable visit.  We went hiking, visited friends and escaped the Canadian winter.  It was our longest visit since living in Wellington in the 1970's.

And now we were back again for exactly the same reasons, except this visit was 2 weeks longer and it seemed more urgent.  We are now both in our 70's. We are older and our friends are older too, so we need to do the things we love while we can.  And we love exploring this country.

On our last visit, the weather did not measure up.  New Zealand was cold and grey for much of our stay, and while the chill did not spoil our holiday it was maddening to discover that back home Ontarians were enjoying one of the balmiest winters on record.  There were days in February 2012 that were warmer in Guelph than Dunedin.

No complaints this year, however! The South Island where we were starting our visit was gloriously sunny and summery.

Dunedin is beautiful!   What a great view..

We explored Dunedin and the Otago peninsula in shirt sleeves and sun hats with our friends the Smiths and the Gibsons.  We had dinner on the deck.  We passed around sunscreen! This was not the weather we expected, but we were not complaining.

We had some South Island hiking planned and we were happy that, while we might be bit concerned about our fitness, we had no
worries about weather!


 Pre- hike training on a tussocky windy hill above Boulder Beach