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Castlepoint

When we met Sirocco the Kakapo

At least since we arrived in New Zealand and probably long before that Michael has wanted to meet a kakapo. I didn’t hold out much hop as there are only 125 left on the planet. A kakapo is a huge green and yellow flightless parrot and before the arrival of man they lived throughout New Zealand. Now all of the surviving birds live on Cod Fish Island, off the south coast of the South Island and are all part of an intensive breeding program to bring their numbers up.

Suva - Fiji

Fiji

Wellington to Fiji

A motorbike tour of Miramar and the surrounding areas

As we have just bought a GoPro I have tried a few experiments around Miramar and Wellington. It turns out that I make really cheesy films.

Worser Bay, Breaker Bay, Miramar Hights, The Weta Trolls, The Roxy, The Wellington Sign, Lyall Bay and Moa Point

Motorbike School

Kaikoura - Whales, Albatros and Dusky Dplphins

Our second attempt at Whale watching on this trip as the first one had been cancelled due to bad weather. We were up early to catch the second boat of the day, desperately willing the sea not to be rough. The first boat had found a sperm whale quiet far out to Sea and by the time we reached it had already been on the surface for 10 minutes, luckily we got there just in time to see him dive. One bucket list goal for me achieved and me very happy despite the sea sickness! We got to see him again 40 minutes later when he surfaced again and I was unprepared for what am emotional experience seeing this huge beautiful creature would be. We also got to see many sea birds and a pod of dusky dolphins

Lake Tekapo and Mount John Observatory

Heading to Lake Tekapo, we take a slight detour and ride up to Mount John Observatory. I am not sure if this was Michaels plan all along but he got me to agree by pointing out that there was a cafe at the top. The views were spectacular and we found ourselves booking onto a star gazing tour. It was amazing, I have never seen so many stars in the sky and the Milky Way was stunning. We learnt a lot too and got to look through some giant telescopes.