Well, the trip has come to an end. As I type this, we're in the Auckland Airport, awaiting our flight back to Perth. We have a long layover, as we booked flights only four days in advance and used FF miles, so pickin's were slim.

Our drive from Glenorchy to Geraldine was wonderful, thanks to some sunshine which afforded some brilliant views of Mt Cook and the surrounding mountains as we drove via the inland route. We stopped in Lake Tekapo for lunch atop Mt John at the Astro Cafe, surrounded by snow drenched mountains.

Our time in Geraldine was short, just one night at a lovely B&B, where we met Rick and Evelyn and had a very nice dinner at Taste, which we'd booked (fortunately) three weeks in advance....we'd have been turned away otherwise. It was an excellent gut busting dinner and we discovered affogatos, which we're now hooked on, much to the dismay of our waistlines.

Yesterday was a wet and fiercely winding drive to Christchurch via 72/79/77 - we had to dodge lots of downed branches and it was a struggle to keep our little Toyota on the road. Christchurch was calm and downright balmy though. We walked to the CBD from our motel and spent some time walking around the Red Zone of the earthquake damage. It was hard to take all the devastation in, even 16 months after the fact.

We logged close to 4,000 kms in 21 days...not sure I'd recommend it to others, but there was a method to our madness which I'll go into in further detail later if time allows.

Wow, you clocked up 4000km and your trip report reads like a walk in the park!
I guess that kind of road warrior trip only works for a repeat visitor who knows the terrain well especially during the winter.

Did you get photos of the penguin?

I just got back from an overnight on Cape Cod and watched a seal swimming just yards from the shore for an hour. It seemed to stick within the lifeguard zone and just swam back and fro keeping an eye on the beach! Here's a photo.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76264535@N02/

All the gory details to follow if I get the time to do a proper report sassy_cat.

No, I didn't get photos of the penguin. I didn't even take my camera with me to the penguin hide...I didn't want to subject my baby (camera) to the torrential, wind driven rain. Wouldn't have worked anyway, too far away even with my zoom lens and too dark. I took entirely too many photos as it is, will have to go through them all now and put together a TripWow with some of the good ones.

Way cool with your seal though!

We're home. What a long day yesterday was though. Up at 4:30 am to get to the Christchurch Airport by 7 am (couldn't sleep, so was awake since 1 am), 90 minute flight to Auckland, then a six hour layover (ugh, but beggars can't be choosers), eight hour flight from Auckland to Perth, four hour time difference. I got home and promptly went to bed, even though it was only 7:30 pm.

Fortunately, we escaped the Perth storm unscathed, so no nasty surprises when we got home (but it's still dark here, so haven't checked to see if our outdoor furniture is still there).

Have enjoyed your report, Melnq8. I know the area you were in although not the walks or Glenorchy. We will have to visit there some time in the near future. I just loved our day (apart from the Manapouri trip underground!) travelling through Doubtful Sound. Really amazing scenery, especially in the wet. Have some wonderful photos of that day.

What a relief to arrive home to an undamaged house. So pleased for you.
Dot

You didn't like the tunnel bit Dot? I thought it was very cool. The power station sent Bill's engineering bits all a twitter...nearly had to drag him out by his ear.

<<"engineering bits all a twitter...nearly had to drag him out by his ear.">>

A perfect description, I can relate to this. Engineers are a different species and there are many variants but they all exhibit this 'twittering'

Glad to hear your home was not damaged in the storm. I saw photos of scattered garden furniture in Perth after the storm with the comic headline..
'Perth June 2012 : We will rebuild'

How's the weather this week? My husband will be arriving in a couple of days if the thunderstorms here will allow his flight to leave!

The weather outside is typical mild Perth winter cool, no rain since we got back Sunday. However, the weather inside my house is quite cold...no central heat. It's 57 F in my office as I type this. This time of year I usually have to go outside to warm up.

Apparently the storm reports were the usual media hysteria. I spoke to an American friend yesterday who said Perthites have no idea what a real storm is (she's from hurricane country in the US south).

Hi, Melnq8. My husband loved the tunnel, but I'm mildly claustrophobic, and have got worse over the years. I sat in the bus and pretended, with my eyes shut tight, I was outside. Fortunately I was not alone, and the really fantastic tour driver came back to keep us sane-ish! He said over the years he had had a few people who couldn't cope with the tunnel being underground. C'est la vie . . .

In that case, you did well to even go into the tunnel Dot!

What we do for our DHs!

Information given is very helpful to people and will learn to come up a best knowledge.

Hi
your trip sounds amazing. i hope we can pick your brain a minute!!
we are planning our honeymoon for June 2013, we are hoping to do 3 weeks in Oz and 2 weeks in NZ. How bad is the weather in NZ?? we would prefer to drive so just so conscious we will drive ourselves crazy if the roads are bad and some closed. our main places we want to go to is Queenstown, Milford Sound and Franz Josef Glacier in the SI. Could you recommend what do you think we should do?
have got opinions from friends, some say do a tour but since we will only have about 10 days in the SI we dont want to be going to places we have no interest in.some say base ourselves in queenstown for 4 nights, get to Te Anua and stay 2 nights, do milford from here. would you get a bus or drive to Te Anau? Then to get to Franz Glacier....so confusing...please help us. we want to book it all as soon as we can...about August 2012.thanks

Regarding "how bad is the weather in NZ"...

Well, I assume you read my comments about the weather we encountered above. We had snow (which was unusual considering where we were on the SI), rain, sunshine, cloud and some frost. It was generally cold, but we did have one
or two days of coat free weather too. We were there during a freak SI storm which resulted in several road closures, but that was unusual, and they weren't closed but for a few days.

The roads can be slippery after a frost ---think black ice----but by 10 am it's usually a distant memory. Just be aware and take care if setting out early in the morning.

Milford Road is anyone's guess...I've been there when it was closed in Sept and it closed for a few days after we left this year, but they do their best to re-open it as quickly as possible. Sometimes it's only closed for a matter of hours, or they just close it early to blast for avalanches, etc. The day we drove it this year it was slippery due to frost, but not for long.

If you're comfortable driving on the left, or think you can be, I suggest you drive yourself. Basing yourself in Te Anau for a few nights to see Milford is a grand idea. It will allow you to get there before the tour buses and will shorten your driving, as it's only about two hours from Te Anau. It will also give you more time to explore see the area, without having to rush through on a bus.

Where are you flying into?

Hi
thanks for above. so far our plan is fly dublin to Oz for 3 weeks and then going from cairns to queenstown, stay 4 nights, drive te anau stay 2 nights. do milford day cruise here. drive to wananka for 1 night and then onto franz glacier for 2 nights, do the heli hile from here. drive to greymouth to get bus to tranzalpine to get to christchurch. going to fly from chrsitchurch to roturua, stay 2 nights here and then 2 nights in auckland before returning home to Ireland. It is all up in the air at the moment but want to finalise itinerary by the end of July as we can book everything in August.
any help and advice you can give would be great.
thank you

Your itinerary sounds fine to me, depending on your interests you might want to spend less time in Queestown.