Post by Marcus on Jan 22, 2009 10:21:35 GMT 12
Hi all
My wife and I having never been in the South Island decided on a few days holidaying with the family in the SI earlier this month. (The kids had been their a few times with their sporting commitments) As we did not have a lot of time we could only do the northern part of the Island. It was a no brainer to know that we would be going to as many aviation attractions as I/we could!!!
We started our holiday on the Overlander from Hams to Wellington. We were booked on the 3:00 am Bluebridge ferry…. After sleeping like vagrants in their terminal we duly sailed at 5:15 am.
The time hic-up worked in our favor tough as dawn broke over a calm sea while we were underway… My kids curled up indoors and slept as they had done it before but mum and dad stood outside to appreciate the beauty of it all…. After waiting for more then an hour for our rental car office to open in Picton we finally set off for Blenheim/ Omaka and the Aviation Heritage Centre… Got some excellent pics here and the following are just a few I took.
From the Centre I raced around in the hope of finding Al on the off chance that he was fiddling with his Freighter… No such luck but did get a few nice pics of the Bristol. As we have all seen Al’s photos I am only posting one here.
We then proceeded to travel down the east coast staying overnight in luxury dwellings in line with our financial abilities… ;D
We paid a visit to friends in Christchurch, explored the International Antarctic Centre which was interesting but at $160 for four people a lot of money! We also went to the Air Force Museum. It was great to have an ex WW2 combat pilot being our guide. I wish I had the time to sit down and have a looongggg chat with him about his experiences!! (He flew Beaufighters in the ETO) Here are some pics I took at the Museum.
From Christchurch it was up the west coast via Arthur’s Pass to Greymouth then Westport. From here it was via State Highway six to Nelson and finally back to Picton. A beautiful part of the country to journey through. From Picton back across Cook Straight with the ferry to Wellington to do the big museums in town. Te Papa was interesting but waaayyy to many people to be able to read and study the exhibits. Hardly had time to look at the giant squid when we were elbowed out of the way by excited rug-rats. An afternoon walk about in Te Papa was too short to do justice to this excellent educational facility.
The following day we caught the special Wings Over Wairarapa air show train to Masterton. We were lucky to have seats as a number of air show junkies had to stand the whole way due to overbooking of the train. As we have seen heaps of pics of the show I am only posting one or two to end up this expose of our holiday.
The day after the show we boarded the Overlander for our journey home. All in all we spent a wonderful time in a stunning part of the country. As we have only been in NZ for 5 years we constantly try to experience and learn as much as we can of our adopted country. We once again realized how beautiful the natural landscape is and the honesty and generosity of the people. I misplaced my wallet with all my bank and credit cards etc, etc one evening in the communal shower. In most countries that would have meant loosing it for ever. The next morning it was handed back to me by a chap that had picked it up the previous evening.
Regards
Marcus (The smoothhh one - as in un-hairy! ;D)
My wife and I having never been in the South Island decided on a few days holidaying with the family in the SI earlier this month. (The kids had been their a few times with their sporting commitments) As we did not have a lot of time we could only do the northern part of the Island. It was a no brainer to know that we would be going to as many aviation attractions as I/we could!!!
We started our holiday on the Overlander from Hams to Wellington. We were booked on the 3:00 am Bluebridge ferry…. After sleeping like vagrants in their terminal we duly sailed at 5:15 am.
The time hic-up worked in our favor tough as dawn broke over a calm sea while we were underway… My kids curled up indoors and slept as they had done it before but mum and dad stood outside to appreciate the beauty of it all…. After waiting for more then an hour for our rental car office to open in Picton we finally set off for Blenheim/ Omaka and the Aviation Heritage Centre… Got some excellent pics here and the following are just a few I took.
From the Centre I raced around in the hope of finding Al on the off chance that he was fiddling with his Freighter… No such luck but did get a few nice pics of the Bristol. As we have all seen Al’s photos I am only posting one here.
We then proceeded to travel down the east coast staying overnight in luxury dwellings in line with our financial abilities… ;D
We paid a visit to friends in Christchurch, explored the International Antarctic Centre which was interesting but at $160 for four people a lot of money! We also went to the Air Force Museum. It was great to have an ex WW2 combat pilot being our guide. I wish I had the time to sit down and have a looongggg chat with him about his experiences!! (He flew Beaufighters in the ETO) Here are some pics I took at the Museum.
From Christchurch it was up the west coast via Arthur’s Pass to Greymouth then Westport. From here it was via State Highway six to Nelson and finally back to Picton. A beautiful part of the country to journey through. From Picton back across Cook Straight with the ferry to Wellington to do the big museums in town. Te Papa was interesting but waaayyy to many people to be able to read and study the exhibits. Hardly had time to look at the giant squid when we were elbowed out of the way by excited rug-rats. An afternoon walk about in Te Papa was too short to do justice to this excellent educational facility.
The following day we caught the special Wings Over Wairarapa air show train to Masterton. We were lucky to have seats as a number of air show junkies had to stand the whole way due to overbooking of the train. As we have seen heaps of pics of the show I am only posting one or two to end up this expose of our holiday.
The day after the show we boarded the Overlander for our journey home. All in all we spent a wonderful time in a stunning part of the country. As we have only been in NZ for 5 years we constantly try to experience and learn as much as we can of our adopted country. We once again realized how beautiful the natural landscape is and the honesty and generosity of the people. I misplaced my wallet with all my bank and credit cards etc, etc one evening in the communal shower. In most countries that would have meant loosing it for ever. The next morning it was handed back to me by a chap that had picked it up the previous evening.
Regards
Marcus (The smoothhh one - as in un-hairy! ;D)
