Our Travels from 2008 to 2012

Alaska Tour with 

Adventure Alaska Tours

 Our wonderful Adventure Alaska Tour - lots of wildlife and wonderful scenery - the small bus tour was a great way to see and experience Alaska - the itinerary included; 

• Anchorage to Denali;
• tour into Denali National Park; 
• the Denali Highway to Glenallen; 
• the WranglesStElias National Park; 
• McCarthy, Kennicott and the Root Glacier; 
• Thompson Pass to Valdez; 
• ferry to Whittier; 
• Discovery Cabins at Hope; 
• cruise of the Kenai with close-up views of the Holgate Galcier; 
• around Turnagain Arm back to Anchorage. 

Many thanks for an incredible trip to our extraordinary guide Patrick, our Adventure Alaska hosts Barbra and Todd, as well as all our wonderful group.

Great Ocean Walk with 

Auswalk Walking Holidays

The Great Ocean Walk takes you from Apollo Bay to Port Campbell running roughly parallel to the Great Ocean Road. Key highlights of the trip were staying at the Cape Otway Lighthouse, walking through the Otways and seeing large numbers of koalas, viewing the Loch Ard Gorge and the incredible 12 Apostles (well not quite so many these days). 

The increasingly violent weather towards the end of our walk provided some spectacular waves but the increasing strength of the rain and wind made walking and photography more difficult. 

All in all a great trip and many thanks to our wonderful guides Marie and Lisa!

 Lord Howe Island 

with Oxley Travel

  Our wonderful holiday on Lord Howe Island where we enjoyed great walks, scenery, fabulous beaches and swimming. Flowers, birds, marine animals and birds were in abundance. 

Lots of things to do and places to eat! We sampled the really great local cooking and seafood at a different location each night. We got to Pandanus, Greenbank, Beachhouse, the Bowling Club, Anchorage, and Pine Trees.

Great Barrier Reef cruise 

with Coral Princess Cruises

From Cairns, we rode the train up to Kuranda and back down by Skyrail, and then we embarked on our wonderful pair of Great Barrier Reef cruises on the Coral Princess II.

The first cruise was from  Cairns to Cooktown and Lizard Island, snorkelling at many spots including Ribbon Reefs 9 and 3 and finally back to Cairns.

The second cruise was from  Cairns to Nathan Reef, Dunk Island and Pelorus Island before a stormy trip to Townsville.

Many thanks to Jenny and John for donating their prize.

Carnarvon Gorge, Heron Island and Caloundra

Our wonderful trip to Queensland with Anne's brother Peter and his wife Bev. We drove to Queensland stopping at Goondiwindi after an altercation with a kangaroo. We continued to Emerald where Peter and Bev took the train to Longreach to visit friends while we had several days in Carnarvon Gorge, exploring the scenery and surviving the very cold nights in a safari tent. 

Back to Emerald to collect Peter and Bev and then to Gladstone to catch the early boat to Heron Island. On the island we explored, learned to snorkel, eat a lot and generally lazed around. 

Returning to Gladstone we drove to Caloundra, where we explored the nearby Blackall Range with the lovely small towns of Montville and Maleny as well as viewing the spectacular Glass House Mountains. We returned to Kendall via the Lions Road, a steep narrow road over the Border Ranges. 

Sadly, Anne's brother Peter is no longer with us.

 Grand Traverse (Greenstone-Routeburn) trek with Ultimate Hikes

 Our first trip together!!; Anne went early so that she could visit her friends near Wellington. We then met up in Queenstown and both enjoyed exploring the area climbing Queenstown Hill and up to the Gondola with spectacular views of Queenstown and surroundings. 

We then joined our guides for Ultimate Hikes' 6-day Grand Traverse trek together with a collection of other Kiwis and Aussies. Dave had been on the trek before with his daughter but this was Anne's first trek - we both found it to be a very rewarding experience on many counts. 

Finally, we drove back to Christchurch via the west coast including Wanaka, Haarst (sand flies) and Fox Glacier plus a very rewarding flight over much of the South Island. Our trip ended with a sumptuous meal at Annie's Bar in Christchurch.