Finally…NZ trip: part 2!

With the best intentions to write my final blog on my NZ travels before the end of 2018 I failed! With only a few days between arriving home and our boys coming home to join us for a week over Christmas it didn’t happen unfortunately. But here it is!

After travelling down the west coast we moved inland and stayed in Te Anu so we could drive to Milford Sound. We enjoyed more amazing scenery with a trip into Fiordland, driving along the river valley with wild lupins growing in abundance. Towards Milford Sound the valley gets deeper and the mountains get higher. The boat trip when we arrived was fabulous, we saw seals and waterfalls everywhere along the sheer sides of the fiord. A few days in Lake Tepeko was the next stop, turquoise water looked almost unnatural and the surrounding snow capped mountains made a beautiful backdrop. We went up to the observatory to see the 360° view, breathtaking!

Final destination before heading home was Christchurch. We have had not been prior to the earthquake so couldn’t compare then and now but there was plenty of evidence of a city being rebuilt. The Christchurch Gallery is an amazing building. The exterior has beautiful curved glass walls and inside is light and spacious with national and international artists well represented . We enjoyed the Botanical Gardens too. Its huge with a river meandering through it and a lot of variety of native trees and flowers.

 Home was via Abu Dhabi with an opportunity to see the Louvre Gallery. A truly  amazing building with a metal lace dome curving over a cluster of white buildings all on the waters edge.

  We couldn’t leave before visiting the Grande Mosque, the largest in the world and awe inspiring in its scale and majesty . This was an inspirational trip. I took hundreds of photographs and I am full of ideas for new embroideries.  Watch this space!