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The ship docked at 3:30pm and we were hurried back onto our bus to try to beat the weather. I did struggle a bit with this final leg: 10 hours on a bus is a long time! But the views on the way back, at least before sunset, were spectacular too. And we were “entertained” (if you can call it...

Milford Sound was every bit as spectacular and amazing as I remember it. During the two-hour cruise up the Sound to the Tasman Sea and back, at times the sun threatened to peek through… At other times it rained quite heavily… We saw cascades and waterfalls (and learned that the two are...

Thank you so much! This is the last full day of our trip and it has been everything I had hoped for. In fact, my mother and I were just walking back from having a coffee, cake and ice cream, and she announced: "I like this place. And it's only a two and a half hour flight from Sydney. They...

I had considered Milford Sound to be a “must see” on this trip. The problem is that Milford Sound is a 600km round trip by road from Queenstown. It can be done in a day – but only just. Before this trip I had gently encouraged my mother do consider an overnight trip. My first and only visit to...

Good question. There's not a simple answer. The first thing to consider is that Qatar flies to many, many more destinations in Europe than Cathay does. So in that basic sense yes, of course, it's "easier" to get a Qatar redemption to Europe because they fly to Europe many, many more times per...

I agree that this is quite incompetent for Velocity. Really they should have fixed this by now. For me, the only way that I could get it to work was by logging in under my wife's Velocity number. It worked for her, for some reason, but not for me.

You're so, so close! A full-day trip to Milford Sound. 😊

So glad that there's another Vigee Le Brun fan on AFF! But each of the artworks you posted about are spectacular. Wondering now how I can somehow organise another visit to the National Gallery after 23 years.

Several times this week we’ve walked past this Irish Pub… Each time, my mother has said that she would like to have dinner here. It took me a while, but I became convinced that she meant it. So tonight, we did! We each had an Irish Stew which was delicious. I also had a very nice pint of...

The second establishment I loved visiting is one whose products simply make me laugh – a lot – and which always attract admiring comments from others when I wear them. This is Global Culture, which has branches all over NZ including two in Queenstown. It sells T-shirts, hoodies, that sort of...

My original plan for today had been to go to the Kiwi Park. But we did that yesterday, which made today a “nothing planned” rest day, sort of. The biggest day of our trip by far is tomorrow, so I wasn’t fussed about a “lighter day” today. Having said that, I’ve still done over 11,000 steps so...

It is most definitely NOT a safe bet! You're looking to fly to Paris, in Business class, during the school holidays, for 4 people. On Cathay or Qatar your chances are ... well, not zero, but not far off zero. If you want to fly 4 people in Business on the same flight, you'll probably need to...

We’ve been universally told the same thing: the honey must be commercially packed, sealed, packed in our checked luggage, and declared. We’ve also been told that it wouldn’t be allowed into WA or Tasmania, but that the other states will let us bring it in. I’ll post if that ends up not being...

Am I allowed to say what we're all thinking? If the banks had thought to introduce Chairman's Lounges, they'd have gotten away with their practices as well!

After we returned to the Novotel, it was time for some “me time”, in the form of a Zoom meeting with other people from the writing course I did a few weeks ago. We meet, catch up, do a short fun introductory writing exercise (Tonight it was: “Spend 5 minutes writing a paragraph whose first line...

It was then time for the Conservation Show in the outdoor (and netted! ) theatre immediately outside. There were demonstrations of a couple of introduced pests from Australia including the Aussie possum; the possum is to New Zealand what the cane toad is to Australia. But we also had...

As we walked out, my mother surprised me. I pointed out the Kiwi Park an I mentioned that I hoped we would make it there tomorrow. She immediately replied, “Why can’t we go there now?” She pointed out, with impeccable logic, that the weather was currently great but it might be raining tomorrow...

It’s been a surprisingly big day. Today’s set-piece event was a goldola ride up the mountain followed by a “Premium Lunch” at the Stratosphere Restaurant. “Premium” in this case simply means a table at the window. It cost a little bit extra for a potentially fantastic view. I write...

Fergburger is most definitely a thing and is absolutely on our to-do list! It's the one place in the world where I don't resent queueing. Having said that, you can now order online apparently. I'll put Winnies on my list of possible places for me to escape to if it all becomes too much...!

Unforeseen issue #2: We went back to our rooms and I FaceTimed my wife and possibly wrote a little more of this TR. At 6pm we met downstairs. My mother wanted a Pina Colada (we’re on holidays, right?) and I was happy to learn that the Novotel still allows people to order house spirits for their...