So here we are back at home desperately trying to overcome the jet lag and feeling the need to finish chronicling our travels.

We had hoped to get as far south as Stewart island but time was against us so we headed to Dunedin on the east coast and not to far from Christchurch our final destination.Stopping overnight at a place called Gore, not a planned stop but tiredness got the better of us so we just headed for the next convenient place. A lucky choice as the following morning we visited the local gallery which happened to be the home of the John Money collection (the name meant nothing to us at the time) Money was born in Morrinsville , studied education and psychology and ended up as a research fellow at the John Hopkins university in Baltimore. He always maintained an interest in the arts and was an avid collector he befriended the artists Theo Schoon and Rita Angus who’s work featured largely in the display as well as his own collection of African art and carvings.

We eventually arrived in Dunedin (which is Maori for Edinburgh) and instantly liked it, everything appeared to span out from the main square on which sat the Cathedral, Art gallery and a great choice of eateries. Having lunched we headed towards the Chinese garden but were drawn in to the Otago settlement museum so had to give the gardens a miss until the following morning.

The gardens were built in recognition of the contribution to the town by the Chinese settlers who had originally come as gold miners diversifying into market gardening when the gold ran out and eventually into fruit selling and laundering. The garden had been prefabricated in Shanghai dismantled and then reassembled in Dunedin.

After a leisurely stroll around the garden we headed to the Otago Peninsula to visit Larnach castle built in 1871 by William Larnach a wealthy banker and member of parliament for his wife, set on a hill it had great views of the Peninsula.

Our last stop before heading to the airport was the coastal town of Oamuru known as the Steam Punk capital, what a funky place all happening around a couple of blocks of preserved Victorian commercial buildings we lost ourselves in the quirky shops for the afternoon.

Later in the evening we strolled along the promenade to the Little Blue Penguin colony, which is a conservation centre where you pay to sit in stands from which you can watch the penguins come ashore. They spend the day about 15 kilometres off shore feeding then at dusk come ashore to spend the night. They arrive in small groups known as rafts, no more than a foot tall first one little head pops up between the rocks followed by another and another, after cleaning and oiling themselves they waddle their way across the grass to the enclosure where the centre has provided individual shelters for them, one of the cutest things I have seen and a highlight of the holiday. Unfortunately no photos as cameras and phones are banned.

So that is it folks our adventure has come to an end 😢 what a great time we have had crossing at least four time zones, meeting some great people en route and taking in some spectacular scenery, our only regret is we did not give it more time.

Now to planning the next one. 🤔 Watch this space.