The photo across the top of the page is taken on the banks of Lake Tekapo in New Zealand , which is where I was this time last year. I had a three week holiday stopping in New York for a few nights before heading on to New Zealand for a fortnight , and then a few nights in San Francisco on the way back. NZ is a stunningly beautiful place with very friendly and welcoming locals , and my long term plan is to emigrate there when funds and job allow. Unlike the UK , they still have common sense and a way of life that encourages respect and decency and it was such a refreshing change to go there , and a shock to the system to return.

Highlights of the trip included a day out in Akaroa - a small town about an hour's drive from Christchurch on the South island. It reminds me a lot of the south of France, having been founded by French colonists, but also has boat trips out to the sea with seals and dolphins for company.



...and another trip from Queenstown with a helicopter flight to the fjords at Milford Sound , stopping for photos on top of a glacier , then a boat trip and a small plane back to Queenstown. Helicopters I can get on with , but a tiny plane being chucked round in turbulence isn't much fun.



The full set of my pictures is HERE if anyone is interested