Somewhere in Dunedin, New Zealand

And now we have passed the Tasman Sea, over to the other Commonwealth, a much colder one, New Zealand! We landed in Christchurch late at night and immediately the fresh brisk kiwi air told us we had left the tropics and were now in a very temperate, european weather, where the early autumn resembles the early autumn back home. But other differences followed, and will surely be made evident to us over the next days, the people still speak English but with a somewhat different accent and attitude, the architecture is different too, with the stone-built houses reminding us of the small English villages in the countryside, probably not just an accident as the early settlers named so many of the places and streets of New Zealand after those they had left behind in the British Isles.

After taking the keys of Lucio, our car for the next few weeks, we set off immediately to explore this country which opens before us so many exciting new adventures! And the same way as in Australia the first town we went to had been an odd German town, this time we started off with a peculiar French town called Akaroa, filled with french street names and cafes, absolutely charming, ever more so as its setting was an absolutely gorgeous bay, reminding us straight away how unpopulated this country is.

Moving on to the countryside (gravel roads are less of a problem for the much more manouvereable Lucio), the scenery before us makes clear what drove the sparsely populated New Zealand to be the setting for the Lord of the Rings films - sometimes you can just expect to see a Hobbit running over the beautiful pristine hills and mountains!

We are now in Dunedin, gaelic for Edinburgh - as Pedro is wearing his University of Edinburgh jumper, many times over we had heard how we have to go and visit the Edinburgh of the South - and how confusing it is to see the familiar street names of Princes Street and George Street over the main streets of this Scottish-settled town!

We will continue moving further south in the South Island tomorrow - the abundant (and fascinating to watch) penguins, sea lions, seals and albatrosses have already made it very clear that we are close to, and nearing, the Antartic! And we will certainly buy ourselves a woolen jumper in preparation!