Christchurch – 3rd Feb

We decided to take public transport to the Gondola, which was on the purple line. We had some impressive views of Christchurch and did one of the numerous walks at the peak. There are some interesting gifts to be purchased at the building at the top as well as food and drink. Once we descended […]

Christchurch – 2nd Feb

Given that we still had a bit of jet lag we had a relaxing day by the pool at the hotel. Although Spark had configured our phones,  the phone with the replacement physical Sim was not working so we spent an hour or so with Spark technical support trying to fix it. In the end, […]

Christchurch – 1st February

We arrived late afternoon in Christchurch and checked in to the hotel. At the airport as soon as we stepped off the plane there was a Spark counter offering good deals on Sims and eSims.  They added a new physical Sim to Jackie’s phone and configured my eSim – it was about NZD 95 for […]

Hong Kong – 31st Jan

  Originally, we were planning on going to The Peak via the funicular railway in order to get a view of the city. However, given it was a Chinese holiday, there were massive crowds so we decided to take the MRT to Shatin to take a look at the 10,000 Buddhas. Hong Kong Gardens which […]

Hong Kong – 30th Jan

  We did the Big bus tour around the island visiting Stanley, Aberdeen, Repulse and South Bays. It’s a great service with an app telling you when the next bus will be arriving so it was really useful to see other parts of the island. Commentary on the bus was also informative. We did the […]

Hong Kong – 29th Jan

New Years Day! We took the excellent Ngong Ping 360 cable car to see Big Buddha. The best way to get to Lantau Island (Ngong Ping 360) is to take Tung Chung Line and get off at the last stop (Tung Chung). It’s then a few minutes walk to a Cable Car Entrance which will […]

Hong Kong – 28th Jan

On landing at Aukland International, we went to Tourist information bureau at the airport who advised how to best get to The Wharney hotel in Wanchai. They were very friendly and provided us with maps and a water bottle as a New Year’s Day gift.. They advised us to buy an On-Loan Octopus MRT card […]