The 2003 travelogue is, as usual, closely based on a regular series of lighthearted Emails sent out as "News from The Antipodes". They were written as we went on our venerable HP95 and transferred to the Libretto via the IR link, copied into an email, superficially spell checked and sent. They were not in any way polished and only the most gross errors have been removed here.
The emails have been consolidated, divided into a logical series of pages and illustrated with pictures from Pauline's camera and stills from the Peter's digital video camera.
Some of the content was included specifically to update pages covering specific topics - progress is shown below. It has taken a little time as this years "News" totaled over 40,000 words (circa 50 A4 pages) and over 180 pictures have been used so far.
All the pictures on the pages provide details of where they were taken if you hover over them and they can all be clicked to open a larger version in a new pop-up Window.
Each year we try to extract more from the chronological organisation and consolidate the content into specific pages. This year we had the content for major updates to:
New Zealand Goldmining - Introduction to Goldmining Techniques and Travels in various Goldfields - Updated to include the West Coast Goldfields and now divided into 5 parts
New Zealand Wines, Wineries and Vineyard Restaurants - brings together our favourite vineyards to visit. Selection is not solely the on the quality of the wine but is biased towards those with good vineyard restaurants, magnificent scenery and a friendly and helpful approach. - Updated with addition input on Hawkes Bay and Marlborough
Sailing in New Zealand - An Introduction to Sailing in New Zealand with an index to our own sailing in the Hauraki Gulf, The Bay of Islands and the Coastal Passage between them and on up to Whangaroa Harbour. - Updated to include our experiences in 2003
The Whanganui River Story The story of the River and the river boats that served it. - Updated to include the restoration of the Wairua
"News from the Antipodes 2003" has also updated a number of other pages:
Updated - New Zealand Books - We have built up a library of books on New Zealand during our visits and have initiated a catalogue. Our books cover many topics from Sailing and Fishing through the Goldfields and Art Deco to Maori Culture.
Updated - Interesting Web Sites: We have found a number of useful Web sites on New Zealand that you may want to have a look at.