Our drive from Queenstown to Te Anau was memorable only for one thing, the roadside cafe we stopped at for a short break after leaving Queenstown.  On the main road in a tiny village named Kingston which lies at the southern tip of Lake Wakitipu, this wonderful cafe, gift shop and general store attracted locals…

Having fully dried out after the two day soaking, we awoke on Thursday morning to bright sunshine.  However this was a bit misleading as there was still a chill in the air and the high peaks all around us were capped in snow.  What it did do was to show off the lovely rich blue…

Queenstown – Outdoor activities capital of New Zealand.  Whether you want walking, Jet Boating, White Water Rafting or something a little more adrenalin inducing, Queenstown is likely to have it for you.  If they don’t, it either has not been invented yet or they know where you can go to.  Queenstown is also the home…

After the experiences of Fox Glacier it was time to journey south to Wanaka. Easy to say, but the consequences should you mis-spell it could be embarrassing. The weather was not doing us any favours either; what started as a clear sunny morning had rapidly degenerated to a grey cloudy drizzly outlook with the promise…

Remember Foxes  Glacier Mints?  Remember the advert, with the Polar Bear stood on top with a smile on his/her face?  Well the only resemblance that the sweet has to this is that they almost bear the same name.  No Polar Bears, no sweet wrappers.  The NZ version is a real glacier. Fox Glacier / Te…

Up early for the next stage of our journey, this a long drive to Hokitika a small town on the west coast of South Island. An interesting drive initially through the western half of the Abel Tasman National Park we eventually left the fruit growing areas and began to climb through the mountains joining the…

An early morning taxi ride to the Inter-Islander Ferry terminal in Wellington was the start of our South Island adventure.  No car, we were travelling as foot passengers and collecting our hire car in Picton. At check in our bags were loaded separately into the hold to be collected at the other end and just…

With Napier done we made our way southwest to New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington or “Windy Welly” as the locals sometimes refer to it.  It gets this reputation from the westerly winds that barrel through off the Roaring Forties and unchecked from South America further afield. This was to be our last stop on North…

No, this is not a critique of the 90s American beach drama but the next instalment in our journey around New Zealand.  The Bay in question is Hawkes Bay, and our destination is the small city lying at the south end of the bay, Napier. Our drive down was straight forward.  In 185km  there were no…

Please note, to save my allocation of memory on WordPress I have reduced the resolution of the photographs I upload. If this impacts the quality please let me know. I said at the end of the last blog that we were about to leave Rotorua.  Before we do there are a couple of things I want…