Blenheim is not much of place really.....give or take 40 plus boutique vinyards in the area ......yeh baby! The Marlborough region is famous for its sauv blancs and I was never a big fan of white wine .....but oo how my tastes have changed. After a nice chilled morning in Picton we drove to Blenheim ( 30 mins ) to join a wine tour. On the tour there was a young couple from Ireland who were a bit trollied already and a couple of American girls who were clearly spitting and not swallowing as they were sober and had neatly laid [View Full Entry]

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We were Knackered when we finished the Kayacking tour but decided to plod on to picton so we would have a day to enjoy the vinyards of the Marlboough region. Ken from our trip hitched a ride and sat up front while I lay up back on the bed so the coppers wouldnt see me......After an hour driving we stopped off in Nelson next to a chippy, as we were starving. Graham and I milled around outside eyeballing the menu and deciding if we were hungry enough for a full scoop of chips to accompany our deep fried battered blue cod [View Full Entry]

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We woke to blazing sunshine and an equally blazing hangover for what was to be the start of our 2 day expedition by kayak through the Marine Reserve of the Abel Tasman Region. We arrived at the centre and met our Guide Dave and our fellow trippers - we travel all this way and we are coincedently on a trip with a couple from Dundee and another from Aviemore -!! The other two trippers was a cockney bloke and a guy from San Diego. After packing our gear ( the kayaks hold a ton of stuff BTW!! ) we jumped in [View Full Entry]

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Decided to just basically chill today and pottered around Nelson in the morning and did a wee bit of shopping and grabbed a great lunch! In the afternoon we drove to the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park - Kaiteriteri and camped right next to the beach. This place is a beach lovers paradise and we spent the afternoon just paddling around and lazing about on the golden sand. It was a welcome break after the hectic times we have had lately! Turns out we were camped right next to one of the best seafood restaurants in the region, as [View Full Entry]

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We are writing this in Nelson, having arrived a few days early, due to heli hike cancellation. That is the beauty of doing a trip by campervan, you can change your plans at the last minute. Murchison was not on our list of places to visit, but a chance meeting with a cool weegie backpacker who had tramped all over NZ for the past 15 years sent us in this direction. We arrived here at arround 11pm last night so could not tell what it was like until this morning. Murchison is one of the best places in NZ to white [View Full Entry]

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Today it was a wee bitty cloudy which meant that our trip by helicopter up to the Franz Josef Glacier was cancelled :(( I was really looking forward to it and we would have got some cracking piccies. We had the option to do a hike up to a wee bit of glacier which meant a 4.5 hour hike then only 45 minutes on the ice - too much like hard work for us so for the first time in ages we did nothing and chilled! Later in the day we drove over to the west coast and again it was [View Full Entry]

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It was a cracking day when we woke this morning so chilled by Lake Wanaka before heading to experience some of Wanaka's attractions. Puzzling world and Have a shot... Basically an attraction of optical illusions and then a shooting range...passed a few hours. It was G's turn to drive today and what a buzz, more stunning scenery, towering mountains with snow capped peaks, winding roads through rainforests, impressive bridges over fast flowing rivers - you get the picture!! It was sensory overload time again......I can honestly say the South Island is the most beautiful of all the places [View Full Entry]

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When Graham and I thought of coming to Queenstown, we thought it would be just the place to come to do all the crazy adventure stuff, we just did not expect how beautiful a location it would be...the scenery is fantastic. Plenty Scenery, Plenty great walks to do, loadsa activities, and tons of great bars, and shops. Two days is simply not enough to take it all in. You could easily come here on holiday and just base yourself here for the duration. In fact G and I have spoken to loadsa ppl here that came here on there travels meaning [View Full Entry]

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(( apologies in advance for my rambling but 3 hours after our jumps I am still buzzing like never before ) We came to New Zealand with a big list of things to tick off our must do list and a skydive was on top! Now as a person who avoided the Rothesay fair big wheel because it tipped upside down and a bloke who has to ensure he maintains three points of contact on anything above 5 metres off the ground we are feeling pretty smug with ourselves. We are the biggest feardies we know and when booking it yesterday [View Full Entry]

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This part of our trip was a Christmas present from Frank ( G's Dad ) and truly spectacular. The Fiordlands are really special, and we were lucky enough to experience them in two kinds of weather. The Boat trip was to take us through the sounds right out to the Abel Tasman Sea, this was after a short cruise over Manapouri Lake, and a coach journey over Arthurs pass - so so many photos We stopped of in a sheltered cove called deep cove and kayaked and swimmed in the afternoon, before continuing our journey out to sea. Although again it [View Full Entry]

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