Kaikoura is a good stop for tourists. It's all about the sea - and what lives beneath it. We booked a whale watching tour the morning after we arrived, and managed to get last minute places. The tour lasted 3 hours and, although very expensive, was well worth it as we got to see three sperm whales. The sperm whale is massive and can survive under water for around 2.5 hours before it has to come up for air. Once up on the surface it usually stays up for around 5 - 10 minutes spurting water from it's blow hole before [View Full Entry]

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We arrived at Dunedin early afternoon and had just about enough time to look around the town before everything closed. Dunedin is a relatively old Scottish settler town with lots of classic victorian architecture scattered around the 'Hexagon' (city centre). Now it's a bustling tourist destination being at the start of the Otago Peninsula known for it's wildlife sightings of seals, yellow-eyed penquins and albatross. our campsite was located between the two, the plan being to visit Otago the next day. As it happened we had our first rainstorm since we arrived the following day, which pretty [View Full Entry]

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We were pretty much dreading the 2 hour journey to Milford Sound because of the warnings of the roads being difficult to drive on in the winter, and had been advised to take a guided tour there instead. Thing was, we wanted to stay the night there, and the tours pretty much take you their and back in the blink of an eye, and also we wanted the freedom of stopping off anywhere we wanted to on the way to take pictures or have a breather. Milford Sound is as much about the scenic journey there (from Te Anua - just [View Full Entry]

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After our shakey drive down from the Cadrona ski slopes, we didn't want to drive too far that evening to our next destination. The plan had been to drive on to Queenstown, but after an hour of driving we decided to pull into a town called Franktown to find somewhere (free) to park the van. We did manage to find a nice little spot next to a massive lake which was tucked away from the town, and there were public toilets not far. It did actually have a sign saying no camping but a local told us that it only really [View Full Entry]

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A 3 hr scenic journey took us from Mount Cook to Wanaka, past lakes and through mountain roads. The town of wanaka is surrounded by a beautiful boating lake, Lake Wanaka and again reflects all the surrounding mountains. We pitched up at our holiday camp before dark (the plan was to have one night out of every two at a powered campsite where we could get hot showers and cook some warm food). After claiming our camping spot with views over lake wanaka we drove into town and had a walk around to soak up the atmosphere. We loved this town, [View Full Entry]

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On the drive to Mount Cook we had beautiful weather and fantastic scenery. Just 1 hour before the Mount Cook National Park is Lake Tekapo - a beautiful still lake reflecting the mountainous scenery around it. We just went snap happy - everywhere we looked was a view worth capturing. At the lake we met a group of lads making their way down to Queenstown from Christchurch (a mamouth 10 hour journey). We were glad we would be having a night in Mount Cook to break the journey. There is a pretty little church perched on the rock face overlooking Lake [View Full Entry]

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WOW THIS COUNTRY IS AMAZING!!!!!! Okay - so first to Christchurch. We flew in over the snow capped mountains of New Zealand and then in the distance saw Christchurch. After a smooth landing and then a smooth transision into our campervan (go Jucy Rentals!) - we were on the road, and didn't have far to go to our camping holiday park for the night. This is the first time throughout our travels that we had chosen the 'campervan' route and we were sooooooo excited. Even though the temperature here is absolutely freezing (well it is their winter) - and our van [View Full Entry]

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We had an early flight to Hervey Bay and once landed we picked up our hire car to make the 3 hour drive up to Agnes Water. Hervey Bay would be our base for the following two days, but to start with we had booked a tour of Lady Musgrave Island further up the coast to see the Great Barrier Reef first hand. The drive to Agnes Water was scenic and the nice thing about Agnes Water and the accompanying town of 1770 is that neither are too touristy or crowded. They are pretty much stopping off places for the Lady [View Full Entry]

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We had two months to spend in Sydney and the fist place we stayed was the infamous 'Kings Cross'! We didn't realise the reputation of this place until we arrived at the hostel on day one, a dubious area with a 'lively' night scene and gigantic neon Coca Cola sign as a welcome. Our first night was spent in a tiny twin room with single bunks, small and expensive but with the most fantastic views across to the harbour bridge and opera house which more than made up for it. In total we spent 10 days in Kings Cross, from the [View Full Entry]

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So our journey to the Gold Coast began. We hired a car for two days and made the scenic drive up to Surfers Paradise. On the morning of the first day we spent a couple of hours in the Hunters Valley tasting wine, cheese, bread and olive oil (oh and champagne!). We loved this trip - all the freebies we could manage - a budget travellers dream!. It would have been nice to spend longer there and perhaps stayed overnight but we had a 10 hour drive to the Gold Coast to complete and only two days to do it in. [View Full Entry]

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