Consider the finger pointing towards the moon...... don't watch the finger or you'll miss all that heavenly glory - Bruce Lee And that's exactly what we were doing, watching the finger and missing all the heavenly glory that surrounded us. Standing in the centre of some of the worlds most stunning scenery but we couldn't see it, it's not because our eyes were shut, they were open and looking but not seeing. The finger had now become the thorn in our side, pressing hard with its sharp nail, on occasions drawing tears, nothing seems to suppress the poking finger, it dominates [View Full Entry]

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Not only is every day different but every moment, no two sunrises we have witnessed have been the same, just as no two crashing waves have been remotely similar, each view from the same lookout on the same day just moments apart are different let alone the next day, each tiny speck of difference should be marveled at for its individuality, never will these exact same elements be in line ever again, oh sure they may look similar but take a closer look and you'll see the difference. From the first moment we wake to the last moment before we sleep [View Full Entry]

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Every Silver Lining Has A Dark Cloud Half the enjoyment and beauty we experience traveling is the journey to each of our destinations, taking us passed or through places that we do not expect to go to or see, these places can throw up a life long memory, whether it is a little café with the best carrot cake, Cosy Nook a weathered old fishing village or Tuatapere the sausage capital of NZ (where we purchased some of their finest beef Bangers!) but with all these delights it's only a matter of time before disappointment rears its ugly head. Invercargill a [View Full Entry]

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The deafening sound of silence pierces Fiordland, only bird song and the crackle of logs on the fire may break the code of silence, the hush of Lake Te Anau lapping softly against the smooth pebbles of the inland beach and the wind whispers “By Eck It's Cold!”. The only element which didn't get the quiet memo was the rain ringing out in the night sky as it smashed down on our log cabin. Our little log cabin, over looking the ever changing mountain ranges, due to its ever changing weather. Our hostel was on huge acreage on a deer farm, [View Full Entry]

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What a Differences a Day Makes The ice and snow had been cleared from the roads the previous day, a beautiful blue cloudless day and a road sign “No Chains Required”, that was the only sign we needed to see as we wound our way along the narrow roads towards Arthur's Pass, we were told that half the beauty of Arthur's Pass is the journey to Arthur's Pass Village and it didn't disappoint in any shape or form, absolutely Jaw dropping landscapes change with every corner. The further towards the top we got the more dramatic the mountains and the more [View Full Entry]

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The rain, oh the rain, how hard must you fall? What have we done to upset these gods of heavy rain, is it when we mocked the deaf elderly? We tried everything to gain favour, Kirstin busted some phat moves in a sun dance stylie, no joy, Rob sang a power ballad with a lighter, still no joy, why do the rain gods torment us so? In between all the power ballads and break dancing we arranged our new hire car, named Sunny Jim, not much imagination required, it was a Nissan Sunny! Before we left the car hire place, we [View Full Entry]

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Sacre Bleu-stard!!! We start this blog going over old ground, you already knew we were in Wellington, you also knew we arrived in the dark staying in Plimmerton and you already knew we'd seen the All Blacks play the dirty French, we (Rob) say dirty as one of the French players said he was beaten up by a gang of thugs after the game, the whole country was outraged by such an appalling attack. Many police hours later we find out that he was spanked by his own team-mates, now the whole country (Rob) wish he did get that pounding! Jack [View Full Entry]

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Planning for today started the day we arrived in New Zealand, the tickets for the All Black's upcoming test had just gone on sale and we were lucky enough to get hold of some. We were off to join the Kiwi's in an initiation into supporting the All Black's. After being outplayed in the first Test, which they lost 27-22 to France in Dunedin, the All Blacks needed a winning margin of at least six points in the second and final test in Wellington to retain the Dave Gallaher Trophy. We followed a sea of black under heavy black rain clouds [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Rotorua in the driving rain and left in the driving rain and with this driving rain there were more plan changes; with two road closures there were even more changes. After doubling back a few times, going inland when we wanted to be coastal we finally made it up to the Coromandel Peninsula underneath the clearing skies. One thing we feel we need to explain; when in NZ you have to get and pretty quickly into the “Kiwi Way” because if you don't some small things will start to get under your skin, as Rob has discovered! Particularly [View Full Entry]

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Art Deco Capital of the World Poor old Napier was flattened by an earthquake in 1931 and rebuilt from scratch in the Art Deco style, what is left is a grid system of streets with some beautiful pastel coloured deco buildings and a mish mash of everything else. Pulling into town you half expect to see chaps walking around in straw boaters, talking very quickly, and finishing every sentence with “don't you know” and women swinging their beads around, walking in a Charlton-esque manner. They don't, they walk just like you and us, except once a year when they have an [View Full Entry]

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