Wanaka was the next port of call for us and our Nissan Pulsar. The township sits right on Lake Wanaka, allowing amazing views of Mount Aspiring National Park in the background with the beautiful lake in the foreground. Having the car made it all the better. We explored right around the edge of the lake and found ourselves a quiet little beach. It was so secluded it felt like our own private space. More exploring around the lake brought us upon many little coves, which the locals use as slipways to launch their small boats and jet skis. Another attraction in [View Full Entry]

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The west coast …. Our first destination on the west coast was Westport; a large town about 3 hours drive from Motueka. On our way we visited the Buller Gorge which is home to New Zealand’s longest swing bridge. What they don’t tell you, is that it’s about 6 inches wide at the bottom and 2 foot wide at it’s widest point. It makes for hilarious sights, people sort of shuffling across the bridge not to mention when two people going the opposite direction cross paths. We had the pleasure of encountering a woman who was afraid of both heights and [View Full Entry]

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We crossed the Cook Strait on a lovely big Interislander ferry known as the Kaitaki, and there couldn’t have been a nicer day for it. We had gorgeous sunshine and a bit of a breeze to keep us cool, so we sat out on the upper deck watching the wondrous sights that go hand in hand with this crossing. The scenery was totally breathtaking, and we were glad we hadn’t suffered the same fate as many people we have met along the way, who had the misfortune of crossing in the bad weather and not seeing any sights at all! The [View Full Entry]

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So the final destination for us before we lost our lovely Corolla was Taupo. But before we left her back we ventured down to Tongariro National Park. The weather was unfortunately against us for doing the crossing, which we were both quite disappointed about. But even some of the experienced walkers were deciding against it due to weather warnings. The national park is really amazing and such a clash of landscapes. The route south from Taupo was nice but it was quite mundane when compared to the national park itself. The three snowy peaks of Mount Tongariro (2122m….), Mount Ruapehu and [View Full Entry]

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So the drive from Whakatane to Rotorua took us about 3 hours. The views along the way were some of the most breath-taking we had encountered as we crossed some rather mountainous terrain alongside Mount Edgecumbe and Maungawhakamana -you can guess which one is a Maori name! The weather had improved immensely which made the drive all the more enjoyable. As we arrived into Rotorua we noticed a pungent smell had started to creep into the car - a rather unpleasant one I felt although Gareth wasn’t quite as disgusted by it. I recognized the smell was hydrogen sulphide (it [View Full Entry]

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We were quite eager to get on the road leaving Whenuakite, not because we didn’t like the place or enjoy our stay in Seabreeze Tourist Park, far from it, but we were quite eager to make our way to Waitomo and check out the famous caves! Along the way though we had to stop off in Hamilton, to swap over our Ford Focus for another car. Unfortunately the Focus had been quite noisy in its objection to driving up over mountain roads, around sharp bends and up inclines. It was whining and rattling underneath so we decided we should swap it [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone, We'll be back to our old tricks of making you all jealous very shortly, but in the meantime we wanted to say Happy Christmas to you all and let you know that we are thinking about you Back soon ....... [View Full Entry]

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So we set off from Auckland in our lovely Ford Focus and made our way down towards Thames to begin our journey around the Coromandel peninsula. We were not prepared at all for how beautiful it was. Gareth began the drive so we could get out of Auckland without side swiping any cars - I haven't driven in ages after all! But I took over just after Thames and just my luck it was when the winding roads and fabulous beaches began! Then again I got to sit back and enjoy all the views down the Californian coast so it was [View Full Entry]

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On arrival in Auckland we weren’t sure really what to expect. We had been told that it wasn’t really a city that we should spend much time in and that we should only stay a couple of days. So we decided to book 4 nights! We arrived in the city well rested after our relaxing time in Fiji and it was a good thing too.. We arrived in the city with directions to the hostel and a plan of how to get there on the bus. Off the bus we hopped at the last stop and headed down the docks towards [View Full Entry]

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After 4 weeks of constant travel through the US we were really looking forward to some rest and relaxation in Fiji. We decided to spend our first 2 nights in a nice motel on the beach in smugglers cove, 10 minutes from Nadi Town. It had a lovely pool and garden so we spent the first two days going from the pool to the sun loungers and back to the pool ...and so on. It was great to do NOTHING for a while ha ha! We also had the beach 100m away so in the evenings we went for walks along [View Full Entry]

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