February 12th One look out the window made us immediately glad we hadn’t done the extra hour towards the coast to Raglan, NZ’s “perfect surfing town.” The rain was torrential, sporadic, and warm. The hotel we’d stayed the night in was so hot and airless we had to chuck the pillows off the bed, soak the towels in cold tap water and put them on our necks and behind our knees. The wide-open window gave us no reprieve, but by morning had allowed a damp fog to move in above us. The ceilings, which were unusually high, had almost begun to [View Full Entry]

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February 11th We were on the road early because today we wanted to hit Waitomo Caves. It was only a good hours drive north of Tongariro and the car was loving the tight twists and turns in the road. Waitomo Caves is famous for its glowworm caves and the invention of black water rafting. Black water rafting consists of jumping on a giant rubber ring and floating down the cave’s stream systems, occasionally plopping off a small waterfall or two. Katherine signed us up for ‘The Labyrinth’, which was a black water raft/tube, plus we were to cruise through a few [View Full Entry]

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February 8th We woke early to finish packing and making the four star and moon hotel presentable again. We gave back the van and we had a sad moment when the van disappeared around the corner. We then took the bus to Picton, then the Interislander and before long, we were back on Courtney Place and wandered back into Wellywood to see if we could stay again. We could and did. Then we decided to see if our friends, with whom we’d met in Wellington before, were in. They were, it was Ashta and her boyfriend Michael. We cracked a bevy, [View Full Entry]

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February 7th This whole time in New Zealand I'd been bugging George about kayaking. The only glitch was that because sea kayaking can be quite dangerous, and because Abel Tasman is a national park, you have to go on an organized tour. We were successfully blackmailed by the campervan park (ie/ "you can only stay here if you book an activity with us") so showed up for the water taxi a bit unsure of what we had in store. The 'water taxi' turns out to be a jet boat attached to a tractor, that drives right into the ocean. This system [View Full Entry]

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February 5th We woke early in the middle of a heard of cows all mooing right down our lug holes. We were not best pleased as it was 0700. The farmer was moving them from field to field with his pickup, dogs and a madly loud holler. Katherine parted the curtain to see, at eye level, a cow right the other side of the glass and promptly returned to the door-mouse position. We didn't have breakkie. We just waited for the cows to leave and hoofed it. Fox Glacier was about 25 km north of our lay by. We entered through [View Full Entry]

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February 4th So, we were told yesterday that we had to be out by 10. I woke nice and early so we could do the necessaries to the van. I left Katherine lying in bed while I went to reception to check out what activities there are to do in this adrenaline fueled town. After reading all about these nuts things to do yesterday, a sky-swing and/or a jet boat ride were tickling our fancies. But we were kind of at least talking about a bungee jump but still thought it was a bit too nuts. Anyway, self appointing myself [View Full Entry]

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January 27th 2009-01-30 We arose around five (one day, I’m going to murder the bugler) to catch the Overlander, the scenic train journey that takes twelve beautiful hours to travel from Auckland to Wellington. We chugged along 680kms, crossing 352 bridges and ducking 19 tunnels. The hills are very rippled and some are snow-capped, and the valleys and gorges have been deepened by the drought and are very dramatic. Really, it looks nothing like the U.K. down here. Once we reached the Tasman Sea, George saw a big island and announced loudly “oh look, there’s Australia,&rdqu [View Full Entry]

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January 29th We woke even earlier than reception did and set off for the Interislander Ferry from Wellington to Picton. We left grey dreary Wellington that was immersed in clouds and drizzle and soon we were out on the Cook Straight. Katherine hit the hay on the boat while I got to watch a bit of English footy. Soon the sun was out and there was bright green land on either side; we had entered the Queen Charlotte Sound (or kind of sea loch to those not in the know). So, our baggage arrived airport style from the conveyor and then [View Full Entry]

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January 30th We woke at around 10 to see that there were four vans parked in the vineyard the other side of the road and about 20 people all wearing orange fluorescent jackets walking the lines of the vines. They didn’t mind at all, everyone here says ‘no worries’ all the time. We tucked into our Pam’s Museli and back on the road. It wasn’t long before we hit the town of Kaikora. This town is world famous for its whale watching. We stopped at one whale-watching place to check it out but there was also swimming with dolphins and we [View Full Entry]

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January 31st The next morning we lounged in our parking spot, soaking up all the electricity we could before setting out to find the buskers. George managed to parallel parked Dame Edna (another name for our van - she walks like a woman but talks like a man!) in the town centre, and we joined the crowds in Cathedral Square. Frankly, I was expecting a multitude of acts across all genres, but Christchurch decided their World Busker Festival was going to consist of a few choice highlights - ‘Yo-yo Guy,’ some dude juggling knives on a unicycle and a comedy act [View Full Entry]

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