Our next stop was the lake side town of Wanaka but first just outside of Queenstown was the Nevis Highwire Bungee, we had to visit. The place was full of Japanese tourist, a coach full in fact. They were all out braving the weather taking photos of everything. The reason for the enthusiasm was that two of the young girls in the group were going to take the leap. The Nevis Bungee is in no way the highest in New Zealand, a mere 45 metres above an ice cold glacial river. The fact that there was a howling gale and horizontal [View Full Entry]

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We were up early, drove into Kaikoura to use the toilets and clean up. We met a couple from London, Mark and Fiona. Mark was an avid bird-watching so we ended up chatting for a good hour n a half. We then hit the road and spent the rest of the day driving. We finally decided to pull into a camp site on the river Rakaia which claims to some of the best Salmon fishing in the World. From the photos displayed in the kitchen I believe them! I also filmed a Tomtit (a small black n white birdie) which as [View Full Entry]

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After breakfast we drove into Kaikoura, a truly picture post card town. Long, clean beaches with white surf all backed with the setting of snow capped mountains, WOW. The sun was really hot this morning, if fact the weather has been really good to us for 95% of the trip. We headed straight for the Whale Watch tour office. We expected to have to wait around for a couple of days to get a booking; luckily we squeezed in on the 11am tour. It couldn’t have been more perfect. Visibility was a good 5 miles and the sea was calm. Once [View Full Entry]

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The sun rose over the cliffs of the gorge, illuminating the yellow Gorse that was clinging to its sides. Directly in front of the vans windscreen was a flowering tree and energetically hopping through the branches, feeding on nectar was a very confident male Bellbird. The sunlight shone off the blue feathering on the birds head. The woodland resounded with this species distinctive calls. I set up my camera! After a late breakfast and an hours writing, Pili and I decided to explore the path leading into the woodlands. On the way we saw some Redpolls, this is a British species [View Full Entry]

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18th September 2008 We broke camp early with just a cup of hot coffee inside us and a wiz in the wood. Within half an hour we we’re in the one horse town called Twizel. This is where the Black Stilt program resides. Disaster struck us; we’re supposed to book a tour before 9am for a start at 9:30am. We call the Department of Conservation plus a couple of other number given to us and all had the same reply, call back at 10am, TO BLOODY LATE!! We decided to try and find the place ourselves and blag it. We drove [View Full Entry]

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We spent the rest of the afternoon driving back to Motueka to get some supplies and to check our email, I wanted to tell mom about what had happened with the seals. We arrived around dusk and pulled into the car park behind the Info centre. We met a couple of hippies, Melf from Germany and Christina from Ontario. I asked them if it was cool to stay overnight in the town and they told us it was no problem except a market was due in the car park in the morning so we’d have to park in the street, but [View Full Entry]

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Well if you think I've been indulgent already, guess what you've seen nothing yet. The sunrise that Pili and I filmed on the morning of the 11th October 2008 on the Cape Farewell Spit, at the very northern coast of the South Island was beyond description so I'm not really going to try. I'll leave it all to a selection of my photos, enjoy or pass over, it's our blog so I don't care!!! lol JH [View Full Entry]

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Sunrise at 6:20am and I missed it by half an hour, BUGGER!!! Oh well as consolation Leyton called me over to the house and pointed out four White Faced Herons sat in the pine tree in his garden, perfectly silhouetted against the blue morning sky. Great birds and so photogenic. At 9am we made our way up to the café for a coffee and to meet our guide for the tour as well as the other people on the four and a half hour trip. Chris Pomeroy was our tour guide; he instantly reminded me of the late Steve Irwin, I’m [View Full Entry]

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NEW ZEALND - SOUTH ISLAND 7th September 2008 The day started bad. I was awoken at approx 6am by the gales actually shaking Peter’s house, unhappy. Today we caught the ferry across to Picton, South Island, we we’re sad to say goodbye to Pete, Fiona and the children but we we’re equally exciting about getting back on the road. On the ferry the wind was gale force and really throwing us around. Pili and I sat in the café and had breakfast and watched everyone else turn green, pussies. The crossing took approx four and a half hours, running about an [View Full Entry]

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We arrived at Owera just before dark and checked into a Top 10 camp site, we needed to wash some clothes, shower and check email. While Pili was showering I cooked up a couple of sirloin steaks. The next morning we hastily packed up camp, not before I took some gorgeous shots of a Monarch Butterfly (these graceful insects migrate to Mexico across the Pacific!!). We headed down to Gulf Harbour to catch our ferry Pili had booked the previous day via phone, we also were staying on the island overnight. I can’t remember being so excited, this is a boyhood [View Full Entry]

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