Day 91 (Monday 20/07/09, NJJ) Mordor Today we've been away from home 3 months to the day. Saw Mt Taranaki, a snow covered volcano. Had lunch roadside in van. Drove to National Park. Saw the snow fields and the area that was used as Mordor in LOTR due to the volcanic rock which we could only see bits of as it was covered in snow and ice. It was raining on and off all day again. Drove on to Turangi where we had nice views of Lake Taupo. Checked into a shitty camp site. Made dinner in the van. Watched film [View Full Entry]

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Day 90 (Sunday 19/07/09, NJJ) Drove to Palmerston North, stopped there for an hour. On to the volcanic Surf Beach near Hawera. Had a wander along the beach. Although the weather was pretty dull the beach still looked lovely. On next to Stratford to a camp site late afternoon. Relaxed for the remainder of the day watching TV in the camp lounge. We were bored as there wasn't much to do. [View Full Entry]

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Day 89 (Saturday 18/07/09, NJJ) First Wellington stop was Weta Cave - home to the special effects company that worked on Lord of the Rings, very interesting. On to the city centre. Parked up to visit Te Papa Museum - there was a Rubiks cube competition taking place, saw the only preserved colossal squid in any museum, learnt a bit about Maori culture. Had lunch at a food court. Had a nice walk around. Left the city just after 3pm. Drove through Upper Hutt and on to Kaitoke Regional Park, the location for Rivendell (LOTR). More driving on to Masterton, checked [View Full Entry]

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Day 88 (Friday 17/07/09, NJJ) Drove to Picton town. Made lunch in van for ferry trip. Checked in at ferry terminal at 11.50am. After waiting we drove on to the ferry, parked up then went upstairs. The ferry was called Kaikari, was formerly known as 'The Pride of Cherbourg'. Crossing was fairly smooth. Off ferry by 4.30pm. Drove to Newlands area of Wellington. Checked into Capital Gateway Motor Inn. Shopping. Relaxed at camp for evening. [View Full Entry]

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Day 87 (Thursday 16/07/09, NJJ) Left camp just after 10am. Drove through Nelson on way to Blenheim. We decided to do a Marlborough Valley Wine Tour although as Jamie was driving only I could drink. We visited an information centre at a local wool shop and we were shocked by the place - it's the untidiest shop ever, piled high with papers, wool and bric-a-brac so that we could hardly walk. We struggled contain our giggles at the sight of the place. On to the wine tour, we picked 4 wineries and went for tastings. I was slightly tipsy by the [View Full Entry]

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Day 86 (Wednesday 15/07/09, NJJ) Drove to Kaiteriteri. Booked Abel Tasman boat trip for couple hours later. Took a short walk in the sunshine. Went to a cafe for hot chocolate yum. Boarded the boat at 12.30pm. Saw 'Split Apple Rock', some fur seals, a bottlenose dolphin playing in the surf from the boat, and went to the Marine Reserve. Weather started great, turned grey, then great again later. Later checked into Maitai Holiday Park. Relaxed for the evening. [View Full Entry]

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Day 85 (Tuesday 14/07/09, NJJ) Jay made some new animal friends at the campsite which is also a farm. Drove to Motueka and then on to Kaiteriteri but weather not good so back to Motueka. Walked around town. Bored. Checked into campsite. Sat in van. Jay slept. I read. Showers. Dinner. Watched 'Role Models' on laptop. [View Full Entry]

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Day 84 (Monday 13/07/09, NJJ) Visited Punakaiki to see the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes - nice, different, unusual. Had lunch at Dirty Mary's in Westport. I tried my first NZ flat white (coffee), was ok. Arrived in Murchison around 4pm. Jay ill with earache, 'blocked' head, bad back and uncomfortable belly. Pasta for dinner. Watched few episodes 'The Inbetweeners'. Relaxed in back of van. [View Full Entry]

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Day 83 (Sunday 12/07/09, NJJ) Drove to Franz Josef Glacier road for a few of the walks. Started off with the 25 min return to Peter's Pool. The view of the glacier from the ice covered pool was lovely. Jamie had great fun looking for rocks to throw at the ice although his throwing ability was lacking as the rocks nearly hit us, he managed to break the ice twice though. Back to the car park and on to the Sentinel rock walk and then the FJ Glacier Walk which took us close to the face of the glacier (around two [View Full Entry]

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Day 82 (Saturday 11/07/09, NJJ) The weather was great all day. From Haast we drove 50km to Jackson's Bay as we read that this is one of Lonely Planet's Blue List top ten road trips - it was good but I wouldn't put it in any of my top lists and it definitely wasn't better than the Milford Road. The Bay was nice enough. We walked along the jetty, the beach and then took the advice of a local lady and we did a 40 minute return walk to another bay. As we were leaving I slipped and hurt my leg [View Full Entry]

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