R: So first, a little explanation. We were going to go to Fiji/Samoa/Tonga. We have not. This is for 3 main reasons. 1) Most importantly, we love New Zealand and we feel like 5 weeks was rushing it and we're happy to stay on. 2) It is NZ school holidays this week which makes all the islands more expensive and out of our price range with the exception of Fiji. 3) Cyclone Winston ripped through Fiji recently damaging infrastructure and we were told we could go to resorts, but most likely nothing else will be open yet. So we happily decided to stay on here. So we flew back to Auckland from Dunedin on a cheeky Air New Zealand flight and landed in an Airbnb in a 8th floor city central apartment, with a new host, ... read more

R: On 22 February 2011, a earthquake with magnitude 6.3 struck Christchurch, just a few months after a previous earthquake had already caused major damage to the city. This time though, the epicentre was nearer and not as deep. The effects have left a huge scar on Christchurch - 185 people died, and 80% of the CBD was either destroyed or needed to be demolished. In the suburbs, liquification of the ground caused further destruction to residential properties and streets. The power, gas and sewage systems were heavily disrupted. 5 years on, some people told us that it would be depressing, some said inspirational, so we went to make our minds up. We once again lucked out with the Airbnb we had booked - a smart town house on the outskirts of town. Our first day ... read more

C: The next morning was an early start as we had a long journey to get to fjordland. Annoyingly Milford Sound is only about 30 miles from Queenstown as the crow flies but due to some very large mountains you have to drive the long way round, about 180 miles. The road is very scenic though we have to admit we did doze a bit on the first leg as our hostel had not been the quietest! After about two hours we stopped for some much needed coffee and a bacon sandwich in Te Anau, the gateway town for the fjords. It was another two hours from there to Milford and this was when the rain started. It steadily got heavier and heavier and we were feeling a bit disappointed until we headed into a valley, ... read more

R: We stopped at Hokitika on the way through which is filled with jade shops, being a prominent feature on the local beaches. Since we hit the west coast the weather has dramatically changed. The drive down to Hokitika was wet. We had a brief look around the I-site and town before heading out to the sunset point, in the pouring lane for a picnic lunch. To the Brits this was perfectly acceptable, but possibly a bit much for those of us who are used to Western Australia temperatures... We did a spot of beach combing and found some of our own jade, which is now stashed in the car for some later purpose, and headed off to Hokitika gorge which was about 35km from town. As we headed out, the heavens opened completely, and when ... read more

R: We drove away from Jane's place and headed for Kaikoura on the east coast, on our way to Christchurch to meet Dave and Shannon who we will be travelling with for a couple of weeks. First we stopped at Pelorus Bridge, which is a wooden swing bridge over the Pelorus river, and situated between Nelson and Havelock. We had already covered this section of road, but it was amazingly dramatic with steep mountain passes and beautiful forest. When we got to Blenheim, we stopped in at our previous favourite pub for some more delicious chicken wings.... Then it was down to Kaikoura via route 1, over a scenic mountain pass and along a stunningly dramatic coast line. As we wiggled our way along, there were lookout points, some with seal colonies, but given it was ... read more