Last weekend we saw the first signs that winter was starting and autumn was on its way out. That is, it stopped raining and the sun came out. We've had an unusually cold and wet autumn and are glad to be back to clear, crisp and sunny days! To celebrate, we headed out to Banks Peninsula and after stopping for lunch in Akaroa we drove out to Le Bons Bay, which we've been meaning to visit for ages. There used to be a very good backpackers there, but it seems to have closed down. Shame, we never got to stay. Le Bons Bay is a great place for a walk on the beach and to annoy Oyster Catchers, who always seem so affronted by the fact that anyone else would want to walk on the sand. ... read more

On Sunday, we drove west out of and sunny-but-cold Christchurch on SH73, through Darfield and Springfield, towards the Southern Alps. We crossed the awesome Korowai Torlesse Tussocklands and arrived at the spectacular limestone rock formations of Kura Tawhiti in time for it to start raining. Kura Tawhiti is a place that we keep driving past, but as it is usually on our way home from a 7 hour drive we had never actually stopped there. We had also planned to go for a walk in the Craigieburn Forest Park a few more kilometres up the road, so we continued on and resolved to stop on our way back... We arrived at the turn off for the forest park just as the rain became extremely heavy and so resolved to take the car for a rally drive ... read more

Heading south On Easter Saturday, after a suitable mountain breakfast of chocolate porridge with peaches. we set off heading South towards Queenstown. In the restaurant, the previous night we had been amused by some tourists asking the waitperson for directions from Tekapo to Queenstown. There is ONE road and it goes down and across a bit. There's a detour to Mount Cook, you ignore the turn off to Oamaru at Oamarama, ignore the turn off to Wanaka at Tarras and make sure you take the road to Alexandra at Cromwell. That's it! No directions required. Just keep following the road. You have to go through the Lindis Pass or you don't get through the mountains... So, after driving past Twizel, stopping to stroke some Merino sheep in Omarama, passing through Tarras, the Lindis... read more

Feeling like we hadn't travelled anywhere for a while, we headed out one Saturday morning for a quick 1000km trip up to Nelson and back, driving anti-clockwise, up the coast, along the north coast of South Island and then back down through the mountains. After heading up SH1 with just a few quick stops (of course, that includes visiting the seals off the Kaikoura coast!) we drove along the Sounds and across to Havelock. After a walk on the Sounds we set off to cross the innocent-sounding Mount Richmond Forest Park... Here comes the interesting (fun) part...and I blame Top Gear! Upon leaving Havelock and driving past the last petrol station until our destination, we both glanced at the fuel gauge. It was just below a-quarter-tank and normally we would have tanked up before venturing out ... read more

On a very sunny Saturday, we headed out to Banks Peninusla to visit the Onawe Pa site. This is situated on an incredible natural promontory/island (depending on the tide) and was established as a Maori Pa (fortified site) in 1831. Unfortunately, in 1832 it was the site of an horrendous massacre of the local tribe by another local tribe and as such is an area that must be treated with much respect. There is little to see now except the stunning landscape, but it is one of those places that looks purpose-built, and in fact, is the sort of natural place man could not really have designed better himself. On the way we picked up lunch and stopped at Poranui Beach near Birdling Flat, which is a pebble beach with no swimming (extremely dangerous rips) but ... read more