A surprise in Kaikoura

Home to vast underwater canyons, Kaikoura is a sea animal lovers paradise. The deep canyons provide nutrient rich water that attracts the smallest and largest of sea life. Rich and I headed to Kaikoura in anticipation of swimming with wild dusky dolphins and we were not disappointed. We arrived at Dusky Lodge Backpackers early in […]

Water & Wine

As we left Motueka the rain began to fall and the journey to our next stop in Nelson was somewhat blighted by it. Infact our whole stay in Nelson was blighted by the rain. We spent the day at the backpackers either playing games, doing puzzles (Rich) or blogging (me). We hoped for clear skies the follow […]

Pancakes and the Titanic

Our time spent on the west coast of South Island was coming to an end, only a long stretch of road and a three hundred and fifty mile road trip stood between us and our next activity, sea kayaking in Abel Tasman. We split the drive across two days with a night in Punakaiki, giving us […]

Franz Josef Glacier Hiking

Rich and I were both really looking forward to our heli-hike experience on the Franz Josef glacier. When the morning arrived we stepped out of our hostel and looked up at the glacier, with bright blue skies and barely a breath of wind, we couldn’t have picked a better day for our glacier adventure. “Our […]

Flying high in Wanaka

Rich couldn’t wait to get to Wanaka as this was the place that he had booked a flying lesson. Luckily for me, a passenger got to go in the plane for free during the lesson. Like I said, lucky me! I didn’t tell Rich that the last time I was in a small plane, during […]

Majestic Mount Cook

Imagine clear blue skies with a cool morning breeze passing over a huge expanse of water, with snow covered mountains reaching up into the sky and their reflection reaching down into a lake. This was our morning view. The sight of the Southern Alps mountain range, with Mount Cook soaring three thousand seven hundred and twenty four metres […]

Glacial lakes and starry skies

Our drive across to Lake Tekapo from Queenstown was a delight and for the first time on our trip we both uttered the word ‘wow’ as we drove up alongside Lake Ruataniwha. “We were so stunned by it that we pulled over in the car and just stood looking at it in awe.” It was […]

Queenstown

After the excitement of river surfing we spent the following day resting up. My shoulders were stiff and sore and Rich’s knee had swollen up. We weren’t in the greatest of shape and accomplished little more than going to Cookie Time after breakfast for a one dollar coffee and hot chocolate, getting our washing done and […]

River Surfing!!

Rich and I had heard lots of great things about Queenstown from other backpackers, a place where adrenalin sports were in abundance and life was easy going. We were looking forward to our five night stay there. “We weren’t hanging around, we were ready for an adrenalin rush.” Upon arrival at our hostel we picked […]

Fun in Fiordland

Rich and I were really looking forward to the dramatic landscape of Fiordland. Home to fourteen stunning fiords spanning one hundred and thirty five miles of coastline, Fiordland has achieved World Heritage Status. The most accessible fiord is Milford Sound and that was where Rich and I were headed. The drive into the Fiordland National Park […]