We finally left the South Island for the joys and delights of the North Island, which, many have told us, is far more vanilla. Let's hope not too much so. The ferry was easy and the crossing smooth and we coasted into, yet another, motel for the weekend. Wellington is built in a valley, so there is a limit to the size of the town that makes if feel far busier and more compact than many of the other towns we have visited. It's also a big university town so the...

Nelson - another nice New Zealand town with the requisite number of shops, high street (one), cinema (one) and genuine oirish pubs (about a dozen). The main highlight for us was a trip to the World of Wearable Art where they display a collection of weird and wonderful fashions, and every year they have a grand fashion show that looks amazing. Next door is a collection of beautifully restored old cars, so there's something for everyone! Due to our reluctance t...

We went for a day's kayaking in Abel Tasman. Now that Brian is a fully fledged born again evangelical kayaking convert it's been rather hard to keep him away from anything resembling a canoe for the last few days. He booked us on a nice and easy gentle introduction day - kayaking for softies he said, but as no-one else has booked it we get upgraded to the intermediate level. After a punishing few hours of rowing and a break for lunch I'm hoping for an early fi...

We motored up the coast from Dunedin, stopped off at a lovely town called Oamaru to take lots of photos, whizzed past Christchurch and ended up at Hanmer Springs, a resort where they have hot mineral baths and stayed there for 2 nights. Our visit coincided with an influx of Brownies and Guides who were in the area for their Jamboree, so there we would be bobbing around in a pool of deliciously warm water when suddenly a group of young girls would come bounding ...

We finally make it to the southernmost tip of the South Island and record the event by having our photos taken at a marker showing the distances to the Equator and the South Pole while being assaulted by a wind so fierce that it threatens to blow us to one of those destinations if we don't hang on to the sign tightly enough. Dunedin is very pleasant. It's a remote city, far far away from the rest of New Zealand and with some of the most English-like weather. I...