4 hour ferry ride from the north island to the south island. Wellington and the Cook strait both very windy! New bus in Picton-2 girls left their sushi on the previous bus for 3 days-yuck! So stinky! Stopped at a winery for a quick tasting-bought a $10 bottle of sauvignon blanc for tonight. Huge industry for NZ-$200 million dollars/year!! Met a girl named Helen from England on this bus. She was chatting with some kiwis last night who told her to pronounce w...

Arrived into Wellington late afternoon. Checked into Base hostel (dirty and unorganized)-would never stay there again! Tons of Hobbit posters since the premiere was here a month ago-it has been renamed Wellywood supposedly! Walked along Cuba street-mostly cafes and shops. Reminded me of Granville street in Vancouver-granola types. Only pedestrian foot traffic allowed. Went down to the waterfront-tons of people out on patios after work; kids at the skate park; p...

About 25 people went hiking up the Tongariro trail yesterday.. 3 swedish people decided to take a different route down and as such the tour company could not wait for them and police sent a search team out for them. Turns out that they were all ok, found them walking along the highway after an hour or so-they made a very ignorant decision to leave the group without telling anyone! Not very smart... On the road at 9am this morning. Suzanne woke up early to have b...

Earliest start yet-up and on the bus by 7am! Back along the windy road with views of the hills full of sheep and dairy cows!! Only about a 90 min.drive back here to Tongariro National Park and we got to check in early to the Park lodge-one of the nicer hostels again:) 4 bed loft with ensuite! I was able to do laundry, dry my clothes outside, sit outside for a bit to really take in the view here-snow capped mountain Whakapapa (pronounced 'f***apapa').....took a w...

Left Taupo early again-wish I had more time there! One night is not enough! Drove through the National Park on our way to Blue Duck Lodge today. Got here around 1230pm. Long windy dirt roads. Same bus driver Spoon-came around a corner and clipped the side of a minivan-whoops! We had to stop for a bit so that he could exchange insurance information, etc.... Out in the bush here, but alas, there's Internet-go figure?! Rustic cabins for tonight. Having a group BBQ...