Wesport to Lake MahinapuaToday our journey began down State Highway 6, which stretches 435kms along the rugged Tasman shoreline from Westport in the north to Haast Junstion in the south. The road winds through a diverse series of landscapes: fertile farmland and scrubby bush, sparsely populated towns and deserted goldfields, the lush green of the rain forests and the snow of the Southern Alps, truly amazing.A short drive from town is Cape Foulwind and Tauranga Ba...

Nelson to Westport After checking the weather we left Nelson and headed towards the Nelson Lakes National Park to have a picnic lunch by lake Rotoiti - joined by some rather cheeky ducks and a lot of annoying sand flies! Needless to say we only stayed for about half and hour before heading south through to Murchison (for a quick ice-cream) and then winding our way down the amazing BUller Gorge. The gorge is split into two sections, the upper and lower. The road ...

Wellington to Picton to NelsonToday we made our way across to the South Island, by ferry which takes around 3 hours. We landed on the South Island at Picton, where we quickly collected our luggage and met the coach outside the terminal to continue on to Nelson.Departing Picton we headed out via the scenic Malborough Valley with its vines and steep hillsides. Obviously, there was a brief stop overat a local winery for a little taste of boutique NZ wines, as well a...

River Valley to Wellington We departed River Valley just before lunch so that we could stop off for something to eat in the town of 'Bulls'. Again, another quirky town, whereby here the locals obviously have far too much time on their hands. The reason I say this is because the town is renowned for its shop names, for example the Police Station is named 'Consta-Bull'?! Sad huh? Unfortunately, or fortunately however you want to look at it, there ...

Tuesday 30th - Wednesday 31st JanuaryWaitomo to TaupoAfter our black water rafting, in the morning, we re-joined teh bus and headed in the direction of the Tongariro National Park and Taupo - the adventure capital of the north! We got to admire the view of the Tongariro National Park- the cone shaped mountain Ngauruhoe (Na-ru-hoe-e) was used in the filming of Lord of the Rings as Mt.Doom. We stopped off for a short walk and checked out the famous Huka Falls befor...