Started our trip down the west coast of new zealand today, from Westport to Lake Mahinapua. Travelling south down the State Highway 6 is one hell of a drive, so many good views out the window. The west coast is described as a place where "nothing is too outrageous to have occured and the imrobable is impossible. Our first stop of the day was Tauranga Bay where we walked along the coast of the Tasman Sea and looked down of one of New Zealands largest seal c...

Left Nelson early and got on our bus, met our new driver, Matty. Liked him instantly as he played S-Club 7 and Aqua to start the day :-P Really great driver, talks to the bus a lot, plays good music and is really funny :-) After sitting at the very back of the bus all through the North island so sat at the front, much better views!! As NZ is so busy at the moment, there's another bus running with us so 100 people instead of 50.... the other bus has people we kno...

Had an early start this morning, 6am! Bit too ealry for us, then we found out our names weren't on the list, so the day didn't get off to a great start... was our best day yet though!! We had seen photos of Abel Tasman and knew we'd love to go and knew this would be our only chance, and this trip seemed perfect. A boat to a bay, then kayaking back, stopping of to look for seals!! Slept through the hour journey to Abel Tasman, and when we arrived it looked just li...

Mike needs a new alarm! Didn't go off but luckily Cai woke us up in enough time to get changed, grab our stuff and get to the bus stop for 7. We got a short bus ride to the ferry then got on the ferry which left at half 8. It was a pretty nice ferry, big area to stand outside (but very windy!!!), game bit, a few bars and a cafe etc...we mainly stayed in the bar area (not drinking Mike would like to add!). Took 3 hours to get there, got some good views of the sout...

Our first chance for a proper lie-in, and we didn't let it go to waste!! Unfortunatly today was the day our group moved on and only Me, Mike and Cai stayed behind. They all left at 6am so woke up to say bye, reallllllly hoping we will bump into them again as we were such a good group (and we realize that even more since we've been with new people) but we know that's how it happens. Didn't get up till midday but it was lovely! Me and Mike went and got a brunch at ...