01.02.11 Upper Moutere to Marble Hill Scenic Reserve Camp Site (Lewis Pass)Another beautiful morning. We took our time to pack up the car, sat chatting to Jana and Colin, and left just after lunch. It was a peaceful 4 hour journey with a afternoon tea stop at Murchison, a very small and interesting little village. The information centre there was one of the best we've seen. We've booked to go and see the whales in Kaikoura on the 9.30am boat on Thursday when the ...

It's a bank holiday here today so Colin and Jana took the day off. We had a really fun day. Started out from their house in Upper Moutere, drove over the Takaka Hills into Golden Bay area. There we visited the Ngarua Caves. Very funny in our safety helmets..had coffee and then a guided tour which included scaling a ladder to get out at the end. When I can get the photos on you will see what I mean. After this we drove to a salmon fishing lake where I caught a hu...

The Queen Charlotte Walk 26-30.01.11 We packed our rucksac with 2 sleeping bags, sleeping mats and the tent, and packed our day bags. We travelled by Endeavor Express backpackers boat to Ships Bay, at the far end of the Charlotte Sound. Ships Bay is where Captain Cook landed and lived for a while on the South Island. The boat left taking our bai back pack on to Furnaux Bay, where we were walking to. It was an undulating secondary rain forest walk, 4hour. We were...

Sat 22.01.11: Tararua Forest to Wellington Thismorning we took a 6km unmadeup track out of the forest and back to the S1 and headed towards Wellington. At the small seaside village of Paraparaumu we took a long coffee and paper reading break in a cafe overlooking the sea, an island and in the distance the tip of South isand. We drove on to Wellington, and because it is ehe weekend benefited from the free parking outside the Botanic gardens. We spent lunch t...

Fri 21.01.11: Te Urewera National Park to Tararua Forest Park via WanganuiThe first part of the drive was through grassland and steep valleys with very shear drops into the river valley. Here the main farming involved sheep, with the occasional deer farm. There were some planted coniferous forests but mostly the land was dry grassland. As we descended towards Wanganui the landscape became more lush and cattle farming became the main industry.We met Loren and the ...