We left Taupo and drove to Rotarua today. On the way we stopped off at a Maori cultural center. After watching a dvd on the history of the culture, sampling some tradtional Maori food and learning about some of their plants we were tested on what we learnt. Both Nick and I won a bone carved necklace as we got questions right!!! We checked into our hostel, Base Hot Rocks before going for a walk around the town. At 7pm we were picked up from the hostel and take...

Today the blog is written by Nick . . . . We left Wellington early and made our way to Taupo, with a few stops in between. I signed up for sky diving on the bus, as Chris and Hannah highly reccommended the one in Taupo and was planning to do one somewhere in NZ anyways. 499NZ$ (190.00gbp) got me a 15,000ft dive including a dvd, photo cd and t-shirt. Kiwi dropped us off at the airport once we got to Taup (slightly s***ting it now). After watching a dvd I signe...

Nick had an uncomfy night trying not to knock his leg. We drove out to Picton where we said goodbye to the South Island. On the drive we pulled over along the coast as there was a large seal colony on the rocks. There were tiny pups playing in pools of water, so cute. When we got to Picton we checked our bags in and boarded the ferry, getting lazy boy seats at the front of the boat. The ferry was huge, 10 floors!! Took 3 hours to get to Wellington. Kiwi dropped ...

Ealry pick up from Christchurch and headed to Kaikoura. As we drove into Kaikoura we went to the seal colony. Only saw one seal though, boo. He was mucking about in the water and then he climbed onto the rocks to bath. We checked into our hostel, Top Spot and then had a big lunch so that Nick was ready for his tattoo. We spoke to Cat, who runs the hostel and she offered us a lift to Atawera Art - score! Nick and the tattooist, Greg talked through the design b...

Very long, tiring and boring day today. We got on the bus and departed Q.T at 8am and then spent the entire day on the bus, getting into Christchruch around 1730!! Only really made one stop to the Chruch of the Good Shepherd. A little chapel built from the rocks of the surrounding mountains, found on the river bed. It is right on the top of a hill and at the alter is a huge glass window so you can look out on the mountains and lake - so beautiful. When we fin...