Day 18. After a long, boring day of driving the day before and being a day ahead of our plan, we decided we both deserved a little treat so awoke early and drove to Hanmer Springs. It was also a handy opportunity to have a wash after a few wet days on the road feeling (and probably smelling) gross. Hanmer Springs is famous for its geothermal hot pools, which we intended to take full advantage of. It is also a quaint town with beautiful surrounding scenery. Duri...

Day 15. The sand flies were driving us so mad in the morning that we jumped straight into the front of the car and hit the road, without washing or brushing our teeth. The air rushing in through the windows was our only defence against these winged pests now that our mosquito nuke had ran out. The rest of Haast Pass was as amazing as the start. The road passes through mountainous valleys with spectacular waterfalls until descending into a region of rainforest s...

Day 12. After a wet few days it was a relief to arrive in Queenstown where the sun was shining. The drive from Te Anau was long but the last few kilometres along the lake made up for it. Queenstown is a bustling town and from what we could see it's made up of mainly the younger generation. We had expected a small town with a few shops but this place beat our expectations with swanky restaurants and bars along the waters edge and a whole host of backpacker frie...

Day 9 The south-west of New Zealand's south island is a dramatically shaped landscape carved by glaciers over a number of ice ages. Apparently sea inlets which are shaped by glaciers are called fiords whereas those shaped by flooded valleys are called sounds, which explains why this whole area is aptly named Fiordland. Fiordland is the region home to Milford Sound, without a doubt New Zealand's most photographed area of landscape. It also topped the list of 10...

Day 6 Let it be known that I was once fairly tanned, because at the moment it's looking like it won't last until we get home. We've had a succession of overcast days but fortunately most of the rain has held off until the night. We left a very misty Mt. Cook and headed towards Oamaru, stopping in Twizel on the way for a bite to eat. Oamaru's main attraction is their colony of blue penguins, the smallest penguins in the world. We had a quick look near the visito...