We got on the ferry in Nelson at 10pm and arrived in Wellington about 3 in the morning. We had arranged to meet Kellie and Foxy for breakfast so we found a quiet place to pull over and sleep for a few hours which wasn't very easy in the capital of NZ. Kellie was running late (shocking I know) but when we met up we were amazed by the amount of stuff that Kellie travels with! We weren't sure how her and Foxy were able to carry it all. They knew about a good break...

We stayed at night in Nelson and explored the town the next day. We had an incredible ice cream, Jeff had mango lassie flavour and San had mocha chino flavour. It was raining all day on and off but we got a good glimpse of the city. We explored Christ Church, walked to the Centre Point of New Zealand and went to the Founders Village; an old village dating back to the 1800's which had its own bakery and brewery still in operation. We tasted a variety of differ...

We arrived at Mt Cook, but due to the wind picking up our glacial kayak was postponed for a few days.so we went to Lake Tekapo to do some swimming in the lake and relaxing in the hot pools. In Mt Cook we stayed at an incredible DOC (Department of Conservation) campsite, it looked out onto the face of Mt Cook itself. We heard avalanches at night which was a unique experience. We ended up staying here for 2 nights and one night it reached -1, it was like a winters...

We left Invercargill and headed towards Riverton. San navigated Jeff completely the wrong direction and the van ended up on a beach! After some map consulting we arrived in Riverton half an hour later. We visited a Paua shop where they sold lots of beautiful Paua shells of different sizes and colours. A lady chatted to us and gave us lots of information about how they catch Paua, apparently divers aren't allowed to wear a tank so they have to wear snorkelling g...

The population of Stewart Island is 400, there are only 19-25 children in the school (the only school) and there is only one town called Oban on Halfmoon Bay. We had an early start on the ferry to Stewart Island. There is a chain at Stirling Point in Bluff which you can see from the ferry and this signifies a link between the South Island and Stewart Island. A Maori god sailed the south island and when he got to where he wanted to stop he dropped his anchor t...