The sand flies have taken their toll overnight and both Lyn and I have several ankle bites, itchy but not sore. We drive out of Haast, named after Julius von Haas the great Dutch explorer and after whom besides the town, there is als the Gates of Haast, the Haast Pass, the Haast this and the Haast that - he was also a concert violinist and wrote the first geology text for the Westland in the 1860's. Haast leads us to several massive glacier formed lakes, one of...

Saturday: Today we have booked a heli-hike on the Franz Joseph Glacier, consisting of a chopper flight up to the main face of the glacier and a two hour guided hike on the glacier. We get kitted up with rain and ice gear (including crampons for the boots supplied) and set off. This is one of the best things we have ever done and of course (as always) the photo's cannot do the trip justice by half. Suffice to say that it was awe-inspiring. The current glacier mov...

Wednesday 20th March Levin to the ferry terminal in Wellington was uneventful - until we got to the ferry terminal. We had booked the 14:30 crossing from Wellington to Picton on the South Island but when we got there at 13:30 we were told it was cancelled! We were re- booked on the 18:25 instead, not a train smash as we went to the Te Papa museum in Wellington for the afternoon which was fabulous - free and plenty to do and see, so we are all fully dosed up wi...

We traipsed off to see the Waterfront in Auckland to see how it compared to Cape Town - I have to say that Cape Town has the edge (even though it is not surrounded by volcanoes) but I may be biased.... A windy and wet night sees us take leave of Clint & Heike who have as usual been brilian travelling companions. We wish them many happy hours of travelling! Ironically the owners of the Motor Home site in Takapuna are from Port Elizabeth. Often as we drive alo...

The weather was 'iffy' all the way to Auckland. The rain that the farmers desperately need so we daren't complain. Auckland is rather impressive - covers about 500 square kilometres and has the highest number of boats / yachts per capita in the world apparently. So many marina's and little harbours. We climbed Mount Eden (a volcano where you can see down the crater) for a view of the whole city - it's big! Found a stunning campsite for the night in Takapuna whi...