After a short visit to Palmeston North and Wanganui I headed further West to New Plymouth and caught up with Grant who I used to work with in the UK. He was outside working on his decking when I got there (a hint of things to come!). We spent the afternoon catching up before heading out into town in the evening. A friend of Grant's called Ronnie having won salesman of the year had a bar tab as his prize which I was fortunate enough to benefit from! A night of fre...

I took a very expensive scenic cruise which fortunately also delivered me across the Cook Straight! The Interislander ferry takes about 3 hours, the 1st hour of which is through the beautiful Marlborough Sounds. The next hour is across the Straight itself which was fortunately pretty calm for me! The final hour is coming into Wellington harbour which is again pretty scenic. I didn't stay in Wellington long - not really a city fan! I headed up the coast and found ...

From Christchurch I headed North to Hamner Springs famous for their hot pools. It was a very enjoyable experience lounging around the pools with backdrops of snow capped mountains. The pools ranged from 29 degrees to 42 - 38 was about right for me! After turning myself into a prune I headed out towards the Lewis pass. Picked up a guy called Aidan who was after a lift into the Lewis to do some more tramping. Interesting guy who lived in Auckland. After dropping hi...

It was great to be welcomed by the friendly faces of Graeme and Nikki again in Christchurch. I stayed a couple of nights which allowed me time to catch up on my washing and completely dismantle their home cinema setup in the pursuit of a better picture! I left with wires coming out of everywhere and instructions with the electrician. I hope its all better now!

Lake Tekapo is simply the most beautiful place I have been to. I arrived in the late afternoon just as the sun was setting which was a pretty good start but it just got better. At night the stars were so bright you could almost touch them. There is an observatory here and I can understand why! I have done a fair bit of star gazing on the trip but nothing as clear as this. The Milky Way was stunning and could clearly see the two Magelanic clouds (whole other gal...