Working our way North to Rotorua on the thermal highway we stop at a campsite that happened to has a thermal spring running through it. The lady at the gate tells us it's really nice in the evening with 2 bathing spots: one at 36C and the other at 32C. She didnt need to tell us twice! As soon as tents were up we were back in wet swimmers (still wet from kayaking) and armed with a box of tinnies headed to the stream. The first bathing spot seemed to have a naked...

Bright and early we arrive at The Sea Kayak company in Motueka to start our 3 day tour around Abel Tasman. We meet 4 fellow Sea Kayakers from America booked on the same tour as us and pack our things away into dry bags. Advised by our tour guide Dane we also ensure we have enough beer for the trip. We are loaded with gear and 5 sea kayaks onto a sea taxi and leaving no spare room for aything else head north for 45minutes. The swell has gotten up in exposed areas...

We arrive at Castle Hill complete with a bouldering pad hired in Christchurch and set off to the Quantum Field area. Castle Hill is a large area of grey limestone boulders and rocky outcrops about 1.5hrs drive West of Christchurch and is a mecca for climbing. Set on an alpine plain at around 800m above sea level inbetween two mountain ranges the aspect to the climbing is probably one of the best in the world. We'd been advised there were some nice warm up prob...

We head south to Te Anau in the Fiordlands for glow worms. Te Anau is overcast and drizzle but as the Fiordlands get 6-7 meters of rain each year what can you expect! We are ferried over lake Te Anau and although there is low cloud the scenery is still very pretty with surrounding mountains to the south west covered in rainforest. The weather adds a moody, erie setting to the lake. At the caves visitor centre we warm ourselves with tea and coffee and learn abou...

We arrive in Queenstown and dry out, admire the Remarkables mountian range and find some good beer. The Irish barman advises us of the best fish & chips (or as the locals say "Fsh & chups") at Aggies which turn out to be some of the best we have ever eaten and the portions are huge. All the fish is fresh from that days catch and the fish depends on what has been caught that day. Whilst in Queenstown Alex and Andy do some mountian biking and I ...