After a good soak in the hot pools the previous night we all woke up without stiff legs which we had expected after a days hiking. We chilled out in the morning before heading further up the west coast to Punakaiki, the home of the famous Pancake Rocks. Before heading to the site for 4pm when high tide was in the hope of seeing the blow holes, we checked into our home for the night which was again nothing like we'd experienced before. We'd booked to stay at Te Ni...

The following day we were still really high from our sky diving adventure and headed off to the west coast; Franz Josef from the beautiful Lake Wanaka. Its a shame we didnt have longer at Lake Wanaka as its a beautifully serene pĺace but we had to get to the west coast ready for our glacier walk. The drive was breathtaking! The view of the snow topped mountains were in sight for pretty much the whole of the drive. We stopped off at a waterfall and then Haast bea...

We had a great drive to Queenstown via Akaroa where we managed to indulge in some wine tasting, something Pete had been looking forward to before we'd even left the UK. Ash suddenly decided he wasnt going to be the designated driver which was convienient however we all enjoyed hearing how the wine was made and how the different tastes were acquired before heading to our accomodation for the next 2 nights. Queenstown was definately where its at for adventurous act...

We picked our car up around 10am on Wednesday morning and this was the first time we had our own transport on our travel adventure so far. As you can imagine, both Ash and I were happy about not having to catch a bus / boat / train for the next 4 weeks! Off we went on our first road trip over the hills leaving Christchurch behind until we reached Lyttelton, a small harbour town on the northern side of the Banks Penninsula. After enjoying fish and chips by the sea...

The weather took a turn for the worse on Monday morning and so Ash and I decided to visit the art gallery in Christchurch where they were holding an exhibition by Ron Mueck which had proved a big hit with the locals. I have more recently learnt that it was the most successful paid entry exhibition that the gallery had held and it certainly proved its worth to us. Im sure you`ll all agree from the photos that the sculptures that Ron creates are so life like they a...