Grandma - you will be pleased to read that I resisted the temptation to bungee jump or skydive as we passed through Queenstown! I figured that fully functioning legs are quite important if we are to continue our quest to walk the entire length of New Zealand. It was time for us to visit some of the places where Lord of the Rings was filmed. This was all a bit lost on me as I have not read the books and fell asleep whilst watching one of the films sho...

The next stage of our journey was something we had been looking forward too since we started our research into New Zealand. We hit the south lakes area with a first stop at Wanaka before heading off to the world renowned Queenstown (world renowned if you are into throwing yourself off/down perfectly solid pieces of ground or out of planes or heading down rapids on inflatibles). Here comes the rain again Leaving Franz Joseph - Monday 21 November 2011 After...

Before I get on to the cold stuff a quick whistle stop summary of our adventures on our way to Franz Josef Glacier. New Zealand weather is VERY changeable. It is not uncommon for us to start the day in woolly hats, gloves and lots of layers and end the day with suntan cream and floppy sun hats. Our second day in Westport was a gloomy and wet one. We headed to Karamea to walk the Fenian Track based in the Kahurangi National Park. This was a 2...

Back on the road again we headed off from Nelson to tackle a part of the Abel Tasman Track and watch whales on the east coast. Not all our goals were achieved. Waves Abel Tasman - Monday 14 November 2011 We based ourselves in Motueka for the Abel Tasman. The national park is New Zealand's smallest and the most visited. The whole tramp is 51km in distance and is tackled as a two to three day trek. We had decided to walk an 18km stretch from Onetahuti beac...

The landing point for the interisland ferry is a lovely little town called Picton. Unlike Dover it has heaps of character and was an excellent base for us to prepare for the Queen Charlotte Track. The alarm went off at 6:30am and we awoke to howling winds and torrential rain; perfect conditions for a 23.5K tramp! After putting on enough layers to make the Michelin Man look positively slim we made our way to the harbour in happy spirits to catch the ...