I got to see a Kiwi! We stopped at Mt Bruce Wildlife centre on the way out of Wellington. They are proper great birds (very very rare) much bigger than I expected and quite fluffy, I was well chuffed to see one! The rain was absolutely awful again so we didn't get much scenery on the way up to Napier. I was disappointed as I was hoping to get to the local winery for a free tour or do a bike tour in Napier but the weather was awful so I caught up on my emails ...

Picton is the point of departure to get to the north island and this time I decided to travel in style and get the scenic flight across rather than the ferry. It wasn't much more - less than 10 quid extra. So with that booked I had some more time to spend in Picton. I found a rather nice bakery and then sat in the sunny park by the harbour eating my picnic and studying the old lonely planet. As it turns out the flight was a bit more than I was thinking as the...

Blenheim is just a short trip up the road from Kaikoura and is the place to go if you want to go on a wine tour round the Marlborugh wine region. Due to the fantastic day I had on our previous wine tour I felt it necessary to do another one! Fear not - I didn't not buy any more cases! I just bought a couple of bottles on offer and a bubbly for Manchester Beck as her birthday was due a couple of days later. I had a lovely time as it was a nice bunch of people ...

All by myself I caught the bus to Kaikoura, we stopped on route to look at the seal colony where I got a few snaps and got to our destination by 12pm in time to do some of the many activities on offer in this wildlife mecca. Sadly all activities were cancelled due to a massive storm (I was down for the whale watching). It really pissed it down with gale force winds all day, great! I had a walk down by the sea in my waterproof coat and trousers but the other backp...

Well it was a pretty uneventful journey to Christchurch as we cross the Canterbury plains which are pretty flat and boring compared to the previous mountain scenery!! The bus driver was a bit of an arse as he was meant to drop us at the antartic centre on the way but he couldn"t be bothered so we missed out (I filled in a customer questionaire making sure I mentioned the lovely Colin!!).We had a bit of an upset when we arrived as my precious flip flop broke ...