Once again we had another long drive to our next stop Te Anau, the nearest town to Fiordland, and Milford sound. We continue to have problems getting accomodation, everywhere is completeley full. We got a lovely twin non ensuite room at the YHA! We had 2 beds head to head, stool and a lightbulb! To top it all the hostels are full of old people, and the 2 in the next room were at least 65, and got up at 5.30 and proceeded to keep us awake for the next 2 hours shuf...

Next stop was a couple of nights stopover in Christchurch, and our first experience of staying in a hostel with no ensuite! On Saturday we went to Akora, which is on the coast. The drive gave us some beautiful views of the long harbour, once again with shimmering green water, green hills and blue sky. We were hoping to go swimming with dolphins, we got kitted out in some very unflattering wet suits, and went up the inlet aboard a small dingy boat. Unfortunetly we...

After leaving Abel Tasman we drove to the east coast to Kaikoura. Basically this is THE place to come whale watching. As we drove down the coast I was very pleased to see lots more seals laid on the rocks. The sea also continued to be a lovely green colour. While driving Craig had a minor scare as he got stung by a wasp. However my medical kit came to the rescue and plucked the sting from his chest! (Dont panic Craigs mum & dad he had no reaction to the bite.) ...

Most people get the 3 hour ferry from the north to the south island. However we got a bargain flight with our YHA membership which was cheaper and only took 25mins. We were on a little plane with 10 seats got a bit of a fright as we came into land, as we hit an air pocket and dropped suddenly. We then got our next hire car, which once again was a lovely old banger. We set off and got all of 5 mins down the road when lots of banging came from underneath. We turned...

On Sunday we drove to Napier, which is a lovely small town on the east coast. It is famous for its art deco buildings, due to it having been rebuilt after an earthquake in 1930. On the way there we stopped off at Huka falls, which werent very high, however lots of white water and a gorgeous blue river. On Monday we drove to Wellington through mainly countryside, lots of sheep. Wellington is the nicest place we have visited so far in New Zealand. Its in a ni...