We arrived in Napier by night, and took a walk by the water front and in the town centre. Napier is renowned for being the Art Deco Capitol of NZ. The streets and architecture resembling what we'd imagine the USA to be in the 30's. Lovely and quaint. Napier had us back on track with 'chasing the sun'. The sun making it feel as if we're on holiday again! We witnessed a half marathon taking place, the lack of spectator support shocking, with people jogging alone...

So it was time to say goodbye to the stunning South Island with its vast & beautiful landscapes and head to the North where we'd been told we'd find some Maori culture and history. After a quick stop in Picton, a small seaside town, we caught the Bluebridge ferry to Wellington. A bit of a smelly affair thanks to the sheep being transported across with us in cattle class. Wellington is a commercial & business hub but without the feel of a big busy metropo...

So we'd mentioned the 'no frills Naked Bus', well the company exceeds this title. We discovered this on many 'trips' that were often complimented with commentary by drivers. On this occasion, the bus driver stopped and gave us time on route to Nelson from Greymouth for us to explore the mystical Punakaiki rocks (Pancake rocks). In Nelson, K and S visited a market next door to the hostel, this boasted some lovely local produce of food and craftsmanship, from j...

Greymouth, with its old seaside town vibe was wet and cold (just like a typical day in Southend or Margate then). So we used this time as an R&R stop on our adventure, staying at a practically empty YHA hostel with its homely lounge and fireplace resulted in two great duvet days watching movies, reading and eating cake and custard. We did venture out a little though to do the Floodwall walk along the river Grey and then continued on to the coast and the pe...

Due to rock and land slides causing unfortunate loss of life a month ago, and subsequent rain, the Haast pass highway had been closed to Franz Josef from Queenstown intermittently. However, mid journey there were reports that the roads were open, permitting onward travel, which meant no coming back to Queenstown as had been anticipated. Although, there were still considerable traffic pile ups as monsoon helicopters cleared rubble with water. This was time consu...