Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th January Christchurch to Auckland via Picton/Wellington We left the motel early this morning for an express trip to Picton where we pick up the ferry for the 3 hour crossing back to Wellington.On route, Wozza picked up 3 of his next group of passengers for the South Island tour.We stopped at Kaikoura once again for a drink and to stretch our legs and I returned to the 2nd hand book shop I had discovered on my previous trip to tra...

Thursday 27th & Friday 28th January Doubtful Sound to Christchurch via Central Otago We had a rude, early awakening this morning as the captain started the engines at 6.30 am.Ant and I went up on deck to grab some coffee and we were treated to a spectacular early morning display by the resident dolphins.As we headed back to Deep Cove and civilisation, we pulled into Hall Arm where the captain switched off all engines and electricity on the boat and we spen...

Wednesday 26th January Queenstown to Doubtful Sound After a quick stop at the bakery in town for coffee and pastries (Ant ran down to Starbucks for mine!!), we set of for FiordlandNational Park this morning.FiordlandNational Park is part of a World Heritage area called Te Wahipounamu and includes some of the world's most dramatic and beautiful scenery.We are heading for Doubtful Sound one of the most remote areas of the whole tour.Doubtful Sound is reached by ...

Queenstown 24th & 25th January Tucked under The Remarkables mountain range on the edge of LakeWakatipu, Queenstown is a year round resort with skiers in winter and back packers and thrill seekers in summer.The population of Queenstown can vary from just 7,000 to 23,000 depending on the season.The town claims to be the "adventure capital" with about 150 activities on offer such as bungy jumping, Shotover Jet boats and white water rafting.Ant and I...

Sunday 23rd January Makarora to Queenstown via LakeWanaka Next morning we set off as the sun was rising over the mountains and headed for Queenstown where we will spend the next 3 nights.On route we stopped for a couple of hours in LakeWanaka via Puzzling World where we stopped for a toilet break.Puzzling World is a unique LakeWanaka attraction of holograms, optical illusions and a labyrinth of over 1.5 kilometres of passages.None of us paid to go into the maz...