Our first impressions of Picton and the Marlborough Sounds would be that they are breathtaking! The ferry ride was uneventful...until we headed into the sounds...wow! Today we walked a section, 16km, of the Queen Charlotte track...Ship Cove to Endeavour Inlet. Pictures and more to come!

We have made our way to Wellington with a brief stop in Martinborough to explore the Pinnacles and Cape Palliser. Along our travels we discovered the Tui brewery, a craft beer of New Zealand, and their “Frank the Tank” beer...some good laughs in the brewery shop for sure! The Putangirua Pinnacles, located in the Aorangi Forest Park, are some very cool rock formations. For those that are Lord of the Rings fans you may recognize the backdrop!? We took the ri...

To finish off our visit in the thermal area of the north island we visited Wai-o-tapu Thermal Wonderland. We started our visit with a viewing of the geyser, Lady Knox, that shoots water and steam into the air up to 21m. And then walked the thermal park visiting the various thermal pools and fumaroles. Water temps can reach 80 degrees celsius and the various colours are introduced by the oxides (purple/magnesium, red brown/iron, yellow/sulphur). The pool that s...

We have moved from the east coast toward the central portion of the north island...our road trips have taken us through some beautiful beach towns and into Rotorua, a geothermal area. The towns along the coast are littered with beautiful sands and all types of waves from calm to surfer style beaches. Frank has picked up a boogie board for us and it has come in handy on the hot days as we stop for a break to cool off while we picnic lunch at the beach. Taurang...

Our trip to the far north has few words to describe the beauty of the landscape, the crystal clear blue waters, and the power of Mother Nature. Frank continues to do an awesome job with driving on the left hand side...with winding roads and single lanes bridges (picture pending), rain and wind. We drove through our first rain storm and strong winds as we finished up in Whangarei (Wh is an F sound) and headed further north to Paihia and onward. Paihia is a tour...