Our trip throughout NZ found the perfect ending as we spent the last two days in Auckland with Jason and Sam. We spent a relaxed day at their beautiful place, went out for some beers and food and managed to rest properly after our camping days. Harvey, their new puppy was also great company, we got quite attached to the little animal and almost took him with us. On the saturday J and S ( plus harvey) took us to an awesome beach for a proper walk and amazing brea...

Escape to Blenheim! After spending a day in Franz Josef glacier, where we trekked up to the glacier itself and stayed at a really cool rain forest campsite, we started driving north along the west coast. The destination was Punakaki, the home of oceanside pancake rocks and blowholes. The drive up the coast was nice and smooth with some incredible views over the ocean while the road dove in and out of the rain forest. The pancake rocks and blowholes of Punakaki w...

Our next destination was meant to be Wanaka's bigger sibling: Queenstown. However a large snow storm that was hitting Queenstown and the southern region was threatening to cause road closures for a few days. Since we could not afford to get stuck so far away from Christchurch with only a handful of days left on our trip, we decided to head to the west coast a day earlier. We set off for a day trip all the way to Frank Joseph Glacier, halfway up the south island,...

It is time to get out on the bikes!! Me and Benedetta had been planning to rent some mountainbikes in New Zealand for a while and what better place than Wanaka!? This town sits on lake Wanaka and is a very lively little town thanks to the ski resorts nearby. So the setting is, in true New Zealand style, very stunning! The lake is surrounded by snowy peaks and great round hills. The perfect spot to explore by mountainbike! We spoiled ourselves and rented two du...

We couldn't consider our journey to the mountainous region of the south island complete without seeing Mount Cook! This is the highest mountain in Australasia and training ground of the great explorer Sir Edmund Hilary (first man to climb mount Everest). It has been quite a good coincidence to see this place and see Hilary's museum during this trip as both me and Benedetta have been reading Greg Mortenson's book: "Three cups of tea" which describes some of Hilary...