We arrived in Sydney in beautiful sunshine!!! What a welcome change from the cold and the snow of South Island. Our hostel is near the centre of Sydney, and set in a railway station. Indeed, some of the rooms, including the one we are staying in, are inside old carriages that still remain on the platform!! They are quite cool! Considering how sunny it was, we immediately dropped off our belongings and headed for Bondi Beach. Golden sands, sun, clear and warm wa...

Following the drive up the coast from Lake Takapo on Friday we arrived in Christchurch and scouted out our Juicy depot where we would later need to return the trusty van. We then scooted into town for some brief email checking and last minute supermarket supply shopping and ventured (in a round about way) back out into the countryside to find a place to camp for what would be our final night. Having decided the previous day that we were in fact ahead of schedul...

Following the drive up the coast from Lake Takapo on Friday we arrived in Christchurch and scouted out our Juicy depot where we would later need to return the trusty van. We then scooted into town for some brief email checking and last minute supermarket supply shopping and ventured (in a round about way) back out into the countryside to find a place to camp for what would be our final night. Having decided the previous day that we were in fact ahead of schedul...

Lake Taupo We had a highlight of the trip in Taupo ; we caught and ate our very own prawns! On the way to Taupo we saw Huka Falls-a rapid which has a flow rate of 40 cubic metres of water per second. At the Prawn Farm we had a tour, when we fed some "prawnlets" (or baby prawns), which bite, and saw a pickled prawn which was 80cm long. We then settled into fishing. It's a challenging sport because the little nippers want the meat but they don't want t...

Lake Taupo We had a highlight of the trip in Taupo ; we caught and ate our very own prawns! On the way to Taupo we saw Huka Falls-a rapid which has a flow rate of 40 cubic metres of water per second. At the Prawn Farm we had a tour, when we fed some "prawnlets" (or baby prawns), which bite, and saw a pickled prawn which was 80cm long. We then settled into fishing. It's a challenging sport because the little nippers want the meat but they don't want t...