We rocked up to our hostel in Parnell pleasantly surprised how bohemian the area was. Although we were easily impressed having just spent a month in 1980's England. We enjoyed our first roast in eight months that evening, it was great. We planned to spend the day sorting ourselves out and sending stuff home only to find out it was 'Auckland Day' a Bank Holiday. So that scuppered that idea! We threw ourselves, instead, into the festivities and headed to the mari...

After overnighting in Picton we got the early ferry back to the north island and headed straight to Waitomo and pitched the tent in a campsite / backpackers for the last time. Emma put on a brave face, considering her cave phobia, as we booked ourselves on the full on fiver hour black abyss tour. We turned up and the rest of our group were a load of teenage lads off the Kiwi Experience bus, full of bravado. We climbed into yet another wetsuit and harness (it's ...

We arrived at the unremarkable town of Kaikoura home to thousands of New Zeland's Dusky Dolphins. We pitched tent and with nothing else to do found a pub with a roof terrace for an afternoon in the sun. We were joined later on by a rather interesting Liverpudlian couple. Into bed by about 8pm as we had to be on a boat before sunrise. We headed out to sea dolled up in wetsuits and still half asleep. It wasn't long before we saw dolphins everywhere and we were ea...

Still high on Red Bull and adrenaline from our stunt plane flight we were cruising down the highway making aeroplane noises when we noticed the flash of red and blue lights behind us. Ooops! 120 dollar speeding fine later we were on our way again. Travelling more sedately towards the snow peaked Mount Cook we wound our way past turquoise lakes glistening under the scorching sun. Ever changing landscapes rolled past our windows and we soon found ourselves cros...

We took the short drive to Queenstown through the Otago Valley making sure we stocked up on fruit from the roadside and a few bottles of wine from one of the many vineyards en route. We found a campsite that was at the bottom of the Gondola and only a few minutes stroll from the centre of town where we immediately set about booking some activities for the coming days. We were expecting Queenstown to be a tacky tourist town and whilst it was blantantly obvious t...