To get back east of the Southern Alps you have to drive through the Haast Pass notorious for rock falls, landslides and closure but not snow as it is actually the lowest pass through the Southern Alps. The morning of the journey it was chucking it down. It proved to be a more dramatic pass than Arthur's and we only got stopped twice, once for them to clear a minor landslide and the second time for roadwork's for a previous landslide. We did stop for a cuppa but...

We awoke to sunshine so headed north along a coast battered by great waves and strewn with large rocks amongst lush forest. I guess rainforest from the amount of rain they get. We were heading to Pancake rocks at Punakaiki, and they do look like layers of pancakes. If you get there around high tide you can see some spectacular waterworks through the blow holes when big waves surge up into the undercut cavities and erupt like booming geysers from the holes. These...

My prayers were answered the sea in the Cooks Strait was calm and the ferry journey was smooth. The strait is named, if you haven't already guessed after our friend Captain Cook who was the first European Commander to sail through it in 1770. It connects the Tasman Sea with the South Pacific Ocean. Not much of it is in open seas (lucky for me), most is through inlets leading into Picton on the South Island and out through Wellington Harbour leaving the North Isla...