Had a couple of days in Whitianga, first afternoon we walked by the Harbour and beach and talked to a guy fishing he was hoping to catch red snapper (he was unlucky that day) Teatime my sister Jan and hubby Mick turned up (they're touring NZ in a motor home) had a nice meal out together that evening at a restaurant called Salt. Next day the four of us went to Cathedral Cove then onto Hot water water Bay where you dig a hole at low tide and it fills with hot sprin...

Thanks for the messages, we were at Waitomo for one night (good job the Motel was crap) we did the Glow worm Cave which was very interesting, a once in a lifetime experience. Then onto Rotorua, which smells like rotten eggs it's on a big geothermal fault there are mud and water pools bubbling emitting the smell, the first afternoon we walked around the town, park (with smelly pools) and along side the lake, some of which also has sulphur springs (smelly). Next mo...

Ferry docked in Wellington Sunday afternoon and we dropped our stuff at the hotel, then after a nice wander around had a very nice oriental meal. Mon morning drove to Napier and we loved it, it was completely rebuilt after a massive earthquake in 1931 in Art Deco style (had a nice feel to the place) and because of the Bank holiday there were old cars from that period on display and driving around the streets. Next day on our way to Taupo we stopped at Mission Est...

The sun was shining in the morning for our boat trip at Milford Sound and saw dolphins, seals and beautiful views, after coach trip along the only road in, with stunning scenery back to Queenstown. With the car loaded we drove to Wanaka very nice place on a lake of the same name and after a stroll, early tea then bed. Next day we drove to the West coast, lovely views again (it's a beautiful country) had a look at Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, we thought Mount Coo...

This was hard. We woke 06:15 to thunder, lightning & heavy rain, only to be told it would get worse, made lunch and ate breakfast. Left 07:30 with waterproof coats and covers on our backpacks which had all our clothes etc for the trek in (it slowed down to a steady downpour) 7.5 miles later a quick hot drink and snacks, on our way here some of the paths were under water up to our knees. We then reached Mackay Falls not as high as Sutherland but difficult to ...