As we headed north towards Picton to get the ferry to Wellington for the quarter final, we decided to stop in Kaikoura, famous for 2 reasons; whale watching and crayfish eating. We had stopped here before on the way past about a week earlier and were thwarted from doing the whale watching as it had all been booked up for the day we arrived. On that occasion we tucked into some crayfish gleefully. For those of you that don't know, crayfish is basically lobster's u...

Taupo and Rotarua Leaving wet and windy New Plymouth behind us, we headed east to Tongariro National Park. We hoped to tackle the Tongariro Crossing, a one day walk across a snow capped inactive volcano. Unfortunately the weather conspired against us, with fast winds and a fresh dumping of snow on the high ground making it too dangerous. The DOC (Dept Of Conservation) info centre told us we might be able to go a couple of days later, so we headed an hour north t...