We have spent today in Akaroa and the weather has been absolutely fantastic. It's like summer has started again. We went out on a boat tour today and saw some Hectors dolphins which are the smallest dolphins in the world and are only found in New Zealand. We also some a couple of blue penguins (from a distance) and some more seals. Akaroa was the only part of New Zealand the was settled by the French but there is little evidence left apart from the road names. ...

We are now in Akaroa and nearing the end of our 6 weeks in New Zealand. In some ways it has gone very quickly but on the other hand it seems a long time since we have arrived and we have visited so moany places and covered over 5000 km. On Wednesday we went on the TSS Earnslaw and visited a farm at Walters Peek where we had a demonstration of sheep dogs at work as well as seeing a sheep shearer in action (slow motion action) and looked at some dear being farmed ...

It's been a week since I could update this journal but her are the highlights of this amazing week. Tuesday 24th April: We left Franz Josef and travelled down to Fox and had a short walk around the lake and viewed the glacier from a distance. Th weather that day was not good and it was rainingf so we decided to spend most of the day driving so we could make up the ground to be in Te Anau by the weekend. We travelled through Haast and up to Wanaka where we spent ...

We stayed in Hokitika yesterday and had a bit of an animal day. We went to see some kiwis at the National Kiwi Centre as I think it is unlikely that we will see any in the wild. They are strange birds with no wings and a long beak. I knew they were flightless birds but they just look really odd with no wings. After that we checked in at our campsite and they had a small farm there. The kids loved it and although I thought the Llamas were the most interesting anim...

We,re in Greymouth today which, despite it,s name is a lovely little town. Today we have been up to a place called Shantytown which is a recreation of a gold mining town from the 1860s. They have built mines , shops , barbers, a fire station a jail, a schoool etc etc and the place is very impressive. They also have a steam train which takes you up on a short ride through the bush which was great for the kids. I think Poppy and Noah will be experts on mining by th...