Rotorua is one of the most volcanic areas in the North Island, and has many thermal areas around it. Because of this it has a bit of a reputation for stinking like rotten eggs, but we were pleased to find it wasn't actually that bad when we arrived there. Our campsite was on the outskirts of the main town and was really nice. It also had one of the benefits of the thermal activity as it had it's own thermal pools. We had a relax in them after we had stettled in t...

My last blog got up to the point where we had been stuck in Okakune because of the snow so I will carry on from there. After escaping from the snow at last we drove as quick as we could in the conditions to make sure we wouldn't be stuck for another night. Luckily our next stop wasn't far away at a place called Turangi. The drive there was really nice despite the snow as the roads had all been cleared, and we drove right through the Tongariro National Park. We ha...

The ferry we had booked to take us from Picton to Wellington was at 10.00 in the morning, but last check in was at 9, so we left the campsite very early at around 8 to be there in plenty of time. It was the earliest we had been up in a while and it was a bit of a struggle. Also it turned out it was unnecessary as we were at the ferry terminal before the check in had even opened. The weather had been awful from the moment we woke up and was getting progressively w...

The drive from Kaikora to Nelson took about 3 hours, and we were back to driving on bendy roads. The first part of the journey was along the coast and the sea was probably the roughest I have ever seen, but it was still very nice to see. As we got further north towards Nelson the weather got better and better and the sky cleared right up. This made us feel much happier! The Nelson area is supposed to get the most sun out of the whole of New Zealand, and it seemed...

As soon as we left Christchurch for the drive north it started to rain, and got worse and worse as we went. Luckily it only took a couple of hours to get to our next stop; Hamner Springs. The roads were much better there too so we didn't feel like we were going to get blown off the side of the road. When we arrived at Hanmer Springs the rain was even worse so we just had to sit in the van until it stopped a bit, then chill out at the campsite. It carried on all n...