Started looking for work as soon as we arrived in Motueka. And found a job the same day! Apple packhouse. Had to quickly find accommodation as first shift was the very next day. After working in cherry packhouse I knew what to expect but apples are definitely worse. Ended up only doing it for a week. Caught a really bad cold so tried to clear it before I headed to Blenheim to look for vineyard work. Was again really lucky and found a job the same day I arrived ...

From Kina we headed up through Motueka and went for a couple of walks in the forest and to a spiritual Maori place where someone was getting a cleansing ceremony performed. The drive was a bit of an arse as the road was steep and twisty and the weather was a right pea-souper. The views would've been great I'm sure though. Kept on going to Farewell Spit the next day and the weather gradually improved! Loooong walk on Farewell. The dunes are cool though and the ...

We headed through to Nelson next and went on a tour of Pic's peanut butter factory! Very interesting story of how Pic started out and the peanut butters bloody good too! Pipe band competition was on while we were there so it was weird, but nice, walking to town and hearing the pipes blasting out from the competition grounds and the practice area. Heading north, Rabbit Island is a lovely beach and stop off point and Kina beach reserve was a great place to camp ...

We headed on to Hokitika and on up to pancake rocks and the blow holes. Really cool seeing the sea surge through and the erosion is constant so it won't be there forever. Headed further north on the west coast and ended up staying at a lovely campsite right on the coast called Gentle Annie's. Great place, lovely cakes and muffins and the sunsets were pretty impressive! We took the trip to Karamea in my car as Laura's van wasn't feeeling to well and had ended u...

We headed north from Wanaka and stopped in past the blue pools. Very cool place and the water is an incredible colour but bloody hell the sand flies!! From there we headed through Haast Pass which would probably have been amazing but not so much with low cloud and drizzle! Fox Glacier was next on the sight list and we walked up to the viewpoint. Must admit I wasn't that impressed with Fox. It's a bit underwhelming. Just a dirty hunk of snow. The ravine you wal...