From Oamaru, we took a scenic route northwest through more lumpy bumpy vibrant green farmland, through some cool limestone cliffs, then turned west up the Waitaki valley and made our way further inland.Along the way we stopped at the Elephant Rocks, big rounded outcrops of limestone dotting a field in the midst of the idyllic green countryside.The road up the Waitaki valley took us past numerous lakes of incredible powder blue water in smooth-sided wide valleys o...

Arriving in Dunedin fairly late on Thursday night, we drove around the town centre to find the Speight's Ale House next to the Speight's brewery, where we'd agreed to meet Makouri.We found a seat in front of the large gas fire in the brewery-themed bar and didn't have long to wait until Makouri turned up. The three of us sat chatting for a while before ordering some food which turned up ridiculously quickly and was also far better than its quick cooking time had ...

We arrived on Sunday evening into Queenstown and managed to find our way to a holiday park, opting for a 3 for 2 deal on our accommodation which meant we would have 3 nights in Queenstown.After a really long drive from Franz Josef that day, I was keen to get out of the van and stretch my legs so we headed from the holiday park into town. We discovered that we had arrived in the middle of the first Queenstown winterfestival which meant there were all kinds of thin...

After our night at the holiday park in Hokitika, we drove into town to have a look around. It was a small place with not a lot going on, but nice all the same, with wide quiet streets and lots of jade (or pounamu) outlets. We had a look at the beach which was being pounded by the grey Pacific waves, before carrying on down the west coast.Our drive that day took us south before moving inland a bit. The clear, bright weather was great for driving, and we enjoyed th...

Waking up to another grey day with a chance of sun on Tuesday, we decided since we were in wine country we'd better check out some wine.After breakfast and packing up the van we drove a little way out of Blenheim to the Brancott (formerly Montana) winery, one of the largest in the Marlborough region to find out about their tours. After discovering there wasn't a tour of the winery until 1pm, we decided to come back later.We drove back through Blenheim and then ou...