6/8/9 Nelson to Westport We were picked up with yet another new driver, Cameron, who will be our driver for the next week down the West coast into Queenstown. Several passengers weren't ready again and so we circled the town until they were...Cam made them sing karaoke of Queens "Don't Stop Me Now" as a forfeit!!! The song is played every morning to start the day when Cam is driveing. Our first stop was in a town called Richmond to get breakfast and lu...

4/8/9 Wellington to Nelson We joined another driver on the Kiwi bus called Smiley, who had an enormous grin which never seemed to go from his face...lovely. It was raining heavily when we pulled out of Wellington for the short journey to the port, to catch the ferry across the Cook Strait to the South island port of Picton. When we arrived at the port we checked our bags in and boarded . The ferries are retired cross channel ferries and we were transported back ...

1/8/9 Wanganui to Wellington After taking delivery of Jo's homemade cookies, Neil kindly drove us into Wellington which was a couple of hours drive via Bulls where we stopped to pick up a coffee. Thanks for the cookies Jo they were fab and eaten within no time. On the way into Wellington we passed the rugby ground known locally as "The Cake Tin" as thats what it looks like. We parked in the town centre and spotted our hostel. we left our bags in the ca...

30/7/9 River valley to Wanganui Phil woke up early to meet up with the rafting crew to see if the trip was going ahead. They had to await a decision on the water levels as it had rained heavily all night long. It was decided that the trip was on but lots of the people booked to go had been up all night drinking and only turned up at 9 .30!!! not impressed. The rafting trip was 20 km down the Rangitikei river down 10 grade 4-5 rapids as well as lots of smaller on...

29/7/9 River Valley Phil finally finished uploading our photos at 4am!!!Our bus was due to leave at 9.30am and we weren't packed so got up after a very few hours sleep to pack and jump on the bus. It was pouring with rain and very grey and cloudy as we left Taupo. There were no mountain views due to the weather so we were really happy for the clear weather we had over the last three days. Our driver Mar drove us to the Tangoriro National Park and intended to dro...