Won't talk about the weather here, nothing new to say. Had a lazy start and left here to travel up the coast, north west, to Abel Tasman. Very winding road so didn't go too far, just about 120 km or so. Beautiful scenery. Stopped for lunch just outside Takaka, by the beach as you can see. Rude of Yvonne & Yakov to start without me don't you think. Came back to the same site as last night and booked our whale watching trip for Thurs around midday. Don't worry,...

The picture is of a Weka. Fairly common and quite trusting it seems. This one appeared at the van when we parked up to see the Pancake Rocks. But back to the beginning. This morning was cloudy with a sea mist in on to the coast. We left Greymouth under gloomy skies. As mid morning approached the clouds (yawn) started to disappear and we were left with cloudless blue skies and a temperature above 20. It was 25 when we got here. This is getting boring isn't it. I w...

We stayed at Fox Glacier last night. At about 1am the call of nature woke me, too many beers after a long day driving, I guess. On leaving the van I looked towards the heavens. I have never seen a clearer sky, the milky way was, well, very milky and there were so many stars I couldn't count them. But I was in a bit of a hurry remember! This morning was cool, well cold to be honest. There wasn't a cloud in the sky nor a breath of wind, and so it stayed for most of...

Started the morning in Queenstown under clearing skies. Went to the top of the mountain overlooking the town in a gondola. Amazing views, watched some people paragliding but it was obviously too early for the bungy jumpers. Took a ski lift higher and returned to the middle layer on a luge ride, quite a good experience. Then down to the bottom again, leaving at about 11am to drive up the west coast. Travelled through Wanaka past lakes that were amazingly blue, ano...

Left Manapouri this morning under heavy cloud and threatening rain although it was very humid. As we travelled towards Queenstown we had increased rain and we feared the worst. But fear not dear reader, soon after we arrived in Queenstown the skies cleared and the sun shone. Temp rose into the 20's and all was well again. I know you will be pleased for us. A good walk around the town followed by an excellent lunch and, as you will see from the photo, some light r...