Today we left the hostel at 9am to head to Queenstown. Before we left Wanaka we went to Puzzling World. Gina and I got this free with our Explore New Zealand cards. Entry is normally $12.00. There are loads of puzzles to try and solve and we tried to conquer the maze and illusion house. Puzzling World opened its gates in 1973 with the world's first wooden maze. Over time, a 'Puzzling Centre' was developed for visitors to try their skill in solving a range of puzz...

We got up ready to leave the hostel at 8am. We are heading to Wanaka today. First of all we stopped at Lake Matheson near the town of Fox Glacier. Usually you can see the perfect mirror reflection of Mount Cook on Lake Matheson but unfortunately it was raining today so we wouldn't see this reflection in the lake. We had some breakfast instead. After we left we passed the township of Haast and headed into the mountains bidding our farewell to the coastline. We tra...

Today we got up ready to walk to the Franz Josef Glacier Guide's office at 9am for our full day glacier hike. We got given all the gear to wear like jackets, trousers, hats, gloves, socks and boots. We also got given crampons which we have to wear on the glacier. Once we had all the gear on we got on the bus and were taken to the car park of the Westland National Park. The Franz Josef is a 12 kilometre long glacier located in Westland National Park. It's unique b...

Today we left Mahinapua Hotel at 9.30am to go to Franz Josef. On the way we stopped off at the Bushman Centre in Pukekura. The centre offers an insight into how people make a living on the coast through sphagnum moss, timber milling, possum trapping and helicopter deer recovery. We got some breakfast here as well. We then headed to Franz Josef Glacier Village nestled in Westland National Park, passing numerous Kettle lakes along the way. Kettle lakes are created ...

We got up ready to leave the hostel at 9am. We are heading to Lake Mahinapua from Westport today. On the way we stopped at Cape Foulwind and Tauranga Bay where we did a 40 minute walk to one of New Zealand's largest seal colonies. It is here that New Zealand is the closest point to Australia. After we left here we headed to Paparoa National Park for a short 15 minute walk. Then we drove to the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes and did another 30 minute walk. ...