22nd- 24th April On the way to Greymouth we stopped off in Punakaiki to see the pancake rocks and blowholes. We got there just before high tide so we got to see them as the tide was getting bigger and the waves more ferocious. They were an interesting sight with the rocks shaped and layered in that way from erosion over 300 million years. We saw massive sprays of water come up through the blowholes and make booming sounds! The whole west coast (Wild West) is ver...

21st-22nd April On the way to Westport we stopped at New Zealand's longest swing-bridge over the Buller Gorge, just past Murchison. We didn't pay to cross the bridge but we got to see it. It wasn't as impressive as I thought it would be. We got to Westport late afternoon, in bad rain, so we just headed to the iSite to find out more information on the area. Westport is at the start of the West Coast region- the most unpopulated region in NZ (around 1% of the pop...

20th-21st April We got to Nelson Lakes National Park at lunch time and went to the DOC centre there for more information on what walks there were in the area. We then took a 5 minute walk to Lake Rotoiti, the smallest of the two lakes in the national park, and had our lunch overlooking the lake and it surrounding mountains- the St. Arnaud Ranges and Mt. Robert. The snow capped alps were just in the background! It was beautiful and exactly, if not better, how it ...

18th-20th April We first stopped at the iSite in the closest town, Motueka, to get some information on a day walk in Abel Tasman National Park and where we booked a water taxi to do the walk the next day. We parked overnight at W F Moss Scenic Reserve, around 10km from the town. It was only lunch time when we got there and the weather was lovely so we sat out in our chairs and relaxed. The site was on a field in the middle of forest, next to a stream, with an aw...

17th-18th April We got to Nelson (a city and a region) quite early in the day and had a nosy around. Nath got his hair cut and then we went to the local swimming baths where you could pay $3 for just a hot shower. It's known as New Zealand's sunniest city as it has the highest amount of sunshine hours per year- and it was lovely when we were there- just one little bit of rain for not very long! It is also New Zealand's oldest city. To be honest though there wasn...