This morning we collected the hire car and were soon on our way out of Auckland, over the harbour bridge and travelling north towards the Bay of Islands. In a short time we left the city and suburbs behind us and were back in farmland, windy roads and hills on either side. We came to a short stretch of toll road and decided to take the 'pretty' way down by the coast instead. I'm glad we did because we came across Waiwera Thermal Park, a mini water world type park...

After breakfast we crossed the sky bridge linking our hotel with Sky City Tower and paused to watch people doing the Sky Jump from above. We took the elevator to the viewing platforms and luckily the weather was clear and sunny and we were able to get great views all around Auckland. Every few minutes another plucky (stupid??) individual would throw themselves off the platform and dangle for a few moments in front of our eyes before being lowered at speed down th...

We woke late this morning and were playing catch up for the rest of the day. After a very late breakfast we took ourselves out for a walk and ended up down at the harbour where we admired the giant rugby ball we had heard so much about, and strolled past the cruise liners along the quayside. There were several giant TV screens and the whole area was buzzing with crowds of people already collecting well ahead of this evening's game, just soaking up the atmosphere...

The weather was stunning today, sunny and warm. We spent a leisurely morning enjoying beautiful Edenhouse and our delightful cottage. After a delicious breakfast in the main lodge we had a long walk round the grounds enjoying the spectacular views. As we walked on the lower levels we spotted four ducks in the distance grubbing around under the trees. It seems that at about the same moment they also spied us! They came waddling towards us as fast as their legs cou...

We left Blenheim in beautiful sunshine and were soon back on the open and, as usual, almost deserted roads. We passed through Havelock and shortly after that we were climbing through twisting and turning roads and many steep bends as we crossed the beautiful mountains of the Richmond Range on our journey to Nelson. As we decended into Nelson the road took us right next to the sea which was flat calm and sparkling in the sunshine. In the distance you could see th...