Rotorua and Auckland Days 119 and 120 After only a short bus journey we arrived in Rotorua. We still had most of the day remaining so we went to Lake Rotorua which is very different to Taupo as it is situated on a geothermal hot spot. The lake is full of bubbling sulphur pools with steam rising from the surface. We booked a tour of Hell's gate for the next day along with a Maori cultural evening, which we'd heard was good. Hell's gate was the most active geo...

Days 117 and 118 We had to get up early for yet another long bus journey in order to get to Lake Taupo. We arrived in Taupo 7 hours later, and once checked in to the Rainbow Lodge we headed down to the lake front. Lake Taupo is the largest lake in New Zealand, and covers an area around the size of Singapore!! It looked more like the sea as a result, and as it was really windy there was even some waves. The next day we caught a shuttle bus up the river leadin...

Picton and Wellington Days 114, 115 and 116 After a 2 hour bus journey we arrived in Picton and the rain was hammering it down. Luckily the guesthouse (Sequoia Lodge) were kind enough to pick us up, and once the skies had cleared we were able to take a walk into the town for some lunch. There wasn't alot to do other than take to the walking tracks or go on a cruise of the harbour, and as thunderous looking clouds were threatening we decided to just head back ...

Days 111, 112 and 113 We arrived to a foggy Kaikoura after a brief stop in Blenheim for a 'Mac n cheese' lunch. Our hostel the Dolphin Lodge was one of the best we have stayed in so far, and we had a view of the sea and mountains from our room. We decided to enter a Local Pub quiz that night with some people we met at the hostel. It was going well until the group decided not to go with my answer on a Biology question, which of course they then got wrong costin...

Days 108, 109 and 110 We had another long bus ride ahead of us so we said goodbye to Franz Josef and began our trip to Nelson. We did get to stop off at Punakaiki to see the Pancake rocks, which was the only point of the day where it stopped raining! There were also blowholes where the waves caused jets of seawater to be forced out of holes in the rock, pretty cool to see. The views along the whole drive helped make the time fly by and the bus driver kindly dr...