Wanaka was the next stop on our south island itinerary, and we drove there via the Haast Pass, which again had fantastic views of the Alps, and roadside waterfalls and lakes (some with massive boulders in, which must have dropped from the mountains). Despite a freaky incident where we stopped for lunch by a lake and the car got infested with sandflies (!) it was a great drive, with lovely Lake Hawea leading us into Wanaka. Wanaka is a pretty town with a gorgeous...

Our next major port of call on the South Island was the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers. On the drive down there from Hokitika we stopped off at Lake Mahinapua to do a short walk through the forest to the lakeside, to a place called Swimmer's Beach. Swimmers Beach was actually only about 2 metres across, so tiny, but we stayed there for a few minutes to take in the view, and carried on. We had lunch at another lake, Lake Ianthe, a really pretty little lake with a sw...

Hello everyone!!! Sorry we haven't updated our blog for a while - we have been so busy the past few weeks, and seen so much (and done so much driving!) that we have neglected the blog. It may take a while to get our photos up, as we have taken so many and we are struggling to find a decent internet connection, so you may have to wait a bit longer for those. At the moment we are in Australia, but we will keep you informed on what we got up to on the South Island o...

It's very windy in Wellington! We have been here for two days now, and we have been getting battered by the wind, and rain, quite a bit! Although it is the capital of New Zealand it doesn't seem to have the feel of a capital city, and it seems quite small in comparison to Auckland. We started off our stay in Wellington by attempting to get the cable car up to the Botanical Gardens to view the city and its harbour from above, but the cable car was closed for maint...

We could smell Rotorua before we even arrived! Because it's situated in a geothermal area, and there is still a lot of activity, the smell of sulphur hangs in the air. Nice! Rotorua is quite a popular area to learn about and experience maori culture, so we visited Te Puia, a maori arts and cultural centre, which also houses the Pohutu Geyser. We took a guided tour,which gave us an insight into traditional maori arts and crafts, such as wood carving and weaving, a...