Beautiful beaches Friday 6th - Tuesday 10th November, 2009 Our final week in the south island felt pretty manic as we wanted to fit as much in before we moved to the north island. En route to the Abel Tasman National Park we decided that there was time for a quick yomp, so we stopped overnight in Nelson Lakes and the next day enjoyed a hot, yet very windy walk on the Mount Robert circuit, and part way along the ridgeway. Even before we hit the ridgeway the ...

A dolphin encounter 5th November, 2009 There are two reasons that most people head here to Kaikoura and that's either to whale watch or to swim with dolphins. At first we were reluctant to indulge in either of these activities, not just because of the cost, but mainly from an environmental perspective. Not only that, we're not particularly strong swimmers (although that is coming on in leaps and bounds now with the amount of time we've been spending in the wate...

Incredible sunsets Saturday 31st October - Monday 2nd November, 2009 When we drove down the west coast of the south island back in March we spent much of our time trying to fatham whether we could see Mount Cook or not, but this time, driving up the centre of the island, there was no doubt which one was the highest peak. En route to Mt Cook we stopped at a lovely family owned vineyard just outside of Queenstown, where not only did we sample some fine wines, ...

Back on the water Sunday 25th - Friday 30th October 2009 Two and a half weeks into our trip, we found ourselves back in the wet and wonderful Fiordlands (which is where we left off back in April.) After 3 days on the Hump Ridge Track, we felt we deserved a much needed treat (well, OK, I felt I needed a much needed treat!) so we got ourselves a cute little cabin at what felt like a fairly remote place called Freestone Backpackers in Manapouri. We holed ourse...

Hump ridge track We did our 1st proper 'tramp' (as they call them over here), when I say proper, you have to take all our own gear on our backs, food, clothes and all weather gear as well as camera etc though thankfully no tents involved! The walk we did was called the Hump Ridge Track, it's in the south of the South Island, on the edge of what's known as Fiordland and goes up to just under 1000m and then back down and along a section of the South Coastal pa...