The weather in Abel Tasman had been fantastic - the New Zealand summer I had heard so much about but witnessed so little of but as we travelled down to Kaikoura it got worse. I had booked a whale watching trip but had heard the weather was due to get worse and was worried that it may have been cancelled - I went to the whale watching company who said they didn't know if the afternoon trip would run but I could change to the midday one - so off I went. Kaikoura i...

I arrived into Nelson on the Thursday afternoon - although I'd been here 6 years ago I didn't really remember it very much. This is actually where I was when I got my degree result back in 2005. I wandered around that evening and then just chilled out back at my hostel. The following day I was off to Abel Tasman, I got picked up at the hostel and we headed to the Park. At the park HQ I met my guide and the 2 other people doing my trip - we got our equipment toge...

I spent another night in Christchurch on my way back north - there was no earthquakes this time well at least none that I felt or head about! From Christchurch I headed up to Picton where I was going to be picked up for a dive trip. In the Queen Charlotte Sound in 1986 a large Russian cruise ship the Mikhail Lermentov sank because a local pilot (person who guides a boat not someone who flies planes) made a massive error in judgement and tore the hull of the boat ...

From Christchurch I was going to Mt Cook. Of all the places I was going on this part of the trip Mt. Cook was the one I was most looking forward to. I had booked a trip kayaking amongst the glaciers on the Tasman glacier lake and was planning on some hikes through the beautiful alpine mountain scenery (that was what made me upgrade my walking boots)! Unfortunately mother nature had other plans. The bus to Mt cook included a couple of stops - one at the beautiful ...

Arriving into Christchurch nowadays is a bit surreal - the city centre (or the bits you can access) is a mixture of crumbling buildings, abandoned buildings, empty sections where buildings once stood all interspersed between normal functioning buildings. It really is a strange sight. The other surprising thing about Christchurch is that it is very difficult to get hostel accommodation - you have to book it in advance - that's because although there has been a dro...