New Zealand

After bidding farewell to the best hostel ever we made our way to Pahia via Whangaroa. We climbed up St. Paul's Rock which was steep but the views were brilliant. We also visited Mangonui which is home to a world famous fish n chip shop. The fish was tasty but the chips were oven chips which in our book is just wrong - plus NO mushy peas! Tut tut!

View from St Paul's Rock

On the top

We stopped in Pahia for two nights and whilst here had a game of golf on a course which had the most perfect views nestled amongst the Bay of Islands. After a quick bite to eat we were off to the treaty house of Whangeri. This area witnessed the collaboration of Moari tribes and the British to rule the country together. A very interesting spot!

After a delayed start due to Nic's foot and mouth infection we set off to explore Cape Reigna, borrowing Alan and Ann's car. Our first night was in a converted saw mill next to the first marine park of New Zealand. We enjoyed a visit to a boutique cinema coupled by a few drinks - amazing! We then stopped by a Kauri museum which was very interesting if not a little odd - they had a whole room dedicated to tree gum (which turned out to be excellent.....jurrassic park style) and also took a walk through what is left of the Kauri forests. These trees are bloody enormous! We visited one in particular called Father of the Forest (or in Moari Te Matua Ngahere) which had a circumference of 16.41m! Unfortunately there just aren't many Kauri trees left as the first settlers went mad and chopping them all down, which is an impressive feat in itself considering their size...

Kauri gum

Te Matua Ngahere

After all these trees we drove to Ahipara and stayed in the best hostel yet whilst travelling. The hostel was gorgeous, our room had uninterrupted views over the sea and the southern most section of 90 mile beach. We could relax and watch the sun set views from our room or stoll to the end of the garden and admire them from the beach, it was heaven! Whilst staying here we drove up to Cape Reigna for the day. The views were fantastic, we could see the Tasman and Pacific Seas meeting the whole scene was picture perfect.

Endless Summer Lodge - the best hostel ever!

The number one spot in NZ for surfing!

The sunset at Ahipara

Cape Reigna

We also tried a spot of sandboarding on the massive dunes but it was a little slow, we had taboggins which were really the safer way. We later realised why this was the best option considering the speed we saw some peope going down. We know peope who are now back home because of seriously injuring themselves from it!

After arriving in Auckland at 1am we were a bit bedragled when we met up with David's aunt and cousin; Ann and Meredith the following day. We had a quick tour of Auckland and visited Mt. Eden one of the city's extinct volcanoes. It had great views of the city and a pretty impressive crater - we were on the volcano island now!

Over the next couple of days we took a visit to the museum, went out to the theatre for a taster of Auckland's comedy festival and, thanks to Alan and Ann we thoroughly relaxed in our new home away from home!

Auckland's Sky Tower

One of many volcanoes with Auckland in the background

We had a couple of days in Christchurch before our flight to Auckland, so we took the opportunity to see Banks Peninsula. It was only a short drive from the city centre yet was such a contrast. This area was the result of volcanic eruptions and has steep grassy hills, windy roads and secluded bays - it was beautiful and had great views over Christchurch. We headed to Akaroa, a pretty French influenced harbour town - here we chilled out and soaked up the atmosphere.

Drinks before our 2nd or 3rd curry in Christchurch......

We also visited the Antartic Centre which was interesting but really a rip off! The blizzard room was really good fun and we experienced what it would be like in a snow storm in the Antartic, it was a bit nippy to say the least!

And so that was the South Island. We were sent off from Christchurch airport with a spectacular sunset before the short journey to Auckland.

Bye bye Christchurch

We were now working our way slowly back to Christchurch and crossed over the Southern alps for the last time via Arthur's Pass. This was very dramatic with all the switchbacks and eerie surrounds of cloud and mist. We pulled into a great little campsite and settled there for the evening surrounded by mountains and a dry riverbed. An hour or so later we were fighting for our spot with a several keas which are mountain parrots. They're curious little blighters and are known to wreak havoc wherever they go, pinching walkers bag covers, food and even snapping aerials and wipers off cars. Soon enough they were under the campervan and on the roof testing the vans durability. After trying to get rid of them on more then one occasion, we knew they wouldn't give up! Needless to say we decided it was best to move on and ended up stopping a bit nearer Arthur's Pass village, which was kea free!

We took our time getting to Christchurch the following day and as we waved goodbye to the mountains we found Narnia! Well, at least a spot where they did some of the filming. We had a walk round and found an enormous cave - neither of us felt inclined to get soaking wet up to our waists in the freezing water so admired it from just inside the entrance! The whole area was quite incredible and we soon came across a field with the biggest boulders we'd ever seen. These babies were as big as houses and just in the middle of nowhere! Rock climbing/bouldering heaven!

On our way down to the caves

Big rocks!