I was still feeling like my feet had been walking across a hot road, a little tender in places, but much better compared to the night before. My GPS wanted to take me to New Plymouth the boring way and…
Tongariro Alpine Crossing
I knew today was going to be very hard and a mental and physical test. I was definitely anxious when I woke up and anxious on the way to the trailhead on the shuttle bus. Once the walk commenced though…
Rotorua or Queenstown
One can’t help thinking that Rotorua is the equivalent of Queenstown on the North island. They both even have smaller tourist towns nearby in Wanaka and Taupo. They both offer a bewildering array of adventurous activities like bungee jumping and white…
Hydro-Thermoman
Rotorua isn’t far from Napier, apparently a 2 hr drive, but it took me 2 hr just to get to Taupo. The good thing is there was no rush and my first stop for the day was at Huka Falls. …
Coastal Deco
Today started with an easy drive out of Wellington and then following the Hutt Valley before heading up and over a mountain pass which is pretty normal for driving in NZ. As if the day wasn’t going to be a…
Wellywood
There is a familiarity with Wellington, that has built up over time due to all the kiwi movies and TV shows based here. Some of Peter Jacksons earliest movies were cult hits and were filmed in and around Wellington like…
The last leg
The sun doesn’t rise til after 8am down on the south island, so its rather easy to get up for sunrise photos, except that today there was nothing to photograph. The magnificent view of Mt Cook was replaced with white…
Aoraki
I departed Queenstown early in the hope to avoid the traffic, alas the traffic into and out of Queenstown in the morning is quite bad, only a single lane road in and out it seems! I was soon on the…
Atmospheric luging
The weather didn’t look great this morning. Freezing cold and low cloud everywhere. So I thought I’d go for a drive because it was too cold to do anything outside. I headed along the road that follows the shoreline of…
Kiwis and Keas
Well what a long noisy night that was. Until I realised I had earplugs in my toilet bag that was. My room is at the front of the building on the ground floor. Its right next to a communal shower/toilet…