As part of Joo's birthday present, I'd bought tickets for the Black Eyed Peas in Wellington. The only problem was that we were in Christchurch on the South Island.
So we flew from Christchurch into Wellington for the gig and would fly back to Christchurch the following day, for our flight to Sydney.

After checking in at Base Wellington, we grabbed some food and then headed over to the Events Centre.

Read more... (2728 bytes more)

Christchurch is the gateway to Antarctica and located near the airport is the International Antarctic Centre.

The centre was really good and gives you an interesting insight into the research and development work, that is carried out in the Antarctic.

Read more... (2713 bytes more)

Christchurch is the South Island's major city and is a lively place with a distinctly British feel to it.
It's flat, green and leafy and is arguably the country's most beautiful city, full of parks and the Avon River.
Cathredal Square is the hub of the city with 'The Chalice' and cathredal as it's focal point.

Read more... (2709 bytes more)

Located just outside Christchurch is Akaroa and was first settled by the French in 1840, the town still retains it French feel and atmosphere.
On the way there, the snow was trying to fall and driving was a little hard at times, especially in our little van.

Our campsite was perched on top of a hill overlooking the town and its harbour and we had a great view.

[ Click on the 'Read More' link below for the pictures. ]

Read more... (2090 bytes more)

Leaving behind the majestic Te Anau and Milford Sound, we headed east towards Dunedin passing some spectacular blue lakes.

Dunedin is Celtic for Edinburgh and is recognised as the most Scottish city outside Kilt-land. The weather was attrocious the whole 2 days we were there.
All we did was watch TV - we managed to catch Lord of the Rings too.

Read more... (2151 bytes more)

The area around Te Anau is breathtakingly beautiful and none more so than Milford Sound.
We'd originally planned to drive the 120Km infamous Milford Road to Milford Sound ourselves in the van.
After speaking to the lady at the campsite, she'd told us that you had to carry snow chains or otherwise be fined NZ$ 200 and the risk of avalanches was quite high at this time of year.

As we had no chains and the thought of being caught up in an avalanche, we booked ourselves on an organized trip with Real Journeys.

Read more... (3944 bytes more)

Leaving the Franz Josef glacier behind (we couldn't exactly take it with us, could we?), we made our way south towards Wanaka and eventually to Queenstown.

We were running low on fuel and none of the garages were open as they closed at 4pm!
With hardly any left, we had to spend the night in Lake Hawea waiting for the garage to open so we could continue our journey to Queenstown.

[ Click on the 'Read More' link ]

Read more... (5029 bytes more)

20th September 2004 - Franz Josef Glacier



Happy Birthday Joo!!

From Hokitika, we headed south to Franz Josef village. The Dutch explorer, Abel Tasman, was the first to discover the glacier in 1642 as he sailed along the coast looking for somewhere to keep his beers chilled! But it was not until 1862 that it received its name from Austrian explorer Julius von Haast, in honour of the emperor of Austria.

We hadn't booked ahead and unfortunately, the heli hike was all booked up. The helicopters can only fly up to the glacier in good conditions and as today was glorious sunshine everyman and his dog wanted to get up there.

We booked for first thing in the morning and crossed our fingers (and everything else) that the sun would shine the next day.

( Click on the' Read More' to see the pictures. )

Read more... (7255 bytes more)

19th September 2004
Reluctantly leaving Kaikoura, we made the journey from the east coast over to the west via Arthur's Pass.
The road passes through some spectacular scenery and was a little hairy at times - sheer cliff drops and hairpin bends. They don't seem to know about crash barriers over in NZ!

Along Arthur's Pass, we stopped for a quick rest and met the infamous Kea bird. It's basically a parrot that lives in the alpine regions of NZ but tends to hang around where the tourists are, hoping to munch on anything they are fed.
They're a feisty thing and have acquired a taste for rubber - windscreen wipers and tyres mainly!
We left rapidly as they were eyeing up the seal around the roof of our camper and would've ate the lot!!

( Click on the 'Read More' link to the right )

Read more... (1238 bytes more)

16th September - 19th September 2004 ~ Picton, Nelson & Kaikoura

Read more... (4289 bytes more)

We left Taupo behind and headed south towards Wellington, where we were to catch the ferry over to the South Island.
The weather in Wellington was horrendous and definately lives up to its moniker of 'Windy Wellington'. It rained for 2 days none stop whilst we were there and did put a dampner on sightseeing.

We did venture into the city on one day, but we just couldn't stand the weather as it reminded us too much of back home!
We managed to get to Te Papa (Our Place) Museum, which was very interesting and informative.

[ Read More... ]

Read more... (1796 bytes more)

Thursday 9th September - Lake Taupo

There's only one thing Kiwis love more than rugby and sheep - and that's scaring the crap out of themselves!
So we decided to join them and both do a skydive - after a lot of chickening out mind.

[ Click on the 'Read More...' link for more and the pictures. ]

Read more... (11483 bytes more)

6th September - 10th September. Taupo

Taupo lies on the shore of NZ's largest lake, Lake Taupo which is 600 Sq. Km in area and is a very picturesque place.
We had a great spot at our campsite, Taupo Motor Camp, right next to the Waikato River.

[ Click on the 'Read More...' link ]

Read more... (5336 bytes more)

4th September - 5th September. Napier & Havelock North

Napier is billed as the 'Art Deco capital of the world' and has numerous art deco buildings and architecture.
Napier was hit by a disastrous earthquake in 1931 which measured 7.9 on the richter scale, and was rebuilt in an art deco style. We didn't manage to get that many pictures, but the best example of art deco is the Daily Telegraph building.

[ Click on the 'Read More...' link ]

Read more... (2369 bytes more)

30th August - 3rd September. Rotorua to Gisborne via East Cape.


From Rotorua we decided to head over to the Bay of Plenty and around the East Cape, making our way to Gisborne. The East Cape has stunning coastal scenery and is pretty much off the main tourist route.
It's a very rural area and is dotted with very tiny communities. We were blessed with a fabulous sunset on the way to Te Kaha, where we stayed for the night at the Te Kaha Holiday Park.

[ Click on the 'Read More...' link ]

Read more... (5455 bytes more)

We'd figured we'd reached Rotorua, by the smell of rotten eggs. Rotorua is famous for its thermal activity with bubbling hot mud pools and geysers... not to mention that bloody smell!
There's steam coming out everywhere around Rotorua - people even heat their houses off it!

[ Click on the 'Read More...' link ]

Read more... (7254 bytes more)

From the Bay of Islands, we headed south through Auckland again and onto Waitomo Caves. Along the way, there was a great rainbow over Auckland and we also 'bumped' into some cows crossing the road!

The Waitomo Caves are famous for their glow worms and we had to take a look at em. You wander through the caves full of stalactites and stalagmites and then board a little boat and head down the river through the caves. Above you, it's just like looking at the stars with all the glow worms.
We stayed a night in Waitomo and watched the amazing sunset.

The next day we set off for our journey to Rotorua, aka Sulphur City.


Here's the pictures...

Read more... (1199 bytes more)

Sunday 22nd August 2004

Once we'd woke up after our 06:00 getup, the trip started with a bit of tree hugging in a Kauri forest and then onto a bakery to grab our lunch for the day.

We got up to the lighthouse at Cape Reinga, which is where the Pacific and Tasman Sea meets, took some pictures and then had lunch on Tapotupotu beach.

We then went sandboarding (which was great!) and then drove down Ninety Mile Beach. We saw penguins, wild horses and sadly, a deaded dolphin.

After that, we stopped at "Uncle Stu's" fruit stall in Kerikeri and had some kiwi fruit, tamarillos and oranges - which were 'sweet as'!

A great day but we were knackered by the end of it.... I don't think the previous nights alcohol helped!

Here's the pictures...

Read more... (5078 bytes more)

Sat. August 21st 2004


From the Coromandel Peninsula, we ventured north through Auckland and up to the Bay of Islands. Along the way, we stopped off at Whangerei Falls and also to the world famous Hundertwasser toilets in KawaKawa.

We stayed for 2 nights in Pahia and met up with Jon and Sarah, who also had a Kombi campervan like ours.
We joined them on a boat trip on the Excitor (which wasn't that exciting!) to the Hole in the Rock. Thought we'd be 'flying' through the rock, but cos it's so choppy you can only go through really slow.

When we booked the boat trip, we also booked to go up to Cape Reinga lighthouse and down Ninety Mile Beach with Awesome Adventures, for the next day.

After all the 'excitement' we headed back to our vans at the campsite and put up the awning on our van.
We 'invited' Jon and Sarah to join us in our little tent and el vino did flow. Not good, when we had to get up at 06:00 for our trip!


Here's the pictures...

Read more... (2418 bytes more)

From Thames, we headed up to Tapu and stayed on a motorcamp for the night. The next day, we got up early and headed up and around the Coromandel Peninsula on Highway 25 through Coromandel Town, Whitianga, Whenuakite, Tairua, Hikuai and ending at Miranda.

Read More...

Read more... (4156 bytes more)

After a nice rest at the Raffles in Nadi, we headed over to the airport and caught our early morning flight over to Auckland.
Everyone we'd met in Fiji who had come from NZ, said it'd be cold as they're just coming to the end of winter. Jumpers and thicks socks on, we were ready!

Nice flight over there, with nice views of the Coral Coast in Fiji and also flying over NZ on the way in.

It was cold when we got off the plane, but not too bad. We're used to this sort of weather! Once in Auckland it was a different story. The wind was icy cold and it was bloody freezing. We had to buy hats, jumpers and gloves whilst we there, it was that cold!

Read More...

Read more... (5021 bytes more)

We've got 7 weeks in New Zealand and have spent the last few days in Auckland sorting out an itinerary.
We're staying at Base Auckland on Fort Street, which is a fairly new hostel with great facilities and is ideally located in the centre of Auckland.

Our wheels for getting around New Zealand is a 1962 Custom Westfalia VW Kombi camper :-

Flew out early this morning from Fiji and got here around midday. Just had a quick look around Auckland and the harbour area.
The weather is not too good - drizzly and a bit cold. Reminds us of back home and is a bit of a change from Fiji!

I'll be updating all the pictures from LA and from Fiji over the next few days.

Take care,
Lee and Joo xx