Author: Jim Carter

Arrived Tauranga on 14th March, nice compact little airbnb in a unit below the owners house. Went out and got some provisions and then visited one of the beaches nearby called Papamoa, a lovely long expanse of sandy beach. Enjoyed a couple of hours chilling out there. On day 2 weather was perfect again so…

Arrived in Taupo today, a town on the banks of the massive Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand. It’s a big, busy place, very popular tourist area for obvious reasons. Not just the lake itself but it’s renowned for its geothermal attractions, so looking forward to exploring over the next few days. Very…

We had a long drive up to Napier today, most of it was quite enjoyable, especially Route 52 which winded it’s way over fabulous countryside for about 3 hours. Got stuck behind a flock of sheep (see video below), stopped at a little pub in a place called Pongoroa and had a rather unusual hot…

Before we arrived in Wellington we had to drive to Blenheim to catch our short flight, see picture in the post headline image, and what a drive it was. We detoured via Picton and stopped there for lunch. This is where the ferry port is for the ferry crossings between the two islands. We decided…

Day 1 we explored the city. It’s a nicely laid out city centre, but surprisingly quiet for a city, but then the population is only 55,000 compared to 624,000 for Brighton. We climbed up along step hill to find the spot that signifies the central point of New Zealand. The views at the top were…

The drive from Greymouth to Nelson was absolutely spectacular. We thought the Great Ocean Road was brilliant in Australia, which it was, but this drive equalled it for sure. You must drive the west coast road on the South island if you come to New Zealand. Before doing that we stopped at Runanga Falls just…

Had an amazing drive here from Te Anau, stopping a number of times to admire more gorgeous scenery. We actually stopped in Wanaka for lunch and then had a one night stay in a little cabin on a campsite on the shore of Lake Wahea, which is nearby Wanaka. It was an absolutely gorgeous spot…

We had a fantastic drive down to Te Anau, the first half of it was alongside lake Wakatipu, the third largest lake in NZ. The scenery is majestic, and the weather was perfect to show the lake of at its best. We also stopped at a major bungee jumping spot just outside of Queenstown, supposedly…

Amazing to be in New Zealand and flying into Queenstown was quite spectacular. Our original flight was cancelled. so we ended up having to fly to Auckland first and then get a connecting flight down to Queenstown, all a bit stressful as we were supposed to be picking up our hire car today. We got…