Yesterday we stopped at Kaikoura, for both a freshly cooked crayfish (yum yum!) and to see all the seals.  There were quite a few seals laying around and a couple fighting, and the surf was massive and angrily smashing against the rocks, (but not the seals) so it was a cool and dramatic backdrop.  Click here for our photos of the seals at Kaikoura and drive to Hanmer Springs.

We then continued on to Hanmer Springs, where we spent the afternoon soaking in the thermal waters.  We tried to spend most of our time in the various mineral pools to get the supposed healing properties, but overall it was just nice to be really warm again.  There are about 10 different pools at different temperatures and with different mineral content, so it was nice to go from pool to pool and sometimes the freezing air outside the water was even welcome as some of them were so hot (41 degrees C).

Today we are going through Lewis Pass and will stop at one of the other springs on the way for another relaxing soak (probably the Maruia Springs) and then will stay with Dre’s uncle Rob for a night or two near Greymouth/Punakaiki.

The last couple of days we’ve been travelling from New Plymouth to Blenheim.  We drove right around the coast, around Mt Egmont which was very scenic and cool.  We could see both the ocean and the mountain for most of the trip.  We went out to the Cape Egmont lighthouse and had some lunch, it was so amazing to see all of the rocks from Mt Egmont’s eruption all the way over there – over 8kms away from the mountain.  We then went over to Palmerston North for Dre to take another trip down memory lane to find his old house and school.  It was also a welcome break for our car which decided to almost overheat – noooooo!  We got some radiator fix-it stuff though and now it’s running fine.

We then went on to a little town called Mana, near Wellington, for the night.  We were lucky enough to get a hotel room which flooded – we woke up at 4.30 to the sound of running water and got up and the entire carpet was soaked – lucky we got up and also lucky we didn’t have any of our stuff on the floor.  Turns out it was a burst water pipe and so at 4.30am we got moved to another hotel room…. oh well it’s all fun and games.  We scored a mean cooked breakfast for our troubles so it’s not all bad.

Yesterday we came across to the South Island on the Interislander Ferry.  It was awesome.  Karen’s only memory of the Interislander is extremely rough seas and a horrible trip, but thankfully this crossing was picture perfect, a textbook crossing.  We stood outside on the boat for an hour or so when coming into the Queen Charlotte Sounds and it was really beautiful.

It was a shame the sky wasn’t blue but it was still nice enough to stand outside.  Then yesterday afternoon we went around some of the Marlborough Vineyards, went to a handmade chocolate place and got some cheeses, it was a good afternoon and then stayed in Blenheim.  To see our photos of Taranaki, The Interislander Ferry crossing and Blenheim vineyards click here.  Today we are going to Kaikoura and then Hanmer Springs for a soak in the thermal waters.

We have spent a day in Taranaki, and have done a couple of cool things.  We climbed up Paratutu Rock, 200m high and basically vertical the whole way up (thanks Steve for the heads up on that one) and got amazing views. It was pretty sketchy at times – we have no idea how people used to get up there before the rope wire was put up there.  When we got to the top as well as the awesome views there were loads of little flies that wouldn’t go away, it was weird as they weren’t anywhere else except on the very top.  We also went up Mount Egmont and went for a walk in the Goblin Forest which was amazing, it is so green here!  There was moss and lichen growing on almost all of the trees and it was very cold and damp.  Very very cool scenery though. To see all our photos of Taranaki click here.

The weather has been really good since we’ve been here, really cold nights but a beautiful sunny day.  In the morning it was so cold that we thought the fridge wasn’t working as it felt the same temperature in there as it did outside – then we realised it was just because the outside air was just as cold.  But during the day it’s been nice and sunny, NZ is turning it on for us!

On the way down to Taranaki we stopped at the Waitomo Caves and also the Ruakuri walk.  It has been years since we have both been through the caves famous for all their glowworms and it was really beautiful to see all the glowworms glowing like stars.  In places you don’t really know whether the ceiling of the caves are 1 metre or 10 metres above you, it was really good.  To see all of our photos of the Waitomo Caves click here unfortunately you can’t take photos IN the caves but we got lots of good ones around them and on the walk.

Some of our coastie friends came around to Nikki’s house last night and we had some drinks, it was really fun to catch up with everyone.  Nommi and Kelly even did a Poi dance for us!!  How funny but it was really cool. To see all of our photos click here.

We went for a nice walk near Dre’s mums house and it had this view of Rangitoto, with the cabbage trees in the foreground – a typical Auckland view which we had sort of forgotten how commonly we used to see a view like this.

We have managed to aquire a selection of two Toyota Windoms…. don’t ask, it’s a long story.  But Dre has merrily cleaned and waxed and cleaned again and waxed for the past couple of days.  Anyone would think he has missed having a car to clean.  But ultimately we ended up with a really good car, which will be excellent for us to tour around NZ in.  It’s got all the bells and whistles and a 8 speaker stereo system and is pretty fast when you put your foot down so we’re stoked.

Over the past few days we haven’t had much time to do anything other than car stuff, but we did go kayaking at Mathiesons Bay which was really beautiful and fun.  We have now arrived at Dre’s mums house and will stay with her for a few days.

Well we have managed to arrive, buy 2 cars, possibly sell one…. we’re having a great time so far catching up with our families, we had a dinner on the first night with both families, (below) and have been staying with Karen’s family for the past few days and will go and stay with Dre’s family on Wednesday.  Today we’re going kayaking if Dre ever finishes washing and waxing the cars.