YellyElly

So we are back in Wellington and back to reality. Our housing arrangements have unexpectedly fallen through and we are scrambling around looking for both jobs, and a place to live. Meg has started back at her café job and is once again a barista queen. All this whilst we ponder/panic about our next move [...]

Having said a temporary goodbye to Megs parents, we slowly made our way back to the ferry and the return voyage back to reality… sniff sniff. We went out with a bang though and had one last South island ‘fish n Chips’ at Kaikoura, mmm…

This little guy made a special and somewhat cheeky daytime appearance at a campsite on our South Island travels so we had to put him on the blog!

On the return journey north, and keeping to our goal of seeing as many mountains as possible this time around the south, we drove through Arthur’s Pass – a mountain crossing linking the east and west coasts of the South Island. This place is remote, and we chose a campsite far from the beaten track. [...]

We saw it from afar the first time around, but this time we were compelled to visit the Mount Cook National Park and see the big guy up close. The DOC campsite sits at the bases of Mount Cook and Mount Sefton and we felt like we were at Everest base camp (but maybe a [...]

After lazing about for a few days, we decided it was time for action and headed for the mountain-framed Nelson Lakes where we had read there are some good walks for adventuresome types. We walked the forest tracks around the lakes in the heat but, whilst it was temping to take a dip; we were [...]

On recommendation from our flatmate Ricky, we have made the journey up to Golden Bay on the northern tip of the South Island. Sleepy laidback Golden Bay is a largely undeveloped, huge shallow water bay in a warm climate and everybody here is living the alternative lifestyle. My time has been spent mainly splashing about [...]

So, the time has come to put my parents on a ferry and send them off to experience the North Island. We’ve had a great time traveling around with them and will be sad to see them go. Still, in a months time Meg’s parents will arrive in the south and we can play tour [...]

Back in Marlborough (where we started our journey around the south), and this time we’ve been tempted to sample some of the local fare. Marlborough is famous for its wineries amongst other things and a drive through Blenheim brought us to ‘Mahi’, a little independent wine maker where we were able to sample the range [...]

Kaikoura is where the mountains meet the sea and is also close to the continental shelf just offshore. This means the sea is rich in nutrients and is where all the best sea creatures like to hang out. We camped on the beach, wedged between the sea and a huge mountain and woke to hundreds [...]