Wed 16 Dec 2015 Preparation

Getting ready ... flight from Melbourne to New Zealand is on Sunday 20 Dec 2015.

Some tips and tricks:

1. Download "Here Maps" app and "Australian/New Zealand maps". GPS navigation can then be done without Wifi nor Mobile data.
2. For New Zealand topographic maps for walks, download GeoTIFF maps from www.topomap.co.nz and load them to "PDF Maps" app for GPS tracking.
3. There are "water stations" in cities/towns where you should fill up your water bottles when you get the chance.

Summary Movie:

Sun 20 Dec 2015 Leaving Melbourne

23:35 (0) Leave Melbourne on JQ217.

Mon 21 Dec 2015 Arrival in Auckland, New Zealand

Summary:
We arrived at Auckland at 5am after a 3.5hour flight. We barely got any sleep, but it was full on into our Auckland sightseeing. After picking up our hire car, we made our way to the city and got our tickets to Rangitoto Island (600 yo volcano island just off the coast the city). With an hour to spare, we found some soft couches and soon fell asleep before the ferry departed. It was an hour's walk up to the summit of the top of the island, and a slight detour took us to some lava caves (made when hot lave kept flowing when the outer parts cooled down). It was quite a hot day, and we hadn't quite planned it well - most of us had long pants on for the flight, and hadn't thought of bringing sunblock! However, we did pack our lunch, water and hats. After that, we checked in to our motel and slept for most of the afternoon, and had a quiet evening.


Highlights:

MK: Relaxing on the comfy couches at the ferry terminal.
MJ: We lost 4 am as it was 3 am in Australia and instantaneously 5 am in New Zealand due to time zone change.
MH: Loved the Toppa lasagne.




Logbook:
05:00 (0 km) Looking out the aeroplane window about to land in Auckland at 5:00 am. Look at the sunrise (just)!

Looking out of the plane as we arrive in Auckland

06:00 (0 km) Picked up the Budget hire car - a red Holden Cruze HYE674 with starting odometer reading 27345 km.
06:45 (25 km) Auckland city is quite quiet at this time of the morning. Fortunately, there was a 24 hours supermarket open - Countdown (Woolworths) Supermarket.
08:00 (27 km) Breakfast of bacon and cheese rolls. Got to Auckland jetty to get tickets for the ferry ride. Waiting for ferry at comfy couches at terminal.
09:15 (27 km) Caught the ferry to Rangitoto Island.
10:00 (27 km) Landed on Rangitoto Island. Went for a walk up to the summit. After an hour of quite a long walk up to the 600 year old crater, we found a magnificent view of the surrounds - Auckland and Motutapu Island.
11:30 (27 km) Made ham rolls for lunch and had apple and bananas.
11:40 (27 km) Had a look around the lava tube caves. They had cool air coming out of them.
12:15 (27 km) Back to Rangitoto jetty.
12:45 (27 km) Caught ferry back to Auckland.
13:45 (27 km) Leave Auckland.
14:15 (45 km) Airport Gold Star Motel. Room 309.
18:10 (51 km) Buy groceries at Countdown Supermarket.
18:45 (54 km) Cook dinner of Toppa Lasagne.
20:00 (54 km) Played 500, Mum bid 9 spades but Dad won.

Tue 22 Dec 2015 Hobbiton

Summary:
We left Auckland and headed  towards Hobbiton, via a town called Cambridge which is famous for racehorses. After a picnic lunch there, we arrived just in time for our prebooked Hobbiton Tour (lucky we had booked the week before from Melbourne as the tours were full). We were whisked away in a tour bus into the middle of a farm with rolling hills to be greeted by a tiny Hobbit village with homes built into the hillside. The gardens were beautifully tended by several full time gardeners to look very natural. The little homes were charming and was filled with character by the multitude of Hobbit-sized props (little axes and wheelbarrows, basket of fruits and veggies, washing hanging on little clotheslines) outside the houses. We ended the tour at the Green Dragon Inn with a pint of ginger beer.

Bilbo's Home

Then we headed to Papamoa Beach, to stay with friends - Briony, Andy, Morgan (MJ's good friend from primary school) Finley and Amelie. The kids got along very well despite the 2 years since we had caught up. All the kids had grown a lot taller in that time but still the same in a lot of ways. It was lovely exchanging stories and catching up with each other.


Highlights:

MK: There were lots of different hobbit hole door sizes so that during filming it would a visual trick to size the characters.
MJ: Sir Peter Jackson asked for the oak leaves to be painted a different shade of green because he didn't like it.
MH: I liked Hobbiton and how small everything is. The ginger ale was yummy!

Logbook:
09:00 (54 km) Breakfast of cereal, rolls and nutella.
10:00 (54 km) Check out of motel and leave.
12:00 (219 km) Cambridge. MK accidentally dropped a small Rubik's cube piece in between the gaps in the seat. Almost had to pull the car apart to find it. Had a picnic lunch of rolls, crackers, creamed corn and sausage at the local park.
13:00 (219 km) On the way to Hobbiton.
13:30 (246 km) Hobbiton. Very organised bus ride to movie set. Bus driver told us about how the Alexander's farm got selected to be the movie location. We arrived at the location and saw Bag End overlooking the area of hobbit holes. There were different size, different colour hobbit hole doors. The hobbit garden with lots of vegetables were still being tended to. The hobbit holes had a view of the party tree where the "eleventy-one" birthday party was held. The tour ended at the Green Dragon pub and everyone had an ale - there was a smooth non-alcoholic ginger ale that was really refreshing. Bought a book and a t-shirt.

At Hobbiton

16:45 (246 km) Left Hobbiton.
17:15 (312 km) Arrived at Papamoa Beach - Briony, Andy, Morgan, Finley, Amelie.
18:30 (312 km) Vegetarian spaghetti and had baked cheesecake for dessert.
19:30 (312 km) Went for a walk to Papamoa beach.

Wed 23 Dec 2015 Mt Maunganui

Summary:
The 5 boys were set up to sleep together in the garage/rumpus room, so they were up pretty early, playing on their electronic devices. After a slow start (Briony had the day off but had already been on a morning run), we went off to climb the local Mt Maunganui. It was a lovely day and HM huffed and puffed her way up the mountain (250 m high). While the kids had a massive water balloon fight, the girls started the construction of a massive gingerbread house. Luckily it was well engineered, with lots of advice from the engineer and builder, and stood up despite being loaded with lollies - there was a fierce competition on which group had the best side! While the house royal icing/cement was setting, we went out to a local restaurant for a lovely pasta/pizza meal.

MK: Racing up to The Mount at Mt Maunganui.
MJ: Catching up with Morgan.
MH: Water balloon fight! The Jelly Tip Trumpet ice cream is pretty cool too!

Logbook:
09:00 (312 km) Breakfast of toast.
10:00 (312 km) Leave for Mt Maunganui.
10:15 (322 km) Lots of steps and gravel path to go up to The Mount.

With the Barclay-Frank kids at Mt Manganui

11:15 (322 km) The view was fantastic across the township, Bay of Plenty and Matakana Island.

Looking down from top of Mt Manganui

11:45 (322 km) Went to lunch.
12:15 (325 km) Lunch at the shops with pies, sausage rolls, sushi and ice cream.
12:45 (325 km) Leave.
13:10 (333 km) Water balloon wars! It was good on a hot day. Make gingerbread house.
18:35 (333 km) Leave for dinner.
18:40 (335 km) OBR Italian Restaurant at Ocean Beach Road.
20:30 (342 km) Home for Trumpet ice cream dessert. Completing gingerbread house, overloaded with lollies. It had probably exceeded all engineering loading limits.

Thu 24 Dec 2015 Rotorua

Summary:
Day trip to explore Rotorua. Discovered a public park with heaps of geothermal features (bubbling mud, vents with hot steam, hot pools) fenced off. It even had a foot spa for the public to use which was heated from the hot pools. We also found another public area alongside Lake Rotorua which was mostly dried up, with heaps of sulphur remnants (and smell).

Pohutu Geyser

We went for a drive to see the Redwood forest and Lake Tarawera. Later on we went to Te Puia, a tourist geothermal and Maori cultural place, where we learnt about the Moari language and culture, and watched the poi dance and the Haka. We also saw the elusive nocturnal kiwi bird - it was larger than we had imagined. We were lucky to witness a couple of geysers shooting water while we were there. We had a traditional Maori Hangi meal with not so traditional foods. The meal was excellent, with a variety of meats and seafood and salads. The salted caramel profiteroles were amazing!!

Highlights:
MK:The hangi meal was great.
MJ:The haka dance was fantastic and the food was yummy too.
MH:Yummy food at the hangi.

Logbook:
09:00 (342 km) Breakfast of toast. MK had a haircut.
11:00 (342 km) Leave for Rotorua.
11:50 (411 km) We knew we arrived at Rotorua when we were overwhelmed with the smell of rotten eggs. We held our noses and went to i-Site for information of how to get rid of the smell. Apparently, there was no way. However, it is interesting to note that there are air refreshers in the toilets. Not sure why. We got some lunch of pies and Subway. We walked to a public park Kuirao Park with geothermal activities including steaming water holes and hot mud pools. We bought some very sweet and crunchy apples from the market.
13:45 (411 km) Went for a drive. Visited the Blue Lake and Lake Tarawera. Learnt how the White and Pink Terraces (considered the 8th wonder of the world) was destroyed by Mt Tarawera eruption in 1886. It buried a nearby village as well.
14:40 (444 km) Redwoods. There is a suspended platform walk amongst the majestic tress. MJ bought a cute kiwi t shirt for $10.

Redwood Forest

15:30 (451 km) Te Puia. We had booked a day and evening tour which showcased the Maori language and culture, kiwi house, geothermal areas of mud pools, geysers. MJ volunteered to go up on stage to learn the haka during the cultural performance. Witnessed the hangi meal being lifted out of a ground oven with lots of yummy food.  The hangi meal included mussels, prawns, pork, beef, chicken, pasta, potato, pumpkin, Maori sweet potato. There were desserts including pudding, pavlova, mousse, profiteroles and ice cream. Then we went on a motorised waca (it was actually a motorised buggy) to the geysers and had hot chocolate and sat on hot rocks.

 

21:00 (451 km) Leave Te Puia.
21:15 (457 km) Fill up.
22:05 (523 km) Got back to Papamoa Beach.

Fri 25 Dec 2015 Christmas Day

Summary:
We woke to the sounds of excited kids. 2 children on Xmas day make a lot of noise! After opening numerous presents, we had a leisurely breakfast and then prepared to head out to Andy's parents for Xmas lunch. It was a huge family affair with almost 50 family members at the beach house which was right on the beach. We were welcomed into the midst of the noisy and warm family. Lunch was an amazing buffet of a huge variety of food, brought by various family members. Our kids joined in with the other children's fun and games, while the grown ups relaxed under the marquee. It was a wonderful way to enjoy a NZ Xmas!

MK: Helping set up the party and putting together the marquee without instructions.
MJ: Catching waves!
MH: Playing foosball.

Logbook:
07:00 (523 km) Xmas Day!! Open presents! Woo hoo!

 

08:00 (523 km) Yummy breakfast of croissants, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and avocados.
12:00 (523 km) Left for Christmas party with the Frank family.
12:05 (529 km) Christmas party with lots of people. Christmas feast with ham, turkey, potato, pasta bake, salads, plum budding, baked cheesecake, brownie, gingerbread house, sponge cake, dessert. Kids had a swim in the ocean and spa.

Xmas Lunch with the extended Frank family by the beach

18:00 (535 km) Back to Papamoa Beach.
19:00 (535 km) Dinner of leftover Christmas feast.

Sat 26 Dec 2015 Travel to Turangi

Summary:
Today we travel from our friends, the Barclay/Frank family in Papamoa Beach (northeast North Island), to Turangi (central North Island). On the way, we went to the Redwood Forest outside Rotorua again, as MK had slept through the first time we visited. As we headed south, we went to Wai-o-tapu, a geothermal park, with a range of colourful pools. They had imaginative names for the features, including Devil's Ink Pot (almost black simmering mud) and Champagne Pool (turquoise coloured bubbling hot pool - only 74 degrees, but the bubbles are actually carbon dioxide). Our next stop was Aratiatia Rapids, where the dam discharged its water at 10, 12 2 and 4pm. We waited for the spill and watched the river rise rather slowly, but to an impressive level. Further south we reached Huka Falls. The flow of water was massive through a rather narrow 'gorge'. Next stop was the town of Taupo where we stocked up on food for the next few days. We then drove along the eastern side of the massive Lake Taupo (size of Singapore) to get to Turangi, where we will spend the next 4 nights.

Champagne Pool

Highlights
MK: All the smelly bits (loaded with sarcasm).
MJ: Inferno Crater - had violently boiling mud at the bottom.
MH: Devil's Bath - a most unusual colour pool of almost fluorescent yellow/green (for the scientists - mix of sulphur and ferrous salts).

Logbook:
08:30 (535 km) Breakfast of toast, pasta and oats.
10:15 (535 km) Packed up and left Papamoa Beach.
11:10 (603 km) Redwood Forest. Took some photos and bought a t-shirt. Shopping at Pak n Save.
12:30 (637 km) Wai O Tapu geothermal area. Had lunch of ham and rolls. Saw many different colourful varied formations. The favourite was Artist's Palette, Champagne Pool and Devil's Bath.

Devil's Bath

14:30 (637 km) Leave Wai O Tapu.
15:30 (685 km) Aratiatia Falls. Had to wait till 16:00 to watch the spill of the dam.
16:00 (685 km) The river rose by metres, rocks got washed over, reeds were pushed over, ducks were swept aside.
16:45 (698 km) Huka Falls. That is a lot of water going through a narrow gap.

Huka Falls

17:50 (704 km) Shopping at Pak n Save.
18:30 (754 km) Turangi Bridge Motel. Rooms 14 and 15. Had dinner at the motel. Calamari, fish and chips, pork belly, lamb cutlets, etc.

Sun 27 Dec 2015 Tongariro Alpine Crossing

Summary:
We woke early to prepare to walk the Tongariro Alpine Crossing with the Frank family. We were only part of the hundreds of people attempting the hike. This is obviously a very popular walk as it is considered the best day walk in NZ. The Department of Conservation had done a fantastic job with the tracks to avoid erosion from the multitude of hikers.
The first section was a gentle incline for about an hour, then we faced our first difficult section nicknamed the Devil's Staircase. HM fell behind quickly on the uphill. Luckily the next section across the South Crater was very flat for about a km before it slowly climbed again. It kept climbing and climbing - over rockier and more unstable terrain of scree until we reached the Red Crater Ridge, which is the top most point of our walk. Magnificent views but also quite scary as we were standing on a fairly narrow ridge and the wind was quite cold and strong.
Coming down on the other side was tricky as it was very steep and covered with loose scree. We kept sliding and skidding, but the kids loved it. MK ran most of the way down. The view on this side was of the Emerald and Blue Lakes with their magnificent bright colours. We finally stopped at our halfway point at the more sheltered Blue Lake to have lunch.
The home stretch was easier, being downhill, but we had to descent about 1100 m, and that took 10 km to do so at a gentle gradient. We were pretty exhausted by the end but also exhilarated as we had completed the walk in less than 7 hours! The fit ones could probably have completed it in a lot less time ........

MK: Really enjoyed skidding down from the top of the Red Crater.
MJ: Being told off for taking a short cut across the winding paths.
MH: Sliding down from the top of Red Crater.

Logbook:
06:00 (754 km) Cooked breakfast of bacon and eggs on toast. However, the toast got burnt and we spent some time clearing the air and stopping the smoke alarm.
07:10 (754 km) Left Turangi Bridge Motel to go to Tongariro National Park.
07:40 (779 km) Ketetahi car park. This is the end point of the walk. Caught shuttle bus to the starting point of the walk, Mangetepopo car park
08:20 (779 km) Start Tongariro Alpine Crossing walk.

At the start - all fresh

Mangatepopo to Soda Springs (5km)
Nice stroll to start the day, gentle incline

Soda Springs to South Crater (nicknamed Devil's Staircase)
This is definitely hard work.

Top of Devil's Stairs

South Crater to base of Red Crater Ridge
Flat and then Puff! Puff! Hard work.

Red Crater Ridge
Highest point of the walk (1886m) - very windy and expose, walking on loose scree on narrow ridge, very scary. But wow! An amazing view, incredible what nature can do to create such a landscape at the Red Crater.

At the highest point of the walk - rim of Red Crater

Red Crater Summit to Emerald Lakes:
Really exciting, dangerous sliding down scree (loose gravel). Fantastic view of the Emerald Lakes.

Emerald and Blue Lakes

Emerald Lakes to Blue Lake:
Easy walk across flat ground. There was some climb to get up to the Blue Lake and to hide from the wind.

Blue Lake to Ketetahi Hut (4km)
Long winding walk.

10 kms of downhill

Keretahi Hut to Ketetahi Car Park (6km)
Really long walk. Luckily some shade from trees after being totally out in the open

All done! A huge relief and achievement

15:11 (779 km) End Tongariro Alpine Crossing walk. According to a mobile app, we walked 20.05 km in 6:51:52 hours.
16:00 (803 km) Turangi Bridge Motel. Unpack and clean up. Kids still full of energy.
19:00 (803 km) Dinner of takeaway pizza and spaghetti.

Mon 28 Dec 2015 Taupo

Summary:
Quiet day to recuperate from our long walk. Some of us had sore muscles ;-) We drove to Taupo (45 minutes away) to do some local sightseeing. Discovered the local hot springs, where the top pools were too hot to sit in for long and most people sat in the lower pool where the water mixed in with water from the Huka River. Also checked out the Honey Hive shop and revisited the Aratiatia Dam. This time we went to a different viewing point to watch the water being released into the Aratiatia Rapids. It is incredible the force of water flowing through the previously gently flowing stream. This is one of the locations that was used in the filming of the Hobbit - the barrel scene down the river.

Before release of water from dam

After water is released from dam

Highlight:
MK: Nice picnic lunch with pies and chips.
MJ: Seeing all that water being released at Aratiatia Rapids
MH:Yummy honey at the Huka Honey Hive. The Blue Borage was the best.

Logbook:
09:00 (803 km) Breakfast of baked beans and spaghetti on toast.
10:30 (803 km) Leave for Taupo.
11:20 (852 km) Taupo i-Site.
11:40 (855 km) Spa Thermal Park. The water was really, really hot! People had to move to the cooler waters in the river.
12:40 (859 km) Bought pies, rolls and chips for lunch from bakery.
12:55 (860 km) Picnic lunch outside Owen Delaney Park.
13:20 (869 km) Visited Huka Honey Hive for honey tasting.
13:50 (876 km) Aratiatia Falls. Say the opening of the gate for the spill at a different location. There was a lot of water.
15:00 (889 km) Shopping in Taupo.
15:20 (892 km) Fill up petrol in car.
16:00 (938 km) Turangi Bridge Motel.
19:00 (938 km) Cooked pork schnitzel and vegetables for dinner.

Tue 29 Dec 2015 Mt Ruapehu

Summary:
Another mountain climb, this time up to Mt Ruapehu (highest mountain in North Island). It's higher up as it was still covered with snow, but we can drive up to the ski resort and catch a chairlift to 2020 m. It was a tough hike as it was constantly uphill with rock clambering or walking on snow. No easy paths ;-)! It was quite fun with quite a different terrain to our previous hike. The view was spectacular and it became quite windy and cold as we climbed higher up. Luckily we were well prepared with our ski gear. 

At the top of Mt Ruapehu with Mt Ngaurehoe in the back

We had our lunch near the top (a climb of over 500 m) and then descended the mountain by sliding down a lot of the way on garbage bags. Our bottoms became 'numb bums' from the cold, and we got pretty soaked despite having overpants on. It's a much quicker way to travel! We spent the rest of the day recuperating and packing to leave the next day.

MJ managed to keep his pants dry but his socks and shoes were soaked right through.

MK: Recording with GoPro sliding down the snow on garbage bags!
MJ: Jumping off the cliff.
MH: Sliding down the snow on garbage bags!

Logbook:
07:30 (938 km) Breakfast of toast and cereal.
08:30 (938 km) Left Turangi.
09:15 (993 km) Whakapapa ski fields. Took the ski chairlift to as high as possible. Then the hard climb started.

Starting with a rocky climb that turned into walking on snow.

Sliding down - Yippee

 

According to mobile app, we walked 5.35 km in 4:58:14 hours. Came down on ski lift.

15:20 (993 km) Left Whakapapa Ski Fields.
16:10 (1047 km) Turangi Bridge Motel. Had dinner of noodles with broccoli, carrot, egg, bacon and pork schnitzel.

Wed 30 Dec 2015 Travel to Wellington

Summary:
Traveling south from Turangi to Wellington - took about 5 hours with a stop for lunch. Yeah! HM has  finally learnt to solve the Rubik's Cube. We stayed with CK's uncle and family up on the slopes of Lower Hutt, overlooking the Hutt River. After catching up, we went for a drive into the city and had our first Chinese meal since we left Melbourne. We then drove up Mt Victoria to admire the view and lights of Wellington - it was very cold and windy. Brrrrr........

Highlight:
MK: Showing mum and dad how to do the Rubik's cube.
MJ: Relaxing day.
MH: Having a relaxing day.

Logbook:
09:00 (1047 km) Breakfast of toast and cereal.
10:00 (1047 km) Left Turangi.
12:50 (1265 km) Foxton Beach for lunch.Crackers, rolls, dip.
13:20 (1265 km) Left Foxton Beach.
15:40 (1387 km) Maungaraki.
18:00 (1387 km) Left house.
18:15 (1405 km) Dinner at Regal Chinese Restaurant. Soup, Peking duck, crispy chicken, orange beef, siew yoke, kai lan, tofu. After dinner, went up to Mt Victoria to have a look at the view.

At the top of Mt Victoria at dusk

22:00 (1430 km) Maungaraki.

Thu 31 Dec 2015 Wellington

Summary:
A lazy morning comprising some chores - restocking kids' toiletries that had been left behind at the previous stop :-( and souvenir shopping. After lunch, we headed off to WETA, a design studio that makes props etc for movies (eg Lord of the Rings, King Kong). We were shown around their workshop and it was demonstrated how a lot of the props are manufactured - eg swords and armour (real metal ones for close up shots and replica ones which are lighter and easier for actors and stunt people to wear), silicon body parts and how individual hairs are punched in. It was fascinating how the ideas develop and how time consuming making the props are. After that, we headed to the Te Papa National Museum and learnt all about earthquakes, volcanoes and base isolators (built under tall structures to withstand earthquakes.

MK: Working out how to win the alien game in the National Museum.
MJ: The earthquake safe game in the National Museum.
MH: Spinning the big ball at the National Museum.

Logbook:
09:00 (1430 km) Breakfast of toast.
10:20 (1430 km) Left for shopping.
10:30 (1435 km) Fill up.
11:50 (1441 km) Maungaraki. Lunch of fried noodles.
12:40 (1441 km) Left Maungaraki.
13:10 (1464 km) WETA cave.
15:00 (1464 km) Left WETA.
15:20 (1472 km) Te Papa National Museum. Looked at Base Isolator to support buildings in earthquake areas.

At Te Papa Museum

17:00 (1472 km) Left city.
17:25 (1490 km) Maungaraki. Had dinner of roasted glazed ham with salad and potato salad.

Fri 1 Jan 2016 Happy New Year, Ferry to Picton, Drive to Richmond

Summary:
Early start to catch the 8.30 ferry across to South Island. Had a huge breakfast on board that lasted us till dinner. Even MK didn't ask for lunch!?! Arrived at Picton at lunchtime and picked up another hire car and drove about 3 hours along the Marlborough Sound to our stop for the day, Richmond.

Marlborough Sound

Highlight:
MK: The big breakfast on the ferry was yummy.
MJ: The ferry was awesome.
MH: Breakfast on the Inter-Islander ferry was big and yummy.

Logbook:
07:00 (1490 km) Left Maungaraki.
07:15 (1501 km) Fill up.
07:20 (1503 km) Return car at Wellington ferry terminal. Odometer 28848.
08:30 (1503 km) Interislander ferry. Big breakfast with scrambled egg, bacon, kransky, baked beans, hash brown and toast. Beautiful view of Cook Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound.

Interislander ferry in the background

12:00 (0 km) Picton. New car, white Toyota Corolla JHB650 odometer 15149.
13:15 (2 km) Leave Picton.
15:30 (109 km) Nelson.
16:15 (124 km) Richmond. Shopping at Pak n Save.
17:00 (126 km) Oxford Court Motel in Richmond. Room 10. Dinner of Tortellini Bolognaise.

Sat 2 Jan 2016 Nelson

Summary:
Rain, rain, rain all day. We decided to check out Christchurch Cathedral at nearby Nelson. It had beautiful stained glass and a massive pipe organ. Then wandered to the local farmers market, and ended up buying lots of fruits - MH managed to devour almost 500g of blueberries all by himself by dinner time. The afternoon was spent playing card games and just lounging around.

Highlights:
MK: Good game of 500 card game.
MJ: At the playground, there were loud banging noises, we thought we were being shot at.
MH: The blueberries from the market was yummy.

Logbook:
09:00 (126 km) Breakfast of toast with tinned spaghetti and baked beans.
11:15 (126 km) Left Richmond.
11:45 (140 km) Nelson. Walked around the Christ Church Cathedral. Bought some food (noodles, spring roll, fruit) at the Nelson market.

Huge pipe organ at Christchurch Cathedral, Nelson

13:00 (140 km) Left Nelson.
13:25 (153 km) Shopping at Pak n Save.
14:15 (154 km) Oxford Court Motel. Played card games. Walked to playground. There were loud scary banging noises around. Dinner of rice with honey soy chicken, cabbage and carrot.
20:00 Walked to McDonalds to get some fries, nuggets and frozen coke.

Sun 3 Jan 2016 Abel Tasman National Park

Summary:
An early start as we were heading out to do another day walk, this time to the Abel Tasman National Park. We caught a boat to take us to a section of the track which is only accessible by walking a couple of days (part of the 3-5 days Abel Tasman Track).We cheated by boating straight into one of the bays and doing a 12-13 km walk along the coast and even crossing a river by a long swing bridge. The highlight was Cleopatra's Pool, a rock pool where there is a natural water slide. All the boys had a go sliding down the slippery mossy rock while HM played photographer. We saw some interesting birds and fauna (including the iconic silver fern) along the way. On the boat ride back, we saw some seals lounging around the rocks of nearby Adele island. Luckily the weather had improved slightly, we only had occasional short lived showers during our hike.

Split Apple Rock

Highlights: MK: Sliding down the natural water slide at Cleopatra's Pool!
MJ: Sliding down the natural water slide at Cleopatra's Pool!
MH: Sliding down the natural water slide at Cleopatra's Pool!

Logbook:
06:00 (154 km) Breakfast of toast and nutella or egg.
07:00 (154 km) Left Richmond.
07:40 (189 km) Motueka to pick up tickets.
08:15 (204 km) Kaiteriteri to catch Wilson's boat to Abel Tasman National Park. The boat dropped us off at Medlands Beach and we walked to Cleopatra's Pool. The pool had a natural water slide that we went down! Woo hoo! Had lunch of rolls and wraps with chicken and lettuce. Walked to Anchorage to get picked up by boat again.

Sliding down natural water slide at Cleopatra's Pool

16:15 (204 km) Left Kaiteriteri.
17:10 (250 km) Fill up in Richmond.
18:13 (250 km) Buy fish and chips for dinner.
18:45 (253 km) Yummy fish and chips!

Mon 4 Jan 2016 Travel to Franz Josef

Summary:
Our day was spent traveling from Richmond to Franz Josef (about 5.5 hours drive). On the way, we detoured to see the famous Pancake Rocks and blowholes at Punakaiki. The interesting geological formations by the sea were slowly being eroded by the elements and it has caused chasms and caverns and blowholes. We drove along some lovely winding coastal roads. NZ roads are interesting - there are numerous river crossings (some really wide) and there are lots of one lane bridges or sections of winding roads. The water in rivers and lakes in NZ are usually crystal clear (unlike the muddy Murray River), but every now and then, we encountered 'milky' rivers like this one. The. turquoise colour was amazing, and looked very unreal.

Highlights:
MK: Pancakes at Pancake rocks.
MJ: Learning how to solve the Rubik's Cube blindfolded
MH: Pancakes at Pancake rocks.

Logbook:
08:00 (253 km) Breakfast of toast and Nutella.
09:00 (253 km) Left Oxford Court Motel.
13:15 (504 km) Punakaiki. Lunch of crackers with dip and smoked salmon and chicken sandwich. Punakaiki has pancake rocks, blowhole and cavern. Someone actually cooked some pancakes and took some photos.

Pancakes at the Pancake Rocks, Punaikaiki

15:05 (504 km) Left Punakaiki.
16:45 (604 km) Hokitika.
18:45 (737 km) Franz Josef. Franz Josef Top 10 Holiday Park. Room 8. Dinner at Full of Beans cafe - Chowder, pasta, fish and chips and steak burger.

Tue 5 Jan 2016 Glaciers

Summary:
Today, we explored the local glaciers. In the morning, we went to the lookout of Franz Josef Glacier and then walked to Peter's Pool, a kettle drum pond, which reflected the glacier valley (the glacier had receded behind the ridge).

Peter's Pool

After lunch, we ventured further afield to Fox Glacier and walked about 30 minutes to the terminal face of the glacier (about 200 m away). The river of of melting ice was an unusual cloudy grey colour from the rock dust that the glacier has caused as it moves along the valley. It was sad to see how far the glaciers have retreated/shrunk since CK and HM visited over 20 years ago - about 2 km for the Fox Glacier! Next stop was to the fa mouse Lake Matheson which is renowned for the reflection of Mt Cook against the dark waters of  the lake. Unfortunately, there was a bit of breeze and the water was rippled, so we didn't get the reflective view.
Later that evening, at about 9.30 pm(doesn't get dark till after 10 pm) we ventured out with torches and jackets over our PJs to check out a local forest walk where glow worms can be found. It didn't take long to find once it got dark enough. They looked magical and like tiny fairy lights twinkling,

Highlights:
MK: Franz Josef Glacier. It is amazing how much the glaciers have retreated.
MJ: Not having to walk all the way around Lake Matheson since it was windy and mum wouldn't get a good photo of the Lake being really still and reflective.
MH: Glow worms. What if you get a glow worm, does it stop glowing?

Logbook:
09:00 (739 km) Breakfast of toast and nutella and egg.
10:25 (739 km) Left Holiday Park.
10:40 (746 km) Franz Josef Glacier. Short walk to view point.
11:36 (746 km) Peter's Pool. See the reflection of Franz Josef Glacier.

 

12:12 (752 km) Lunch of toasted sandwiches.
13:10 (752 km) Left Holiday Park.
13:45 (782 km) Fox Glacier. Drove to view point and took photos.
14:22 (789 km) Drove to Fox Glacier walking trail. The glacier has retreated significantly over the last few years. Still looks very impressive.

Fox Glacier in the back - looks dirty as it's covered by rocks etc

15:27 (789 km) Left Fox Glacier.
15:42 (799 km) Lake Matheson. It was a 1.5 hour walk around the lake to get a good reflective photo of Mt Cook. However, it was quite windy and so it was not a good time for a reflective photo. We went to the jetty to take some photos. Lucky we didn't walk all the way around.
16:40 (804 km) Fill up.
17:18 (829 km) Back to Holiday Park. Dinner of sausages, steak, cabbage and broccoli.
21:25 (831 km) Terrace Walk. Saw glow worms along the walk. Got some good photos of the glow worms, wanna see?
22:05 (833 km) Holiday Park.

Wed 6 Jan 2016 Wanaka

Summary:
We traveled from Franz Josef to Wanaka - about 4 hours. On the way through, we stopped by Thunder Creek Falls and Fantail Falls. The boys had a great time as the river bed at Fantail Falls was lined by rocks, a lot of them the prefect shape to skim across the clear and cold stream. We spent some time skimming the rocks, MK and MJ were very good, and MK could get them quite far out!

Skimming rocks at Fantail Falls area

After that we stopped by Blue Pools - the colour of the water was a serene aqua - crystal clear. There were people jumping off the bridge (over 10 metres high) into the freezing water!

When we arrived at Wanaka in the afternoon, we met up with MH's school friend, Aidan, and went to Puzzling World. The maze was fun and also frustrating but we managed to get out before dehydrating! Then we explored the illusion rooms inside. It's quite fascinating the collection of visual tricks they have. The cafe tables were littered with all sorts of puzzles, so we spent some time there working them out.
We then went over Aidan's grandparents' home for dinner. Aidan's family was most hospitable (as are all Kiwis we've met.)

Hightlights:
MK: Puzzling world!
MJ: Puzzling world!
MH: Puzzling world!

Logbook:
08:00 (834 km) Breakfast of toast and nutella.
09:15 (834 km) Left Franz Josef.
11:53 (1027 km) Thunder Creek Falls.
12:18 (1033 km) Fantail Falls. Everyone was doing really well at skimming rocks!
13:28 (1063 km) Blue Pools. Lunch of crackers and dip.

Blue Pools

15:15 (1131 km) Puzzling World, Wanaka. Went through the maze to find the 4 towers and to get out again.

Wow, MK has grown into a strong young man!

17:51 (1131 km) Left.
17:53 (1133 km) Wanaka Heights Motel. Room 2.
18:00 (1136 km) Met up with Aidan, Adele, Bondy, Lorraine and Harris at Aidan's grandparent's place. Dinner of BBQ. Had a really good chat with the family.
21:38 (1136 km) Left.
21:45 (1139 km) Wanaka Heights Motel.

Thu 7 Jan 2016 Travel to Queenstown

Summary:
We slept in and left Wanaka at 10 am heading to Queenstown. On the way, we detoured through Arrowtown, a quaint gold mining tourist town. There were lots of old buildings that had been restored, and the main street was bustling with people. Along the winding country roads, we past meadows of colourful wild lupins. They were gorgeous!

Wild Lupins

Upon arrival at Queenstown, MK was hungry (as usual) and we had to find a food court first. After that, we went on the gondola to the top of Bob's Peak, which has amazing views of Lake Wakatipu and across to the Remarkables mountain range. We then went on the luge, which is a little cart that goes on a downhill track. It was really fun as we banked around the sharp bends and sped past each other (this is the only advantage of being heavy - gravity pulls you downhill much faster!).

Queenstown in the foreground, Lake Wakatipu and Mt Remarkables at the back

We then checked into our accommodation and found our lovely unit with 2 bedrooms upstairs and waterfront views.

Highlights:
MK: Luge.
MJ: Luge.
MH: Going really fast on the Luge.

Logbook:
09:00 (1139 km) Breakfast of toast and nutella and cereal.
10:00 (1139 km) Left Wanaka.
11:05 (1196 km) Arrowtown. It is an old historic town and we visited the Chinese Village.
12:05 (1217 km) Queenstown. Lunch at food court, Japanese, McDonalds.
13:14 (1219 km) Gondola. There was a spectacular view from the gondola, looking over Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu. The Luge was really fun. We bought 20 rides and it was really exciting racing down the slope.

Wheeeeee! - on the Luge at Bob's Peak

16:13 (1223 km) Sherwood Motel, Queenstown. Room 55.
16:38 (1240 km) The Remarkables Shopping Centre.
17:40 (1235 km) Sherwood Motel. Dinner of fish burger.

Fri 8 Jan 2016 Queenstown

Summary:
An early start with the bus picking us up to go to Glenorchy for jetboat and 'Funyak' down Dart River. On arrival, we were geared up with wetsuits, booties and spray jackets, and went on another bus to the river. The jet boat was fun and fast. MH couldn't keep his eyes open until he put on his sunglasses. We did several 360 turns, and sped around river bends and went really close to the banks. It was a very windy day, and the glacier rock dust were being blown around, looking like mist over the river. As we traveled up Dart River through Mt Aspiring National Park, it became more serene and the surrounds more majestic with huge mountain ranges. We then changed over to inflatable kayaks, 3 in one, and 2 in the other, but both linked together, and we paddled down the crystal clear waters.

Funyaking on Dart River, Mt Aspiring National Park

After lunch, we paddled to a side stream to Rockburn Chasm, which was a magical spot with crystal clear waters flowing through. MK was our 'captain' and guided us through some fast flowing currents and turbulence. We finished on Paradise Beach and took a 4 wheel drive coach through the back country roads back. We were shown several areas where movies such as Lord of the Rings, have been filmed.

Rockburn Chasm

Highlights:
MK: Being 'captain' of the Funyak 'raft'
MJ: Funyaking
MH: Jetboat

Logbook:
07:00 (1235 km) Breakfast of ham and cheese toasties.
07:30 (1235 km) Caught Dart River Funyaking bus from bus stop outside motel.
09:00 (1235 km) Glenorchy. We got changed into fleece, wet suit and booties. Then we jumped into a jet boat and sped around doing 360 degree turns. Woo hoo! The jet boat took us up the Dart River amongst the majestic mountains, just like the scenes in the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. We got dropped off on riverside to get into our inflatable kayaks. We had 2 kayaks linked together to form a raft and away we paddled. The water was cold and clear and blue. Soon we joined other rivers and the water turned "milky" when mixed with the glacial dust. After some paddling we got to our lunch spot. Lunch was a buffet of rolls, condiments, salads, ham, chicken, cheeses and even dessert! There was this interesting lolly slice, it was quite nice. After lunch it was time to paddle through a chasm. We had to maneuver between a narrow channel with sheer cliffs. Following the chasm, we went on our last stretch to Paradise, where our bus was waiting for us. We deflated the kayaks and then loaded onto the bus to get back to Glenorchy. Time to get out of our wet gear and into something dry to get back onto the bus.
17:00 (1235 km) Sherwood Motel. Dinner of butter chicken, broccoli, carrot and rice.

Sat 9 Jan 2016 Travel to Te Anau

Summary:
We packed up and went to the local Saturday market to stock up on fresh fruits, and had yummy egg, bacon and hash brown rolls for lunch. Then we headed to Te Anau, about 2.5 hours away. Te Anau is a small tourist town sitting on the banks of Lake Te Anau, the largest lake of South Island. It also has 3 inland fiords within it. The water is 8 degrees, so no one swims in it but there are some boats around. After dinner, we played poker, using salt, sugar, coffee and tea sachets as poker chips. We had great fun and even had 3 hands of straight in one game (just imagine how high the bidding went).

The Remarkables near Queenstown

Highlight:
MK: Playing poker.
MJ: Beating Mum and MH playing poker with a straight.
MH: Yummy cherries.

Logbook:
09:00 (1235 km) Had pancakes for breakfast.
10:15 (1235 km) Left Sherwood Motel.
10:30 (1241 km) Remarkables market. Bought some yummy cherries and blueberries.

11:00 (1248 km) Walked on the Lower Shotover Historic Bridge.
11:17 (1250 km) Shopping at Countdown.
12:27 (1254 km) Bought bacon, hash brown and eggs sandwiches lunch at Remarkables market.
13:12 (1264 km) Fill up.
15:30 (1429 km) Te Anau. Asure Amber Court Motel. Room 11.
16:25 (1431 km) iSITE information centre.
16:52 (1433 km) Dinner of chicken chippees, broccoli and corn.

Sun 10 Jan 2016 Te Anau

Summary:
We checked out some local sites in the morning and did a short walk on the Kepler Track (one of the Great Walks of NZ), along the shores of Lake Te Anau. We also walked over the control gates of the dam wall that control the flow of water on Waiau River from Lake Te Anau to Lake Manapouri. We learnt that eels on the lake have to migrate to the sea to breed and the baby eels (elvers) will try to climb dam walls to get back 'home'.

Lake Te Anau

At 2 pm, we boarded a boat to cross Lake Te Anau to the Aurora Cave system. We went to the lower chambers only (Te Anau Caves) and was astounded by how the water flowing from Lake Orbell, high up in the mountains, has carved the caves out. The crystal clear water flowed with such power and turbulence. We then boarded a small boat to enter the magical glow worm caves - where the 'ceiling' of the cave was littered by a galaxy of stars. Glow worms (Arachnocampa luminosa) have a fascinating lifecycle, and spend most of their lives in the larvae stage where they drop sticky lines to trap their prey, with the light attracting bugs to their lairs.

Highlights:
MK: Te Anau caves, with its fast flowing stream through it.
MJ: Glow worms.
MH: Glow worms.

Logbook:
09:00 (1433 km) Breakfast of toast and nutella.
09:15 (1441 km) Kepler Track.

Walking along on Kepler Track to Dock Bay, on the shores of Te Anau

10:00 (1462 km) Manapouri. Had a look at ferries to Doubtful sound. Had a look at Fraser's Beach.
10:25 (1485 km) Lake Te Anau control gates. Walked to Dock Bay and had a seat at the picnic table. According to the mobile app, we walked 5.58 km in 1 hour 8 minutes.
11:55 (1485 km) Left control gates. Bird Sanctuary to see some birds including the Kaka and Takahe.
12:24 (1491 km) Asure Amber Court Motel. Lunch of bacon and toast.
13:40 (1493 km) Went on Glow Worm Caves Tour. We had comfortable boat ride across Lake Te Anau to the glow worm caves. We had to duck and almost doubled over to get through the entrance and then we got into a noisy chamber. The tour guide had to yell to talk to us. There were a few different speleological features and then we went into a boat inside the cave. We quietly got pulled into a quiet dark chamber that had glow worms all over the ceiling. There were like galaxies of stars. When got back to the visitor centre, we were given a talk on the life of the glow worms.
16:15 (1493 km) Shopping.
17:00 (1495 km) Asure Amber Court Motel. Dinner of soy chicken and rice.