south Island part 2 - Tasman & Buller

following a quick stop at Kaikoura (unfortunately cloudy), headed for the top of the South Island. Nelson the main town is quite boring with a fairly average beach (Tahuna), bit too exposed and windy every time i've been there. Motueka , further north, is a nice town and on the way is a 1km stretch of river bank where locals have spelled out their names with rocks... strange how everyone deep down wants to do graffiti


further north from Motueka are the magnificent beaches of Kaiteriteri:
and Breaker Bay:

without a doubt, best beach country in the South Island. And lower half of the North i reckon! from there it was Southwest through the spectacular Buller Gorge:

bit of an ugly throwie sorry, i blame the prickle bush in front of the shed. NZ's longest swing bridge, over the Buller River:



this here is a gold miner's hut from the 1860's

next stop west coast

South Island tour part 1 - Canterbury

Hi folks, I'm back! from the following epic adventure:


for the benefit of my foreign friends, thats NZ's imaginatively titled "South Island". Our country has 2 main islands, the North where i live is smaller but has 70% of the population, while the southern one is mostly farming and wilderness.

Me and wifey Josie and baby Cybela set off from Christchurch, this is the view from just past the airport:first stop was lunch at Waikuku beach on the east coast:
nice day for it! then we headed west for the thermal pool resort Hanmer Springs. it was dark by the time we arrived but here's some nice scenic shots of the drive.

south island tour

one day in and the laptop died... so won't be blogging this adventure til my return! currently in Queenstown, it snowed yesterday so its looking amazing.

blog ya when i return in 2 weeks