I met Bob at the Mountain Lodge in Arthur’s pass. He worked there. We were talking about the club ski fields in the area, there were many. He was of the opinion that New Zealand’s main ski fields (Cardrona, TC, Mt Hutt) were poor equivalents to north American and European resorts. He recommended trying out the smaller club-run ski [...]

Leaving Franz Josef glacier on a bright Sunday morning I continued north up the SH6, destination Greymouth. On the way I stopped at lake Mapourika, lake Ianthe, and ate lunch at Hokitika. A cheese and ham sandwich on wholemeal with orange juice. Freshly squeezed.

That night I stayed at the Global Village and selected [...]

New Zealand’s glacier country is on the west coast about 3 hours drive north of Wanaka. The journey passes lakes and rain forest then up along the Tasman coast.
I left Wanaka early on Wednesday morning, the weather was intermittent rain, good for waterfalls one minute, then great for photographing them the next.

I arrived on the [...]

The access road climbing up to Snowpark is steep and winding, the surface made of gravel, mud and snow. After each climb to the summit, I allowed myself a celebratory handbrake turn on the snow covered car park.
On the way up, near the top of the mountain, there’s life size sculpture of a [...]

Arrowtown is on the Arrow River 25 minutes north of Queenstown. It’s a old gold town, quaint with wooden buildings and tree-lined avenues.
With a few hours spare I left Queenstown and headed for Dorothy Browns cinema. They screen an interesting mix of independent, art, and foreign language films.
The cinema is located off [...]

Jumping on the bus at 7.45am I began the 2 hour trip along the Milford Highway to go Kayaking at Milford Sound.
 
There were 8 of us and 1 guide in 5 kayaks. We dressed for the cold winter in thermals and waterproofs and packed our lunches into drybags in case of rain or a capsize. It [...]

I arrived in Christchurch after an epic three flight journey from Brisbane. Qantas had overbooked my flight and offered me a first class upgrade if I went via Sydney and Auckland. I decided to do it as I’d never travelled in anything other than the cheapest seats before.
I met Phil and Annalie in Christchurch. They had flown from [...]