Lynwood Lodge Te Anau

... a lay by with a “Safe stopping zone” sign where I could pull in and take some photos. Luckily I closed the car door when I got out because as I turned round to get back to the car a Kea had set up residence on my roof. I managed to get back in without much trouble but had the Kea eating my window seals and scampering across the roof peering into the car upside down from each side! Eventually the Kea saw another open window on a car and headed off. After ...

... summer we would have to have had a swim.<br>Futher along the coast is Colac Bay, again nice for a photo stop but not a lot of life other than a few surfers at the East End of the beach, it was good surf. It is possible to actually stick more to the coast by heading of sealed roads but we did have to be in Te Anau before dinner time and we didn't want to risk it.<br>The road takes you hrough the town of Tuatapere which is part farming part forestry, not the prettiest town ...

... for two nights mainly because I wanted to do the tongariro crossing a day hike across a couple of volcanic craters - only one problem with that, the big storm that passed over meant the crossing is closed till monday at least so i'm gutted i'm going to miss it it would have been one of the highlights of the tour. last night we got 2 six packs of beer between four of us and sat by the lake ...

... away to myself, New Zealand is a beautiful country to drive through. I didn't spend a lot of time in Lake Taupo as the weather was not conducive to hanging around. I did look for the mountain as I had been reliably informed that I should see a rather large volcano there, I'm putting it down to cloud cover and not a lack of observation skills. Lake Taupo was beautiful, and given more time, I would have loved to go ...

... day mountain walk, the Tongariro Crossing. This would have included climbing near Mt Ngauruhoe, Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings film. Unfortunately the weather is forecast to be wet with low cloud for the next couple of days although it is fine now. We abandon that idea and go to Taupo, a lively town on New Zealand's largest lake offering all sorts of action possibilities such as tandem parachute jumping (no chance - Janice won't even go tandem on a bicycle) and jet boating.

... We then headed to town. Our group was made up of Craig, Katie, Claire & Clare from Scotland, Laura, Sandri & Jennifer from South Africa and the two Stray staff, Nat & Jimmy. We headed off to Mulligans first and played International Table Football - England won of course! We then headed off to the Element Bar until 2am and enjoyed party time - cracking night out. We have got a lie in tomorrow so all is well.....

... picked up our prepaid<br>lunch boxes for the trip. Once we boarded we headed for the top deck of<br>the small boat, where it was freezing and windy. The trip across Lake<br>Manapouri to the Power Station area of the Fiordland National Park<br>lasted about an hour and we disembarked to catch a tour bus. Also<br>waiting to get on the bus was a kea bird which we were told can be<br>pretty pesky and ...

Our days in Taupo were amazing. We started off this day by taking an hour walk at Craters of the Moon. It was a geothermal site and was so peaceful. Well worth the walk and trip over. We then did the Huka Falls jetboat ride which was incredible. You race at 50-60 miles per hour in a jet boat doing 360 spins as you go. We then slowed ...

... a river on the doorstep and an affable owner who comes by every evening offering free freshbaked chocolate muffins. Although Greymouth is the West Coast's largest town, it's a pretty sleepy place - big excitement is the twice-daily mournful hooting as the Tranzalpine train arrives from Christchurch.A little way down the coast is Hokitika, although the journey is enlivened by two one-lane bridges (common even on south island main highways ...

... was bloody ******* it down!<br><br>We set off quite early, at around half past 8, but it was well worth it as the drive up there was just amazing, it was so scenic... if the weather was a bit nicer then I could have gotten a few better pictures, but if it had been better there wouldn't have been as many waterfalls on the way, so really the rain was a good thing!<br><br>Before we left this morning we had had to go to a tourist info place to find out ...