We left Christchurch for Mt Cook (also known as Aoraki) in beautiful weather with no idea of what the next 24 hrs would bring.
Our day in Christchurch left us with bitter-sweet memories.
We arrived at our accommodations in Christchurch soon after lunch and found it to be beautiful.
Unfortunately we had only 1 night in Kaikoura as there was so much more to see.
As we drove south from Blenheim we passed large green vineyards reminding us that we were in the heart of NZ’s winelands.
We stopped in the small town of Blenheim for our first 2 nights on the South Island of New Zealand. After a short drive from Picton we arrived at Blenheim but it took an inordinately long time to get to our hotel.
After the very wet day in Wellington, the weather cleared beautifully for our crossing of the Marlborough Sounds from the North Island to the South Island.
Today we drove through some of the most stunning scenery and scenery that was really stark. Before we started on the road to Wellington we went to see the geyser erupt as we were unable to see it when we were at the thermal pools.
We had one day in Rotorua to see as much of the area as we could. We took the pamphlets we had been given by our travel agent and selected 3 things we would like to do most.
Starting our self-drive through the 2 Islands of New Zealand and ticking off another bucket list item.