Got the ferry down to Picton on 23rd December, then spent Christmas in Arthurs Pass. Did a great Xmas day walk up Avalanche Peak, beautiful (very hot!) weather, and lots of cheeky kea (alpine parrots) at the top trying to steal our picnic! Had a delicious crayfish (rock lobster) for Christmas dinner that we'd picked up in Kaikoura on the way down - made it feel like a special day!
Then headed over to the West Coast, where amazingly the sunny weather continued. Whenever we've been there before, we've had the infamous West Coast rain for days on end and not even seen a mountain - different this time! Had a couple of great days with great views of mountains, glaciers and amazingly blue rivers.
Stayed in a lovely campsite in the grounds of a small lodge near Karamea (north of the West Coast), with weka running everywhere and an empty windswept beach for a campfire. Inland from here we did a walk around some completely unspoilt rainforest and some very impressive caves - our only walk in the rain!
So we did have to resort to staying in a motel for two nights to avoid the rain, not bad when we camped for the other 13 nights without getting wet! Was pretty horrible weather over parts of the North Island for most of the holiday period, so think we did pretty well where we were.
Spent the first week of 2012 in the far north of the South Island around Golden Bay. Went fishing and sea kayaking and did some lovely walks around mountains and coast. Great area for delicious food, wine and craft beer, so made sure we made the most of that!
Arrived back to Wellington to horizontal rain - delightful! Not the most pleasant ferry ride! Though since then has been much nicer so have had plenty of BBQs and days in the sunshine.
Last weekend went on yet another holiday (!) - just a long weekend in Hawke's Bay in the east of the North Island. Stayed in a nice little bach, visited some wineries, found some delicious food at the farmers market...and Ben jumped off a cliff! He did a tandem paragliding flight off Te Mata peak which was apparently fantastic - though the "whoaaaaas" you could hear from the ground suggested differently!
And if that wasn't enough, off to Kapiti Island, about an hour from Wellington, for an overnight trip next weekend - a nature reserve with kiwis and loads of other endangered NZ wildlife...fingers crossed we get to see a real life kiwi in the wild!
