Jane's Midlife Journey

Christchurch, the largest city on New Zealand’s South Island, is located roughly half way down the east coast and is the ideal place to start/finish a tour of the island. Much of today’s city is shaped by the devastating earthquake in 2011, which killed 185 people and severely damaged thousands of buildings. We spent two…

Christchurch, the largest city on New Zealand’s South Island, is located roughly half way down the east coast and is the ideal place to start/finish a tour of the island. Much of today’s city is shaped by the devastating earthquake in 2011, which killed 185 people and severely damaged thousands of buildings. We spent two…

For us, like many of the visitors we encountered on our trip to New Zealand, Auckland was the starting point of an island or country long adventure. We flew into Auckland and spent two days exploring, before setting off on our 3 week long tour covering the length of the country. The first day was…

We spent 2 weeks driving in a loop round New Zealand’s South Island, starting at the inter island ferry port at Picton in the north east and dropping the car at Greymouth on the north west coast. We then took the Tranz Alpine train across the southern Alps to Christchurch to catch our onward flight.…

We spent a week exploring New Zealand’s North Island. We flew into Auckland. After a couple of days exploring, we picked up a hire car and drove south as far as Wellington. After a quick park run, we caught the ferry to the South Island for more adventures. Note: We stayed in Carterton (near Wellington)…