Kia Ora everybody ( means hello in maori)
Feb 8th
Left Auckland at 8.00am to view the highest point called Mt Eden then made our way to the Goldfields railway for 30 min train journey of the Karangahake gorge .We then went to Longlands homestead at Matamata to a working dairy farm and had lovely lamb lunch. We then travelled to the Whakarewarewe village , a maori village with hot geysers and springs and then to our hotel in Rotorua.
Feb 9th
We did the city and lakes tour with the Duck (a vehicle that travelled on land and water) in the afternoon we had walk around the shops and the lake in Rotorua and saw seaplanes and helicopters.
Feb 10th
Early morning start again , visited the Wairakei thermal power station where they generated electricity from  the hot underground water.Visited the Huka falls which was a photography delight and then had 2 hour drive to Napier where we stopped the night.Had time to walk around the city and Hawk's Bay.Dana tell Ian we did not go Mission wines but went next door to Church Road winery where we had wine tasting and dinner.
Feb 11th
Left Napier at 8.00am and visited a lovely car museum and then onto Wellington , and visited the Te Papa museum and on the way to the hotel we stopped at the highest point Mt Victoria which had a 360 degrees view of Wellington.
Feb 12th
Even earlier start today 7.00am . We had a little tour around Wellington before boarding the ferry over to the south island which took 3 hours but we had plenty of free food and drink.When we arrived at Picton we joined another coach to Christchurch stopping enroute to take pictures of seals and even saw a whale.
Feb 13th
Once again an early start to the railway station to board the Tranzalpine to Arthurs pass, magnificent views.Taking place today was the coast to coast contest of 253 kms where they cycled , ran and canoed the way to Christchurch over 12 hours which we saw them  running in the mountains.We also went to see the Franz Josef glacier. Good night another early start.