In January 2012 we decided to go to the Golden Bay area of South Island, but first we had to go to Taupo to have a new reversing camera fitted. Once that was completed we did a really slow trip to Wellington to catch the ferry. It took us 5 days from Taupo to Wellington, that's slow!
Some of the highlights of this trip were the really great beaches on the west coast of North Island, such as Foxton Beach. On South Island the highlights were Omaka Aviation Heritage museum (it's fantastic and not to be missed) if you are in the Blenheim region. Tophouse has a really interesting hotel. Takaka Hill is an interesting drive and in general the Golden Bay area is really scenic. One activity I thoroughly enjoyed was a days salmon fishing at Anatoki Salmon farm.
Another interesting observation was just how friendly the South Islanders are, and just how more friendly the North Islanders are when travelling on South Island. We met some super people on our trip and were very glad to see "Happy Hour" is as much of an ritual as it was in Australia.
