Te Ika-a-Māui to Te Waipounamu: driving north to south

When one door closes, another door opens. So when I enquired at the tourism office about wheelchair accessibility on intercity buses leaving Auckland and was told that they aren’t, I started to think about other options. I glanced to my left at the shelf full of brochures and one caught my eye. A car rental company. Aha, I thought. Another door.