We made our way to Queenstown, with a few stop offs along the way to break up the journey. Knights Point (just north of Haast) was a lookout en route - it offered amazing views of the West Coast, including breath-taking cliff formations. We also stopped at Wanaka - a town set on Lake Wanaka, with a slightly more relaxed edge than Queenstown - we really liked it there so decided to change our plans slightly and go back to Wanaka later in the week.

Eventually, we made it to Queenstown - the 'adventure capital of the world'. It really surprised us how peaceful Queenstown can be, as well as live up to its adrenaline reputation. It is set upon Lake Wakatipu and the views from the harbor and gardens, with picturesque mountains in the backdrop, are amazing. I am a complete woos so knew that I would not be partaking in any adrenaline-rushing activities (and Dave didn't either) - however there was still loads to do, including:

• Had the biggest burger ever at Ferg Burger - everyone we had met told us about this amazing burger place in Queenstown. The first night there we decided to go for it - the burgers were huge and super tasty - tasting even better as we have been cooking for ourselves mostly in NZ
• Went up the Skyline gondola and speeded on the luges - we took the cable car gondola up to the top of a big hill with spectacular views over Queenstown. We also went on the luges (serviced by a cool chairlift!) - a plastic cart you drive downhill - it was fun!
• Played Frisbee golf in Queenstown gardens - we rented some Frisbees and scorecard and took to the course. It is basically golf but with Frisbee throwing instead of golf shots - it was harder than it looked and we ended up having to make up some of our own rules to get round the course!
• Tasted local NZ wines - no trip to NZ would be complete without tasting the local wines and we were aware we hadn't done this yet. We found a local wine tasting place with 80 local wines you could taste - the wine was dispensed from machines. Even better, we found a website where we got a $30 tasting card each for $15 each - bargain! A good way to spend an afternoon!
• Cycled along the lake - we rented bikes and took the Frankton Trail along Lake Wakatipu, the views along the way were fab and we got quite envious at the massive houses along the lake!
• Enjoyed the cheap drinks - the bars all open til 4am as standard and there are plenty of happy hours and deals to lure in the backpackers. We made the most of it and had a couple of nights out on the town - hip hop seemed to be the music of choice in a lot of the bars - bonus!
• Chill time - (mostly after the nights out above) we just enjoyed chilling by the lake and in the gardens.
• And finally…. got up at 8.45am to watch Arsenal get kicked out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich.

After 5 days in Queenstown, we headed back to Wanaka. We took a trip to Arrowtown on route, a town built on the Arrow River in line with the gold rush years ago. Many of the original buildings have been retained and we walked around the chinese settlement to see the poor conditions they lived in whilst trying to find gold! When in Wanaka, we walked around the town some more and chilled by the lake, enjoying the slower pace of life. There were some good bars there and being a Friday night, the locals were out in force so we headed out and enjoyed the local brews and wines!

The next day we headed to Lake Tekapo - a stop over on route to Christchurch (to get our flight to Oz!) It was a really quiet place and we enjoyed the tranquility, walking around the lake. We played tennis at a local court - our second game in NZ - it's the one game I can actually beat Dave at J Lake Tekapo is known for star gazing - due to its clear skies and distance from major towns. Unfortunately we were there on a cloudy day so didn't get to see this for ourselves…

We decided not to stay in Christchurch due to the earthquake and devastation we had heard so much about during our time here. It's a shame as it sounds like a lovely place - known for being very quintessentially English looking. However we will definitely head to the town tomorrow before our flight, to see how things are getting on.

So our time in NZ is now up and after 4 weeks and over 3,300 km on the road, we have really loved it! We've embraced the great outdoors and enjoyed the diverse scenery NZ has to offer, as well as the chilled way of life. We have also been really lucky with weather - it's been on average 6-7 degrees warmer than average… There are some places we would have liked to have done if we had more time (Milford Sound, Kaikoura to see Whales etc) but hey, there's always next time!

Our next adventure is 6 weeks in Australia - bring it on!