We arrived in Christchurch at midnight and it was cold and windy - a big difference from the hot weather we were used to in Perth. We had a shuttle bus pick us up as we were staying in the Airport Lodge Mpotel, it was a really nice studio room. The next morning we picked up our campervan.

Our camper was a Toyota Hiace, its sleeps two with a hob, fridge/frezzer and heater (which has been on everyday!). We have to make the bed everynight and dismantle it in the morning.

We found our first campsite in Christchurch, which was basically a car park near the centre of town! The first night was spent unpowered because all the powered sites were taken and then the last two nights there were spent with power. Because of haing no power the first night we treated ourselves to a Dominoes Pizza. I (Andy) decided to be brave and tried a sausage and bacon pizza, however, what they didnt mention was that it was swimming - yes swimming - in BBQ sauce! I ate a couple of slices and threw it in the bin in disgust.

We went to Caddyshack mini golf - this is the best mini golf we have done. There are lots of minature models, the ball goes up gondals, volcanoes, down luge slopes and at the end of the 18th hole you get a lolly pop.

On the Sunday we went top Ferrymead which is a victorian village where volunteers dress up and educate people about the 'olden days'. It had a steam train and steam tram and the houses done as they would have looked in that period. There were also some planes in a hanger - the dads would have loved it!!

The rest of that day was taken trying to find an internet cafe which opended until 4am Monday morning so we could listen to the final Leicester game of the season. No internet cafes were open 24/7 and so we ended up listening to the game in the Hotel Ibis loby! The result was disatourious but we wont talk about that now! We stayed up till 4 am to hear us get relegated to League 1.

We then drove south west to Wanaka and encountered the sheep being moved from one field to another. They were everywhere all across the road and it took ages to get through them - it was certainly a difference experience! Our drive was very picturesq. We stayed in Wanaka for one night and visited Puzzling World where there was lots of weird illusions etc. There was also a giant maze which was really good. We found our way to all four corners but had to cheat to get out as it was fustrating us and we wanted lunch. We also went to Have A Shot - this a place where you can do archery, pellet gun shooting, pigeon clay shooting, mini golf and have a battlefield with tennis balls. We did the archery........oh and some mini golf....again!

We then drove even more south west and stayed two nights in Queenstown. Here we saw another Caddyshack golf and went there on our first day as the weather was wet, cold and windy. We also braved the weather and did the outside mini golf (cant you tell we have no money to do more exciting stuff!) We also went on the luge again, however it only had two tracks compared to the three tracks in Rotarua. The tracks were slippy as it had been raining and so made the racing even better. There was a camera at the end of the track and we got a photo finish. Queenstown is a really nice place - it reminded us of a skiing town, although we were there a month or two early for the skiing season which Andy was dissapointed about but Grace really pleased about.

The next day we drove to Milford Sound, a six hour drive through the picturesq landscape including going through a tunnel which was built going through a mountain and had water leaking in it. Milford Sound is a valley which was formed from glaciers in the Ice Age. It had many beautiful waterfalls - you have to see it to appreciate how beautiful it it. Because of the long drive from Queenstown we only just made the last ferry and I (Andy) had to run 500m from the car park after parking the camper. The cruise took us on the river past many temporary waterfalls to the sea mouth. It was raining so there were more temporary waterfalls because of the excess water. After that we drove to Te Anu to sleep for the night.

The next morning we drove onto Dunedin where we stayed for two nights. We got there late afternoon after another scenic drive (the scenery is amazing every drive!). We went to the cinema that night, the first time since Perth, and saw What Happens in Vegas. The next day we did the Speights Brewery Tour. Our tour guide was a funny energetic man called Keith whose passion for Speights cannot be questioned! Dad - we even got free beer, you would have loved it, six different types and we even got to pour our own. A free bar in all sense of the word. We then went to the steepest street in the world - Baldwin Street. At its steepest its 1:2.86, (19 degrees or 35%). I (Andy) really wanted to drive it up in the campervan but after seeing cars tackle it I didnt think the van would make it. It was really steep and tiring to walk up it. We then went to the cinema again that night and saw Semi-Pro.

We then drove onto Naseby and took part in the Olympic sport of curling - yes we got to sweep the ice and the game was great fun. We then drove north onto Twizel to stay the night.

The next day we drove to Mount Cook. We were both expecting a nice long drive up the mountain however, we were dissapointed as we only got to drive to the bottom of it where Mount Cook village is. There is a museum there but we didnt do it. We then drove to Kiakoura for the night and had fish and chips.

The next morning we left Kiakoura and drove north to Nelson. We arrived in the afternoon and spent this looking around the town. We went into the jewellers that was commissioned by Peter Jackson to make the Lord of The Rings ring for the triology! There were about 60 made for the film and they had one on display in the shop. I (Grace) was very excited to see it! We also visited a bead shop where I (Grace) brought a glass ring for the very good price of $5 (around 2 pounds). We went to the cinema that night and saw Lars and The Real Girl.

The next morning we drove to Picton, again great scenery, to catch the ferry to the north island. Before we got on the boat we looked around the town and filled ourselves up with an all day breakfast - yum!

We are now on the North Island and will update soon. Love to all. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx