We've arrived in the adventure capital of New Zealand, and no, we haven't been bungy jumping, but there is so much more to NZ than that. We have flown in a helicopter, landed and walked on Fox Glacier, kayaked amongst the penguins and seals in the Abel Tasman National Park and jet-boated near Queenstown. And that is before you mention the scenery.

The scenery on the south island gets better and better the further south you go. Down the West Coast the coastline is very rugged, and sparcely populated, to put it mildly.

We have also managed to fit in the 24 hour rogaine event, which had been the initial reason for our visit. It was held in the small township of Cheviot, north of Christchurch. Competitors of all ages, nationalities and every conceivable type of walking/running gear had gathered for the World Champs, the idea of a rogaine being to navigate your way to as many checkpoints as you could in 24 hours, with the option of coming back to the base (the local school) to eat and rest. It has been unusually dry here in NZ since we've arrived, and hardly rained at all, except for during these 24 hours when it poured- not pleasant when you are tired, and lost on a dark, foreign hillside

To cut a long story short, we finished respectably, and enjoyed most of it, but still couldn't resist coming back to our van for a sleep in the night. The competition was memorable for the friendly welcome of the locals onto their land, and every combination of electric and barbed wire fences that we had to climb over, through or under to get across their land.

The event gave us the chance to spend some time with my Aunty Joan (competing in the event herself) and Uncle Eric who came over from Australia. Well done to Joan and her partner, Ian, for being 2nd in the super vets category.

The mountains and lakes are spectacular, even if you are not a Lord of the Rings fan, and we haven't even reached what should be the best part, the Fjordlands around Milford Sound, which is where we are going next.