Kai Ora to you, this entry is all about our adventure in our little hippie campervan travelling around the north and south islands of New Zealand.

On the 9th January 2011, we arrived at Auckland Airport, quite late at night; we jumped on the bus transfer to our hostel in the city. We stayed at the hostel Fat Camel Nomads, it wasn't the greatest but it was for only one night so we couldn't complain well Jess couldn't as she got the double bed. On Monday morning we had some breakfast and picked up our campervan from escape rentals. After all the paperwork was done, we got the opportunity to choose our van, so we went with the Geisha van, to remind us of our time in Asia, I should point out that all the campervans had spray painted art all over them.So by midday we were on the road, which was so exciting and it was so great to be able to drive again and have the independence of going where we like. We stopped off at the shops to pick up some food and of course we couldn't help ourselves by having a little look around the other shops. Our originally intentions was to buy a sat nav, but we could not find one that was cheap, so we decided against it, and we are glad about that as New Zealand roads are very easy to navigate, they pretty much have one road that goes through the centre of the North Island. Jess was driving so I was in charge of directions and navigating us to our campsite, we were heading for the conservation campsites at Lake Taupo. After getting a touch lost we found the road that we needed to get to the campsite, which was in the middle of nowhere anyway, we then started driving down this road, the road was heading deeper and deeper into this forest and the campsites we were coming across were small sites off this road. It was also starting to get dark as well, so everything was starting to get scary, and it was something out of a bad horror movie. As we were driving further down the road, in my head I could picture myself watching a movie telling us to turn back. We decided that this was stupid and we went to the Top 10 campsite.

I am so glad it's just the two of us in this van, as if all three of us where sleeping in there it would have been so cramped and hot. Tuesday we left the top 10 site considerably poorer as it was expensive place to camp but I was willing to spend it to not be in the woods scared s***less. We drove around Lake Taupo, saw Hukka Falls, the Bee factory and the I-site to help us plan and book our next destination. I-sites are the best thing ever for people like us, every town has one, they are information centres that help you book accommodation, activities and give you general information about the area and other areas, these were brilliant help for our trip. We drove around the lake and down into Tongario national park and stopped by a lake that was home to a large number of black swans. We cooked our lunch on our little gas stove, and sat and enjoyed the weather and took in the view, we were hoping New Zealand was going to give us a lot more experiences like this. After lunch we jumped back in the Van and headed on the road south, New Zealand has one major motorway to the south and that's the 1 and it's a single carriageway motorway and the speed limit is about 60mph, so you do not go anywhere fast here. We arrived at our campsite on the southwest coast of the north Island in the back end of nowhere, but the campsite was near the beach, so we parked up grabbed a glass of wine and went to the beach. The beach was so bizarre, it was full of drift wood and the sand was black, it reminded me of a sad and lonely place, but beautiful nonetheless. We made dinner as the sun was setting, spent the evening planning our route for the south island and then went to bed. Making our bed was always a bit of a mission as you had to put the wood planks down in the van to make the whole back a bed and then somehow stop the bedding from going everywhere.

We awoke on Wednesday to a horrible wet and windy day, also known as the unpredictable New Zealand weather. On the road again, we were heading for Wellington to catch our ferry to the south Island. It was so great to have our independence in the van to go anywhere we pleased without having to wait for public transport all the time and also we have the ability to see a whole country instead of small parts of it. We arrived in Wellington a little early, so we went to the i-site there, booked our next accommodation, had a walk around and then headed back to the ferry port. The ferry like anything in New Zealand wasn't quick, we were on it for about 4 ½ hours, but it was very comfortable ride and we caught up with our reading and diaries. I drove the van off of the ferry and we were on our way to Kaikora, as the weather was bad the drive was not great, it was windy and wet and the road was a coastal road so it didn't help with the weather, but the harsh landscape was impressive to see. We arrived at our campsite around 6pm, the rain had not stopped so I decided that we should go into town and have a meal out in a warm restaurant. We found a lovely warm pub with a fire and ordered some mussels, in chilli and coriander, they were AMAZING. We spent the rest of the night watching a movie in our van slowly getting drunk on red wine.

Thursday 13th, we awoke to a beautiful sunny day, thank god, as we wanted to explore Kaikora. We 1st went to the i-site where we booked our white-water rafting for the following day and changed our ferry for an early date, so we could spend more time in the north Island as we had to cut out bits of the south Island as we would of never have been able to see it all in the time frame we had. So Rangitata white-water rafting was booked and I was extremely excited as this was the one thing I wanted to do in New Zealand. We then went on a 1 ½ hour cliff walk around Kaikora, which gave us amazing views of the town and the surrounding landscape, but unfortunately we didn't see any whales or seals that the area was famous for. We had some lunch and then got on with our 3 ½ journey down to Christchurch. We were staying on the outskirts of Christchurch in a small place called Belfast. We tried to cook our dinner on our BBQ that we rented, which took too long and was a massive waste of money, but we can say we tried. We enjoyed ribs and wine as the sun went down and then had an early night for our big day the next day.

Friday 14th, was our rafting trip, and I was very excited. As they didn't collect people from Belfast , we were collected in a random area about 15 minute drive from our campsite by a bus that we were on for about 2 hours to the rafting lodge. When we arrived we were given coffee and then about 11.30am some lunch to fill us with energy for the day ahead on the water. After lunch we were given a demo on our gear and then we were suited and booted. We were given a wet suit, thermal vest, wind jacket, helmet and boots. We were then taken down to the river by bus on which we were told about the original owner of the area who was busted for smuggling drugs and we were also shown some of the areas in which the Lord of the Rings were filmed at, I believe he said that the scenes of Rohan were set there. (This is about the point that mum should stop reading now about this adventure as otherwise you will ban me from doing this again) The group on our boat was our instructor Jason, I, Jess, 2 British girls, 1 Swiss girl and 2 Israeli girls, so we were the girlie group. The two Israeli girls were very irritating as they did not put any effort into the paddling and were stroking the water with the paddle, and they were supposed to be from the army. After some practice on flat water and on a grade 1 rapid, we hit the real thing, our 1st real rapid was grade 3, it was so much fun going through the rapids and we paddled through unscathed, but I was ready to smack the Israeli girls with my paddle. The rapids were all named very weird and scary names like 'the pencil sharpener' as if you caught it in the wrong place it could rip the bottom of your boat off or other things like the' rooster tail' because of the way the water hit the rocks. We were also taught about swells, boils and about surfing. The day was going very quick and next thing I remember we were coming up to our 1st grade 5, we were taken out of the boats and shown the rapid. When we rode the rapid the whole thing seems like a bit of a blur as I had a lot of water flying in my face, but all I remember was paddling as hard as I could and hearing Jason screaming us what to do ' PADDLE, GET DOWN, ON THE JOB.' It was very intense but it got my heart pumping and I loved it. We went on a few more smaller rapids, which were epic and so exhilarating, we then were on our next grade 5 rapid. Grades 5's are the highest commercial rapids you can raft on. We went through the 1st part of the rapid, which we were told the hardest part and then caught the next part wrong and we slowly flipped over apparently in a very stupid place as it was easier now. It was all a bit of a blur but I got 1st caught under the boat, then when I came back from under it, I was holding onto the boat, but then we hit the side and I lost my grip and I was off solo down the river, which dragged me under the water, it was all a bit scary as I couldn't get my head up and I couldn't breathe but I knew I was going to be ok, and that I would resurface, all I remember is hearing someone shout 'There's a swimmer' and that was clearly me. I was dragged up onto another boat at the bottom and I was out of breath and my heart was pounding but I was smiling as it was such an experience and I believe it made it more fun that we capsized. After that we went onto the shore and with my adrenaline pumping we did some cliff jumping. We all 1st jumped off the smaller cliff, but as I was pumping I dragged Jess up to do the higher cliff jump, normally I would be scared silly but I was game for this one. We then jumped back on the boats, tried to surf on a rapid but one of the Israeli girls was scared so we had to stop that. The whole adventure was so much fun and over far too soon, this is something I would definitely do again as it was brilliant and exhilarating and would recommend to everyone who loves to be scared now and then. After a much needed hot shower as the river was freezing we had a BBQ and were taken back to the city, where we bought wine and watched the sun go down.

We awoke on the Saturday very sore from being thrown around the day before, and my wisdom teeth had begun to poke through so I was in agony, so I popped some painkillers to cancel all the pain and we drove into the centre of Christchurch to have a little explore. We parked up and walked around the centre, looking at the historical buildings and seeing the destruction of the earthquakes that had happened previously to the recent one. The cathedral was very beautiful although they compare Christchurch to England, personally I don't see it. We had a walk around, took our standard photos, bought a bracelet and then got back on the road on the way to Hokitika on the west coast via Arthurs pass, which was a breath-taking mountain range that we drove through. We stopped in a valley of a cluster of mountains for some food, probably the best view I have had whilst eating pasta. We arrived in Arthurs pass late afternoon after a long drive and of course with our luck the heavens opened, but not to be discouraged by the rain and the wind, we trekked up thousands of steps into the mountains to view the Devil's punchbowl, which was a large waterfall up in the mountains, we were a bit soggy but it was definitely worth the climb of a thousand steps to see it. We dried off and warmed up in a small café in Arthurs pass and then headed to Hokitika, where we were staying that night. We spent that evening chilling out in the kitchen/ lounge area with of course some wine and I made dinner.

On Sunday, we drove south to the Franz Josef Glacier, which is one of the largest glaciers in New Zealand, but of course the one day we could do it the weather was awful, it was windy and rainy, but on the 2 ½ hour drive we prayed that the weather would clear up, unfortunately this did not happen. The company we were going on the glacier walk with were pretty good, they provided us with trousers, jackets, boots, hats, gloves and crampons (the spikes for the bottom of the boots for ice walking.) We hopped on a bus to the glacier with the rest of the group and then when we arrived we were spilt into smaller groups, of course Jess made us go in group 1 for the fittest people, which I was apprehensive about. So our walk began, we had to 1st walk up to the glacier which was a good 30minute walk, which was very long and not very fun as the rain was beating down on us and we were getting soaked even though our coats. We then had to the walk up the side of this very steep hill to get to the ice, and start our glacier walk. We tied our crampons onto the our boots and we hit the ice; it was very bizarre to walk in the crampons at first as you had to dig them into the ice. We started off our walk through the small crevasse and on flat ice, but as we went further onto the ice we were taken through taller ravines that were higher than my head, it was a little claustrophobic but it was great fun, as we were squeezing through the ice. We also had to hall ourselves up some ice stairs by only holding onto a rope and the space you had to fit through was very small and some of the ravines apparently would lead to massive holes in the ice but of course we wouldn't be going in them but you could still see them. The whole time we were walking through these ravines all I could think about was the movie Vertical limit and how the ice gives way under them, but of course we were fine. We reached the top of the area we were climbing to and took some quick photos before my camera was soaked, also the weather was a little clearer so we got a better view of the area. We climbed back down which was a lot of fun and very nerve racking as it was very steep. After the climb we were given free entrance to the hot springs near the glacier, they were not natural but they were a great way to warm up after the long cold and wet walk. We had dinner in the area of Franz Josef; I then drove in the dark back to Hokitika.

Monday, was a beautiful hot sunny day which was irritating as we had to Franz Josef on an awful day. But we were heading for Hammer springs back near the east coast. The drive was very slow as it was very mountainous and the van did not enjoy going up very steep hills. We arrived in Hammer Springs in the afternoon, this area is famous because of the natural hot springs in the area, but it being a hot day the last thing we really wanted to do was to sit in an even hotter pools but we did it anyway. We thought the pools were going to be proper natural pools but the pools were all like big hot tubs and the water just had natural minerals and vitamins in them. There were lots of different types of pools each one having a different type of mineral or vitamin, the sulphur ones were the smelliest as they stank of egg. We spent the afternoon there until we were far too hot and bothered to stay in the pools any longer; the whole area was like an adult water park. For dinner that evening we cooked at the holiday park kitchen, this will also be known as the place where I set a pan alight, I have no idea how it happened but it was very funny but also very embarrassing. We ate and drank outside and enjoyed the beautiful pink and red sun set.

On Tuesday morning, we woke up a touch jaded from the night before, so to clear our head we went for a walk up one of the local hills to get a great view of the surrounding areas. After a quick lunch in Hammer we were back on the road heading towards Blenheim via Kaikora again, this time we were hoping for better weather so we could enjoy the scenery. As we were driving along the coast this time, I spotted a seal on the shoreline so we pulled over to take some photos, Jess stepped a little too close to the seal and it began to chase her and bark at her; so gutted I didn't get a photo, this was because I was laughing far too hard. We also stopped a bit further on to have a look at a colony of seals relaxing on some rocks. This time on the drive we managed to see quite a few seals and we were glad we got to see them as this was what this area was famous for. We arrived in Blenheim early evening, did the standard thing we did every night, made dinner, drank some wine and watched the laptop.

On Wednesday morning we woke up nice and early to head to Picton to catch our ferry back to Wellington. We drove into Picton to go to the I-site, have some breakfast along the coast and to have a walk around the area as it was a beautiful day. The ferry ride was yet again very slow, but I managed to do some reading and sun bathe on the top deck. We arrived in Wellington early evening, so we drove around until we found somewhere we wanted to have dinner. We found this really cool little restaurant in the centre called 'Mama's Kitchen,' where we had tacos and the most amazing peanut butter milkshakes EVER!

Thursday 20th was the day we both were dreading, we were driving from Wellington to Roturua, which was going to take us over 7 hours. So Jess started off the drive, she lasted about 2 ½ hours, but she wasn't feeling very well so we swapped over the driving and I began the long drive north. On our way we saw that one of the Canyon swings, so we drove 30mins off our route to have a look at it, both of us were not in the mood to do it but we thought as we were driving by, I was trying to pump myself up for it, and I thought I was going to be ok, until we arrived and MY GOD this canyon was deep, I massively chickened out of it and Jess wasn't feeling well and neither of us had planned to do it so we decided it would be best not to, so we got back on the road. We stopped in Turangi and booked our Maori experience evening for the following night. We finally arrived in Rotorua just before dark, so we cooked our dinner on the BBQ again and then bed in the van.

Friday was a beautiful day; we had an action packed day of sightseeing. Our 1st stop of the day was Hell's Gate, which was a place of natural mud baths. Before we jumped in the mud baths, we had a tour around the area and saw all the amazing natural mud baths and hot pools, which were far too hot for humans to bathe in. We also bathed our feet in the mud baths and I awfully carved a Maori carving. The whole area stunk of sulphur and this was the stench you could smell over the whole town, it was not pleasant but I was slowly getting used to it, but now and then it would make me feel a bit sick. Overcoming this smell we had a dip in the mud baths. Although you had to fish it out of the muddy water baths we had a lot of fun lathering it over our bodies and faces. We then had a chance to wallow in the hot sulphur pools. My eyes and skin did not like this pool as it made my eyes sting so bad that it hurt to open them and I also found rashes all over my legs the following day. After the mud baths we went to the 'Buried Village' where we ate our fishy noodle lunch and went on a tour around the area, this was a village that was covered in volcanic ash and mud after a huge eruption hundreds of years before. It was very interesting, but I was tired and my eyes were hurting so I wasn't particularly fused about it all. We then had to rush back and change for our Maori night as we were being picked up at 5.30pm. It was unfortunately as not as authentic as I wanted it to be as the evening was on a very modern complex but I was chosen as chief of the 'tribe' of visitors so that made up for it. I had to stand on my own as the Maori tribe warrior had to do a war dance in front of me and then I had to pick up his dropped leaf as a sign that we were coming in peace. I was very worried that I was going to do something wrong and it was very intimidating this man with a big spear dancing and thrusting the spear near me whilst chanting. We were then taken into the tribe meeting house where were treated to a show, I had to also greet all the males of the tribe with the traditional greeting by touching their noses with my noses, was very bizarre but great fun. Also we were taught the Wakka chant and the men were taken on stage to do it, was hilarious. After the show Jess and I were sat with all the performers as I was Chief. The food was amazing, we had traditional food, lots of seafood, salad, different types of meat and to many deserts; I was stuffed silly. After dinner we were taken up to their natural Geysers which we saw exploding, this was a beautiful site to see and we sat watching them drinking hot chocolate whilst they sang us traditional Maori songs. It was a perfect night and brilliant cultural experience.

Saturday 22nd was our last full day in New Zealand and we were sad about that. We packed the van up, we did some souvenir shopping and the went on one of the high speed jet boats around Lake Rotorua as we had been looking at these boats everywhere we had been. It was great fun as it was spinning us around and getting us wet and going extremely fast, but the driver was also telling us about the history of the area. We drove after lunch to our campsite north of the river in Auckland, where we washed our clothes and had dinner and sat in our van as the weather was so bad.

Sunday was our day to fly out of New Zealand, we left the campsite with plenty of time to drop off the van, but of course with us we always have trouble on Airport days. There was a stupid amount of traffic on the roads and we did not know why, we were stuck in so much traffic, this was because it had rained so much the river had burst and had flooded half of the motorway leading up to the bridge which was the only way to cross over back to the city, it took us over 1hour to drive a 10 minute journey. When we finally arrived in the city, the rental van place had changed offices and not informed us of this, so we were driving around trying to find this place. We finally dropped the van off and caught the bus to the airport. We grabbed a beer in the airport and waited for our flight, which they boarded 45minutes before take-off, which we thought was ridiculous.

The flight wasn't too bad; I drank a lot of gin on the plane, even though they would only serve one at a time. I watched Despicable Me, Dagenham girls and a few other movies as I just couldn't get to sleep on the plane.

New Zealand was amazing, I was very worried about the whole camping thing and it wasn't the place I was most excited about, but once arriving I did not want to leave. The scenery was breath-taking and the people were so kind, even though they did have strange accents. We embraced the hippie campervan thing a lot and enjoyed the freedom of doing what we wanted when we wanted. New Zealand is very different to Australia and that is what I enjoyed the most about it as I was worried it was going to be to samey as they last thing we did. The most comical thing about the whole trip was how they would pronounced my name, 'BIN WIBB,' every time it cracked me up. All I wish was like everywhere we had more time to see more of the south Island and to visit Queenstown.