Hello,

We are in Wanaka, 70 km north of Queenstown (as if this means anything to you..). We are not really supposed to be here, but have been in a camp site since Saturday when the van broke down. We were just passing through and on a hill when I couldn't find 1st gear. We had to reverse the wrong way down and then the wrong way into a car park, to park in a disabled spot. All done in reverse. The AA said we must have hit a stone which put a hole in the gearbox and let all the oil out. Being Saturday we had to wait until today to get it fixed (still a work in progress). This is a pretty nice place, right by a huge lake, the sun was shining so didn't look too bad on Saturday, until it started raining. It then rained non stop until midday the next day. Oh, the fun you can have in a non moving campervan in the rain. We had suddenly become static caravanners. The shame.

The weather picked up tho and it is gorgeous now. Would be nice to get going tho.

What can I say? New Zealand is pretty great and I keep reminding Betty that I am coming to live here. She thinks that just gets funnier.

Have booked our whale watching and dolphin swimming for Sat so will have to make it to Kaikoura by then. Hope we get to do the journey by campervan!

Take care,

Love Betty & Paul