We had a very very bumpy flight into Christchurch New Zealand, I cant explain how bad the turbulence was and for two hours. The crew had to be seated the whole time, we dropped in mid air, the pilot tried to go higher and then lower looking for smooth air, Emily spilt her drink and I was left shaking!Once we were there though all was good and we were there just in time for a music festival called Southern Amp. We saw the Charlatans and Dandy Warhols as well as dancing lots in the Ministry of Sound tent.The next day we picked up our camper and stayed over night by the coast near Christchurch. The next day we made our way to lake Takapo via some small villages and alpine towns. The Lake itself was stunning with snowy mountains against a bright blue sky reflecting against the water. We went on a few walks with great views and treated ourselves to some outdoor hot spa's afterwards. We drove to Mount Cook which is the highest peek in NZ and did an steep walk up to an great view point.It took a good three hours and on the way down we counted 1166 steps spread out in amongst the rocks and track.We then headed further south to Queenstown which is a busy ski village in the winter months.It was Emily birthday and so we had sparkling wine in a camp site as she opened all her present and cards, we then had a game of mini golf before returning to the camp to get ready for a night out. It was a night of lots of drink and dancing before staggering back to our campers, Emily and Dan were lucky enough to have a guest stay half in and half out of their camper for the few hours that we did sleep!After a few walks in Queenstown we drove through the rain to Milford Sound right in the South of the Island. We took a boat ride out through the valley of steep cliffs and waterfalls to the opening into the ocean. The clouds were low and it looked so mysterious, here is where one of the highest peeks against the ocean stand. We drove back up North hoping for some sun and got in Lake Wanaka, we did some more fabulous walks again with the most amazing scenery and view points. From here we went to the first of our Glacier towns; we walked up to see the fox glacier and then made our way to Franz Josef Glacier to go on a guided walk. The first part was quite basic as we made our way up the glacier and got used to wearing our crampons. The weather was great despite the forecast and we really enjoyed the afternoon using ropes to climb up and down steep ice walls and squeezing through narrow crevasses. We drove up the whole of the West coast where ocean and golden beaches meet cliffs and valleys of tropical rainforest, it looked so pretty even in the constant drizzle. We made it up to Nelson and it was still raining, in fact it was close to a state emergency where a river nearly broke and flooded.There really wasn't much to do so we found a recreation centre and played badminton for about 2 ½ hours and then enjoyed the luxury of a hot shower.It eventually brightened up and we made our way to Abel Tasman (very hippy area) and did some beautiful walks up and down the coast line, visiting lovely little deserted bays. We spent a whole day kayaking around these bays, some of which are only accessible by boat and went out to an island where many seals lived and swam near our kayaks. I was very scared as seals are the main food source for great white sharks but soon relaxed and enjoyed it.The next day we were booked on to do our sky dive, I was very nervous but glad I was in an aircraft with a parachute rather than a life jacket! I was first to go hanging over the edge of the plane looking into a wide space of air and cloud. It is extremely hard to explain the sensation of accelerating and falling. The best parts were leaving the plain and spinning around in our free fall. We drove over to the East coast and did some more lovely walks overlooking a great blue ocean and seeing many seals living in the rocks, they are right show offs to the public.We spent a day at Hanmer Springs enjoying the boiling hot water, it was the most relaxing day (apart from the smelly sulphur pools, very eggy). From there we headed up to Picton to get out ferry to the north Island.