We picked up what was to be our home, kitchen and transport for the next 4 weeks and drove off into the sunset ready to explore New Zealand in the campervan. We started off in Christchurch but went very soon to the Banks Peninsular where sparkling waters and rolling hills made New Zealand appear like a very nice, sunny version of the English Lake District. We stayed in Pigeon Bay and then scooted off to Mount Somers. Here, we indulged in a long walk through rolling hills with snow capped mountains in the background. This gave us the taste for mountains but before arriving at Mount Cook, Aoraki, we stopped at Lake Tekapo where the waters are a gorgeous turquoisey-green and we walked up Mount John in order to get more lake-mountain views. The road going past the lakes were also bordered with thousands of lupins - it was an unexpected and pretty touch. We were surprised in the morning that the green hills surrounding the lake had had a dusting of snow - no wonder it had been so cold at night! From here we made our way to Mount Cook where we spent New Year. Aoraki indulged us in a little view of the mountain with some cloud swirling but the closer we got on our walk through the Hooker Valley the less we saw of Mount Cook. We did, however, see Mount Sefton and also the edge of the Tasman Glacier from afar and some mini icebergs floating in the nearby lake - very strange! We then headed off to Oamaru. Oamaru is a lovely little town with gorgeous gardens. We had the first of our many wildlife experiences here as the 'Yellow Eyed Penguin' (the rarest penguin in the world) can be seen and there are also colonies of Blue Penguins (the smallest penguin in the world) that you can go and watch 'coming home' in rafts. This was followed by seeing Albatrosses in their only mainland based colony in the world on the Otago Peninsular as well as nearby sea lions and seals. We gave them enough space but we still got shouted at by an angry sea lion as we approached to have a butchers. We got to know the Otago peninsular with a thigh-burning 8 hour walk all over the headland and up massive sand hills and were quite glad to have a rest in the car when driving on to the Catlins.

Within the Catlins there were many sights along the scenic drive such as 'Jack's Blowhole', many waterfalls and lovely sea views and the chance to see dolphins at Porpoise bay..we didn't see any at this point but this would come later. After doing part of the 'River Walk' we headed to Te Anau ready to have our 'Milford Sound Experience'. And an experience it certainly was! It had not rained for several days in the area and seeing as this area gets 7 metres of rainfall a year it had a lot to make up and we got it for sure! As we headed out towards the Tasman sea it was raining stair rods but this made the whole place come alive with hundreds and hundreds of waterfalls. The force when we got near the only 2 permanent ones t(o get 'up close and personal') was awesome - water whipped our faces and soaked us to the bone. Our cares were washed away with fun in the rain and a special sighting of dolphins who swam right up to the boat allowing several good shots with our soggy camera. Dolphins at last! We stayed nearby overnight and made our way slowly back to Te Anau taking in sights along the way such as Keas (local cheeky birds), glaciers, mirror lakes and fields of wild lupins.

We finally dried out as we neared Queenstown where we had come to get our fill of adrenalin filled activities. We booked our activities for the afternoon and the next day and went to get started with our first rush of the day: the Red Bull Acrobatic plane. As he spun me around upside down a few times and whizzed round New Zealand he decided the wind was not right and cancelled the flights. How disappointing! Still, we had our bungy jumps to look forward to (possibly...we were not sure if my back or Dave's knee were up to it!). We steadied our nerves for the next day with a few cocktails at the Minus 5 bar (which was actually minus 8 degrees celcius?!) and then headed off for an evening of Maori culture, singing, dancing, food and Haka. A welcome war dance awaited us we approached the Marae and then looking like a complete plonker, Dave was invited up on stage to show off his Maori dancing skills. After being asked to leave the stage immediately due to the lack of indiginous bus drivers, we sat down for a hearty meal cooked in the traditional Hangi oven. Then Jo was up on the stage flinging around her Poi, a ball and string originally used for strengthening the arms but now used by women in dances. We had an early start down to the AJ Hackett bungy bridge (where the first commercial bungy was done) and without any hesitation flung ourselves over. Jo went back for more screaming (to much amusement in the crowds of onlookers) and then satisfied with our morning's work, it was next stop Wanaka. We had a heart pounding walk around more Lord of the Rings country, saw Shania Twain's new property (it didn't impress us much, ha ha ha) and then headed off through the haast pass towards Fox Glacier. Starting at Fox Glacier, we decided to stay within the safety ropes (many didn't) and observe the rock and ice falling from the glacier. We then had a second bite of the Mount Cook cherry as we walked around a nearby lake with 'stunning' Mount Cook views. Mount Cook, however, wasn't at home again but the clouds were nice. Walking into the rain we started out for Franz Josef Glacier. The rain, however, meant the nearby view points were closed so from a distance we observed the glacier's silent majesty and were still impressed by the massive wall of frozen water that seemed halted just in time by an invisible magician.

With a long drive ahead of us we set off at breakneck speed to the Nelson Lakes, stopping the night down a country lane filled with sandflies on the way. Rain, rain and more rain (that's why the lakes are there though I suppose) around the lakes gave them a very mysterious look but wasn't ideal for getting out of the van for long, so we didn't and headed for the Abel Tasman National Park. Sun, sun, sun met us the following morning and so we walked out into the park calling in at various secluded bays along the way, eventually ending up in the drink for a swim. The national park is just a lovely walk along a track with paths down to some lovely beaches - you can't go far wrong with that! There was the opportunity to do things like jet skiiing but we preferred watching some unfortunate boy making 3 miserable attempts to even start - how we laughed!!

After this much needed relaxation we then headed to Picton from where we were to catch the ferry to the North Island. We had a walk along a headland overlooking Queen Charlotte Sound. The views from here were excellent and enhanced by some heavenly breaks of sunshine through the moody cloud. We then undid all the good work and strolled down to the sea front for some 'Fush and Chups' but not before experiencing what must be the world's most accomplished toilet: it talked, it played music, I'm sure it could've danced if you'd wanted it! The next day we set off and boarded the ferry for our next stop: the North Island of New Zealand.