Hi everyone,

well we finally hired our campervan yesterday for 2 weeks. It is so good to get on the open road and to stop where you want and sleep rough - it's fab! We have a small campervan with a cool box for a fridge and 3 ring gas stove for a cooker and a table and back seats which turn into a bed which fill the whole of the back it's brilliant! It was quite cold sleeping last night though. We have taken so many photos already as the sights are amazing and it's so easy to see why Lord of the Rings and Narnia were filmed here. We drove through the southern alps yesterday which were just breath taking and stopped on a mountain for a snowball fight! - trust us!! We then went through Arthurs Pass where there were so many mountains with huge boulders on them which is were parts of the Lord of the Rings and Narnia: Lion, Witch and Wardrobe were filmed. We went hiking up a mountain and David was taking the mick out of me for getting down slowly but then he fell over and landed in sheep poo - Ha! ha! Who's laughing now?? We then drove through more beautiful valleys and past fast flowing rivers and streams which were crystal clear and so blue. It really is something out of a picture book and ended up in a town called Hokitiki to sleep on the side of the road for the night.

We woke nice and early this morning and headed south down the coast past many beautiful mountains again and then past mirror lakes. We stopped for lots of photos and quick walks. We are now in a place called Franz Josef which is a gorgeous mountainess retreat where we are about to go on a helicoptor ride over the glaciers and get out on the snowy summat for a photo - I can't wait! After that we're going to the hot springs which is on top of a mountain again but the pools are natural and very hot - maybe volcanic or something. We're going to stop here for tonight and maybe tomorrow to do some walking around the glaciers tomorrow.

We have only been in New Zealand since the 5th May but we're absalutely loving it and a campervan was definately the best way forward!! Well I'll be putting on some of the photos in a few days where I'll have time to put them on cos there are loads of them. The photo above is what we have been seeing on our journey of New Zealand so far - It's simply breath taking!!

Love you all lots xxx