Our flight into New Zealand was short and our plain was very empty. It was a nice flight as we got to see the sun setting in New Zealand as we were about to land. We were picked up in Christchurch by Jan, a family friend of Laurens. We stayed with her for the weekend to settle in and she made us very welcome. It was definitely a lot colder in New Zealand than Australia! The day after we arrived in Christchurch we made a mad dash for the shops to buy some warm clothes. They were needed! It poured all afternoon and as it got dark it started snowing. Brr. The following day Jan drove us to nearby Lyttleton. Its a town up in the hills. It was very pretty up there and we could see the snow on the mountains. In the afternoon we went to the arts centre. There was lots of nice shops and stalls selling arts and crafts and various art exhibitions. The following day me and Lauren set off in our hired campervan. We had been lucky, we decided to upgrade to a slighly bigger one for an extra $10 a day. As they were out of the vans we wanted they upgraded us again for free! Its a great campervan. It comes with a stove, microwave, fridge, sink, table, bed.... and best of all a heater! I had been worried about the cold! We set off south. We drove through Ashburton and Fairlie and eventually reached Lake Tekapo. The lake was so beautiful. It was so blue! As the sun set the sky turned pink! Beautiful. There we had our first night in Maui our campervan. It was amazing to open our curtains the next day and be right by the lake. We left Lake and drove on passing Lake Pukaki where Mt Cook is. It looked amazing all topped with snow. As we drove on to Omareau all the scenery was amazing. We stopped off now and then to take pictures. At one point there was Maouri drawings carved into rocks. We arrived in Omareau in time to watch the penguins. We got to see them swimming in to the rocks, clambering in then waddling off to their resting boxes. It was amazing to see. The girl gave us information on them as we waited. It was quite an experience. The next day we drove onwards to Dunedin. I must admit it had a strong Scottish feel to it. That afternoon we went to see Sex and the City. It was so good. I had been looking forward to seeing it for ages!! The next day in Dunedin it was quite rainy and miserable. We took a drive along to Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world. It really was steep! I climbed up it in the rain. Glad I dont live on it. As it was raining it was the perfect day to visit the Cadburys Chocolate Factory... well lets face it, any day is a good day to do that! It was so good. Inside it smelt amazing, all chocolatey, mmmm! There was lots of information on the history of chocolate and we got taken on a tour round the factory ending in 1 tonne of chocolate falling before our eyes. It was a great afternoon out and we got given lots of free chocolate! From Dunedin we drove down the Caitlin Coast to Invercargill. It was a nice drive down the coast. We passed by Kaka Point and Stopped at Nugget Point for a walk. It was nice there. We could see all the seals playing in the water pools at the bottom of the cliffs. They were cute, wish we could have got closer. Invercargill itself was pretty dull. There wasn't anything to do. We left the next morning and drove up to Te Anau. It was very quiet there but from there we could do our trip to see the Glowworm caves. It was a very interesting trip. We had to hang around until the following afternoon to do it but it was worth it. The boat took us accross the lake. The scenery was astounding. The mountains looked incredible with lots of mist around them. It was kind of eery. The Aurora Caves were very well hidden and the entrance was really narrow. There were lots of waterfalls and water inside the caves gushing around so it was really noisy. We got in a little boat and went into the Glowworm cavern. It was pitch black apart from all the glowing worms. It was kind of surreal. There were loads of them and we got really close. Apparently the brighter they glow the hungrier they are. I'm glad we went there. After the trip we made the drive up to Queenstown. It was a very twisty drive and it probably wasn't the best idea to do it in the dark. Here we are now anyway. There are loads of other backpackers. Its the place where people come to do all the bungy jumps, sky dives etc. I think it will be fun here!