Hello there again folks! Darren and Kerry here with another enthralling update for you all on what we've been up to for the past week:

Saturday 16th June

We were out drinking last night in Queenstown with Pete and Jill who we met on the campsite we were staying at. Went to Rattlesnake Bar first of all and played some pool but they were seriously over charging on the drinks so we headed over to a bar called the Pig In A Whistle and sat outside there by a roaring fire whilst nattering away. This morning Pete made us all a lovely fry-up which was much needed! After calling rob back at home we headed up the road to Deer Park Heights, a huge conical hill overlooking Lake Wakitupu and also the location of quite a few scenes from Lord Of the Rings inlcuding the scene where Aragorn gets dragged over the hill and also where Gimli gets thrown off his horse. The park also serves as a farm for goats, donkeys, miniature horses, llamas, alpacas and lots of deer, some with huge antlers! On the return we webnt to the supermarket to re-stock our rations and set up camp at a new site near the lake's shore.

Sunday 17th june

Today we set off early and had breakfast in Closeburn Bay on the way to Glenorchy. After breakfast we made another stop at a place called Twelve Mile Delta where more scenes for Lord Of the Rings were shot, the main scene being the one where Smeagol catches rabbits and the Hobbits argue about how best to cook them. We then completed our drive to Glenorchy, which was a stunning road that hugged the edge of the moutains with spectaular views across Lake Wakitupu to the snow capped mountains on the other side. We ended up driving up to the entrance of Mount Aspiring National Park and took some amazing photos there before heading back. The last part of the afternoon we started to head for Te Anau before making camp at a small place called Mossburn where we had the whole campsite to ourselves!

Monday 18th June

We left the campsite near Mossburn and drove to Te Anau. Along the way we took a detour to North Mavora Lakes where filming for Lord Of The Rings took place to portray the Fellowship landing at the banks of the River Anduin and making camp before being attacked by Orcs. From here we drove to Te Anau and had a brief look around before driving towards Manapouri and stopped at a suspension bridge that crossed a huge section of the river used as the River Anduin in the films. We then headed back on ourselves and took a detour to Takaro Road where a section of the forest was used to portray Aragorn rushing through Fangorn Forest. We stopped for the night at a place called Lumsden.

Tuesday 19th June

Spent all of today driving from Lumsden to Temuka, which took us through Gore and Dunedin, where we briefly stopped for a look around but it didn;t appear to be much more than a big university town. We saw the coast for the first time in ages and went for a walk on the beach to take a look at the Mouraki Boulders, which are huge spherical boulders on the beach.

Wednesday 20th June

Before leaving camp this morning our van was taken over by a particularly inquisitive and friendly cat, who stayed with us for a while as we ate breakfast and we let it have some cream we had from a bowl. As cats tend to do it then walked off once it had ben fed! We set off for Hanmer Springs, which feature some natural hot springs but didn't arrive there until 4:30p.m. so we checked in at the campsite Pete and Jill had recommended to us and found somewhere to rent DVD's so we cooked something to eat in the van and ended up watching The Pick of Destiny (totally hilarious film!) on our portable DVD player. We also decided that because the springs in this area were too commercial we would head in the morning to Mairau Springs as we had been told that they were much more natural and secluded.

Thursday 21st June

We set off from Hanmer Springs and took the winding mountainous road (none of the roads in New Zealand are straight) to Mairau Spings. It started raining an hour after we hit the road so by the time we got to the springs neither of us felt like stripping in the cold and heading in to water so we sat in the camper for a while hoping that the weather would clear up a bit. While we were waiting a couple knocked on the window and asked us if we would like their electric heater - YES! we would love that we bellowed back at them (a little to enthusiasticly). They wouldn't take any money for it as it was given to them for free and the idea was to pass it on to the next person once we had finshed with and write our names on the back and where were from. What a great idea! We finally decided to brave the weather afterwards and headed in to the hot springs and were so glad that we did as the water was SO hot and relaxing with all the mist around the moutains for a view. We ended up staying in the water until 6:30 p.m.! We then headed up the dodgy moutain pass and stayed in a rest area on the way to Kaikouri.

Friday 22nd June

Today we are in Kaikoura, a lovely little town which juts out of the East Coast with the stunning ocean on one side and then you turn around to see snow capped moutains on the other side! After updating you all we are going to drive to the other end of town where a colony of New Zealand Fur seals reside. Tomorrow we head back to Christchurch to give our little campervan back to trade it up for a big 6 berth one as Rob, Mum and my brother will be arriving the following day for us to take around and show them some of the sights. They're going to love it here! We proabably won't get a chance to update you all for a while so expect a huge update in around two weeks time with tales of bungy jumps, helicopter flights, walks on glaciers, volcano sight seeing and maybe some ATV quad bike driving! Take care people, and thanks for everyone who's left messages on the message board the last couple of weeks!