Hi everyone, hope you are all ok and happy. So we are in New Zealand now, flight over from Australia was good. We got here last Thursday evening, flew into Aukland quite tired from flight and stuff so got an early night in hostel ready to pick up our campervan the following morning. ROAD TRIP - yay!!! We got up early to check out and got a taxi over to the Wicked Camper depo to pick up our van. Our van is lovely, we love him lots! bit of a bonus as it is going to be our home for the next 3 weeks! Mel has got photos of him on her website, he is called Peanut and has got snoopy all over him! It is an automic which is so easy to drive and has got power steering - not used to such luxury!! We didnt waste any time filled up with petrol and headed off! New Zealnd is so nice to drive around because the scenery is so beautiful. Our 1st stop was Rotorura, bout 3.5 hours away from Aukland. There are natural thermal pools and mud pools here. We checked into a really nice campsite which had its on thermal pool which we took full advantage of! It is so weird because around the whole area there is steam coming up from the ground which is being produced under ground, although it is a bit smelly but you soon get used to it. The town was really busy becaue the World Mountain Bike Championships were being held there which was cool, saw the track and stuff but didnt get to see any events. Next day we set off again heading towards Lake Taupo. 1st thing to do on our list on the the trip though was zorbing - so much fun! I've got the photos on my website. You get into a big plastic ball which has warm water in it and roll down a steep hill! Such a giggle! After we dried off from our zorbing we stopped off to look at some mud pools which were pretty cool, if you've ever seen the film Laberynth you'll know what I mean, it reminded me of the Bog of Eternal Stench! It is so weird that all this stuff is going on just under where we was standing! We did want to see a geizer, which is where the steam from the ground bursts out really high but we had missed it for the day as it only does it once! We got to Lake Taupo in good time, the weather was s*** though rainy and cold so we didnt stop off just headed a bit further south to Lake Tongario as this is a really good place to do White Water Rafting. We booked into another campsite and booked up white water rafting for the next day. So pleased when we got up cause the weather had cleared up and the sun was out - perfect for getting wet! The white water rafting was so much fun, loved it! We did grade 3 which is for beginners and now we both want to do a higher grade where there are more intense rapids and it is harder to row through and stuff. It was so good, didnt manage to get any photos though cause it was a bit wet for that! Neither of us fell out but did get very wet, the water was so cold but we had wetsuits and stuff on so didnt get too cold. After rafting we set off for Wellington which is the capital of New Zealand to get the boat across to the South Island. Wellington is a really nice city, we only stayed the one night as we wanted to get to the South Island but will stay for longer probably on our way back up. Peanuts speakers blew on the 1st bloody day of getting him so we had travelled the 3 days with music from Mel's ipod and our tiny speakers so in Wellington we bought some new speakers and fitted them. So we've had music since then and have been singing our hearts out the whole time we are on the road! We got to the South Island couple of days ago, our 1st destination was Christchurch so see Mels long lost rellies. We got off the boat bout 5pm and it would take bout 4 hours to get there. The drive was, well all the driving we've done, is amazing with the views of snow topped mountains, hills and all the sheep! You are literally driving through the mountains it is really cool. It got to about 8.30pm and we was running really low on petrol, planned to get some at the next town we came across but it was shut! So we set up camp in a carpark for the night and filled up in the morning. The thing is when you are driving you can go for hours without seeing another car and hours before you reach onther town and even then if you blink you could miss the town as they are so small! Its all good though, we really are enjoying it. We got to Christchurch in the morning as we set off early and spent the morning mooching around the city, again a really nice place. We still cannot believe the weather though, it is like spring/autumn at home. We thought we would be freezing, especially in the South Island because couple of weeks ago it was -3 here and there was snow everywhere! Not complaning though as it still is a bit of a shock as we came from hot and sunny Cairns! In the afternoon we drove to New Brighton and had fish and chips by the beach and took a walk along the pier. Here you can see the whole Canterbury area which was cool. There are so many places here that have the same name as places in England like Brighton, they have Bromley, Hastings, Eastbourne, Canterbury, there are loads!! In the afternoon we went round to Mel's rellies house. Ian and Chrissie, both really lovely and friendly. It was nice to be a cosey house and we had dinner cooked for us which was so nice. We only planned to stop the 1 night and then come back on our way back up so Mel can meet the rest of her family which willl be really good. Next day we set off for Queenstown took us bout 6.5 hours. Sharing the driving makes is seem such a less distance though so it doesnt feel we have travelled as far as we actually have! Got to Queenstown yesterday, it is a ski town, really nice views. Tommorrow we are going to do the worlds highest Canyon Swing - going to be so much fun! We did plan to snowboard here but it doesnt look like we are going to be able to because the weather has been so bloody nice there isnt enough snow! Can you believe it - and we dont want to do it on fake snow, defeats the whole point really. Not too worried though as we still have Mount Josef to see and climb! Think that is about it up till now, we are both good and loving our road trip! Such a totally different experience to Australia and loving it! Having a camper is so good because you can just stop off on the way to places whenever you want and leave when you want. Will let you know how we got on with the canyon swing, Im sure we'll get some cool photos for you! Lots of love as always, Big Hugs Gem xxx