Nicola and I were on the move out of Queenstown on Sunday.. we were hiring a camper van for the next 3 days to go on our own mini adventure. I've never used a camper van before so I was looking forward to the new experience and having the freedom of going wherever we wanted.

We said our goodbyes to Tom when he dropped us off at the rental company. He's a class northern lad and I had a fun time staying with him and Lexi.. it was really kind of them to invite me to stay at their apartment throughout my time in Queenstown, of which I was really appreciative.

So this camper van.. we bagged ourselves another absolute steal. It was a relocation deal where they advertise the location of a van and the place they need it shifting to, in this case, Christchurch.. exactly where we were heading. Instead of paying the wage of one of their employees to collect the vehicle, it's cheaper for them to hire it out at a cut price to anyone heading in the right direction. They gave us 3 days to deliver it to Christchurch with an allowance of 750km at a cost of just $5 per day.. that's under £3! Bargain!

It wasn't anything shabby either, it was a state of the art home on wheels complete with kitchen which included a microwave, a decent sized living space, 2 double beds, GPS, rear-view camera that appears from nowhere in the mirror while reversing.. it even had a toilet which I only discovered on the final day. Happy days.. let's get this show on the road.

I wasn't particularly assed about where we headed but one thing Nic insisted on was to do Roy's Peak in nearby Wanaka.. more trekking!! It was a very cloudy day so I was hoping it would stick around long enough to put her off doing it.. pointless trekking for hours if you can't see anything at the summit. And fortunately enough for me, every single peak was hidden away in the clouds by the time we'd arrived at the trail. Phew! :)

To be fair, having seen the pictures of what you're able to see at the summit it would have been amazing, but never mind, Mother Nature can be a cruel beast at times!

While reassessing the situation we took a stroll down to the huge Lake Wanaka, which is home to the famous "lone tree of Lake Wanaka". Framed by the stunning Southern Alps, a solitary willow tree has grown up and spread its wings just off shore at the south end of the lake. It makes for quite a picture climbing out the lake against a backdrop of snow-capped mountains.

We continued our drive, and through some pretty bleak places too. Mountains seem to be an almost permanent fixture wherever you drive in the South Island, in certain places they were accompanied by the sort of harsh winter landscapes that you'd expect to see on The Moors or in Scotland.

Every now and again we'd pass through the smallest of communities out in the middle of the wilderness which continually left me bemused at how people can actually live in remote environments such as this.

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise that we didn't make the trek, which would have taken 3 hours or more to complete. We were still driving around as it began to go dark and hadn't found a place to park up. It wasn't for trying though.. we were looking for a freedom campsite which is basically somewhere you can just pull up for the night at no cost without a local ranger telling you to move on. There's no amenities in these sort of places though.. only a hole in the ground for a toilet!

The advice of a friendly Kiwi at a holiday park directed us to the nearest freedom camp which turned out to be the exact sort of location we were looking for.. a quiet spot by the humongous Lake Pukaki backdropped by a sweeping mountain range of near perfect symmetry. Low lying cloud overhead and daylight quickly disappearing made for a moody setting across the transparent ice-cold lake. It was as if someone had muted the scene, the silence was deafening. No vehicle pollution or wind in the air, everything was still, the sound of my own breath the only disturbance.

So now what? Ha. Other than cook up a storm out of a can of ravioli, it was relax and day over. However, attempting to make up a bed in the smallest of roof spaces in the van was of great entertainment to Nic as I repeatedly got stuck while banging my head. It brought a whole new meaning to the word cramped!

Waking up the following morning after an uncomfortable sleep to the sight of my own breath and a roof inches from my face was not great for someone who is slightly claustrophobic. Is this what it feels like to be dead? I may aswell have been led in coffin! How do people do this?!

A quick brew early doors and we were off. Next on the list was the National Park of Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain. Nic had yet another trek that she wanted to do, so off we went.. again! Thankfully it wasn't too long in duration, and not at all strenuous since we were walking along the Hooker Valley floor which is carved between a whole host of snow-capped mountains alongside a fast flowing river, eventually leading us to Hooker Glacier Lake.

Fortunately for us, the weather had cleared somewhat throughout our route which made some of the mountain peaks visible. I haven't got a clue if I saw Mount Cook or not, there was plenty of that sort knocking around so it could have been any one of them.. they did look mightly impressive gleaming in the morning sun.

However, Hooker Glacier Lake stole the show. An average sized lake, penned in by glacial mountains which slope into waters brimming with clusters of spectacular looking icebergs, sparkling on the surface like diamonds.

We had to get some more miles under our belts and head east toward Christchurch so that we didn't leave ourselves too long a drive the following morning before dropping the van off.

We reached the east coast town of Timaru, a few hours south of Christchurch, where I was relieved to see signs of human activity again. Timaru is also home to one of New Zealand's top 10 beaches.. the only thing I can say is the others can't be up to much. We stayed the night at a nearby holiday park so we could recharge the van and treat ourselves to a nice hot shower.

A 2-hour drive the next morning took us to Christchurch Airport where we dropped off the camper van and made our way into the city by bus.

I was supposed to be flying out from here to Australia on the 1st of September, however I'd brought my flight forward to the 27th of August. I'd seen enough scenery in the past ten days to last me a lifetime, yet I still had 5 days remaining on the South Island.

Nic and I checked into a hostel, then decided to check out the city. It quickly became apparent that there was absolutely nothing going on.. we were back at the hostel within a few hours.

The city centre is still suffering the repercussions from the devastating earthquake in 2011 and remains largely under construction. Building sites are scattered all over the city and shipping containers are used as makeshift shops.

The other noticeable thing is how disturbingly quiet it is. It's rather eerie walking around at night.. for a place that has "city status" it's very strange to see. Rumour has it that many fled the area following its most recent earthquake.

It's such an odd place because it has potential to be quite beautiful. Lush greenery and rivers already run through the city centre, yet for the moment the ongoing construction completely negates it and is a constant reminder of what happened here.

It's strange though as I found the city to be extremely peaceful and the perfect place to do nothing for a few days having been constantly on the move. There's some irony in finding peace in a city that was once aggressively devastated. Three days of glorious sunshine and the beautiful botanic gardens were a great escape for me.

Nicola and I parted company on Wednesday as she left for her flight back to Auckland. I had a great time with her, and together we saw some very memorable things. And I also can't thank her enough for the hospitality she showed me in Auckland. Very nice touch and much appreciated!

I also knew I was leaving at the right time when I overheard a guy speaking to a girl in the hostel kitchen, telling her how he wants to head into the wilderness by himself and explore the forest so he can make a den, be at one with nature, and read a book for a few days. What a tosser! Do me a favour pal. These are the kind of annoying idiots who fuel the stereotype both you and I have of a backpacker. He looked exactly how you'd imagine him to aswell.. now go and take a wash and have a word with yourself young man!

I left Christchurch on Friday 25th to head south along the east coast to Dunedin. I had no previous interest in visiting the city known for its universities, however, there was a big rugby match taking place on Saturday between the famous New Zealand All Blacks and the Australian Wallabies. I still had 2 days to kill before I left the country so it tied in perfectly. I'm by no means a big rugby fan, but I do love attending big sporting events.

I'd bought my match ticket a week earlier yet I hadn't booked any accommodation. It was naive of me to think there would be plenty of options available in a small city with only a few days before the day of the match. In fact, I was left with only two options.. an expensive, overpriced hotel in the centre of town, or the much cheaper Airbnb option.. a sofa bed in someone's living room slightly out of town in a place called St Clair. This someone was a 71 year-old fella named Nigel who lived with his mate Ken, who was in his 60's! So I chose the budget option :) Waaaaaaaaaa what am I doing?!

I kept thinking, "this is going to be so weird!" And you know what, it really was. HOWEVER, I'm not joking.. this turned out to be one of the best decisions I've made. What a nice, interesting, kind and generous man Nigel was. His dog, Ike, was a bit of a menace though constantly trying to lick the skin off my face. And Ken was just off his nut as a humorous reformed alcoholic!

Nigel was there waiting for me at the bus station when I arrived on Friday and proceeded to take me on a tour of the tiny city's hotspots so I could get my bearings. As I said earlier, I had no previous interest in seeing Dunedin.. after listening to Nigel passionately speaking about his hometown it felt like the whole trip may be a worthwhile jaunt. To be honest, Dunedin is still nothing to write home about but I admired his enthusiasm.

Later that evening Nigel, Ken, Jamie (another short-term resident), and I, sat around the dining room table together eating fish and chips, as well as some cake and ice cream for dessert.. a treat from Nigel. Amazing!

We were essentially eating tea in my bedroom so I had to wait patiently for them to clear off. This is where the flash hotel probably edges the Airbnb option. My room, aka the living room.. looking tired with dated decor like your grans, and a cluttered mess that you'd probably expect to see on those "hoarders" programs.. BUT, beggars can't be choosers and I was so overwhelmed by Nigel's kindness and hospitality that I was happy to stay there. It may have smelt of damp, and dog, but I still had a great nights sleep.

It was the day of the rugby match, and true to form Nigel kindly offered me a lift into the centre of town. Before he dropped me off I decided to show my gratitude by helping him set up a gathering for his volunteer group he had arranged later that evening at the local church. He runs, and is extremely passionate about an interesting initiative called "Timebank" where hours are the currency, not money. With time banking, a person with one skill set can bank and trade hours of work for equal hours of work from another person within another skill set instead of paying or being paid for services. The aim being to build new relationships and bringing communities closer together.

He dropped me off in the centre of town a good few hours before the game kicked off. I attempted to kill some time by checking out a museum he'd recommended.. I didn't last long in there though! So I ended up killing time with a pre-match jug of beer in a busy boozer instead.

The game was being held at the modern, indoor Forsyth Barr Stadium which was pretty cool despite its modest capacity. I don't think I could have chosen a better match to attend for my first game of watching live international rugby. It was packed with plenty of action, incident, and controversy.

The Aussies took a surprising early 17-0 lead, and should have been further ahead had it not been for two missed conversions, however, the All Blacks fought back. After an end-to-end action-packed second half New Zealand snatched a late victory at the death to beat their old enemy by 35-29.

I enjoyed the game, it was definitely worthwhile making the effort to travel down from Christchurch. In my opinion it will never be a patch on going to a football match. It was all a bit too nice and civilised for my liking, from the walk up to the ground, and throughout the whole game. I thought there'd be plenty of animosity floating around both on and off the field, especially as two major rivals were involved, yet there was nothing. Some unsettling tension in the air to give the atmosphere more of an edge would have made it far more captivating for me.. but this is rugby after all. Although, the atmosphere did ramp up a notch in the second half when the scores were tight. Nevertheless, it was a great sporting event to attend while having the opportunity to see the famous All Blacks play.

Nigel being the legend that he is, kindly set his alarm this morning to drop me off for my 7.45am bus back to Christchurch. He may be a legend but his driving is something to be desired.. absolutely terrible! With only 20-minutes until my bus departed he randomly insisted on giving Ike a quick run out as well as showing me the steepest residential street in the world (Baldwin Street) according to the Guiness Book of Records.

After some reckless speeding and wrong turns we arrived just in the nick of time for me to catch my bus! I thanked him wholeheartedly for being such a great host and wished him farewell. What a great character!

I now wait in the departure lounge at Christchurch Airport reflecting on my time in New Zealand and being grateful to those who have been incredibly kind to me by taking me in and putting a roof over my head.

On the whole, I found New Zealand to be a generally quiet and easy-going country, particularly in the South Island where countryside and mountains dominate the landscape and people are a minority. But I was also surprised to see how sleepy the two major cities in the North Island are.

What is interesting is the contrast in culture between the two islands. The South Island is seemingly way behind the times, however I think they know this and prefer it that way. Someone I spoke to from the south said, "the difference between us and them is those in the north live to work, and we work to live."

I've enjoyed my time on both islands for different reasons. I've been underwhelmed at times, yet I've also had some amazing highlights. In particular, some of the incredible scenery I've witnessed, catching up with Nicola, and getting the opportunity to meet some of Ria's family and spend some quality time with them.

I'm all sceneried out now.. not a legitimate word, but you know what I mean, and I've been craving city life for a while, so where better to go than one of my favourite cities in the world.. Melbourne, Australia!

Cyaaaaa xx