Day 12 - Another fine mess..... By now ones sense of humour was being bypassed due to the van problems and a good nights sleep had not lessened the frustration we were both feeling. We know that the issues we are facing are very minor in comparison but they still irk one somewhat. Seeing as the van was as powerful as the luge cars we had been in a few days previously we went to the garage in the vain hope of them being open a Saturday; Dave our man was in althoug...

Days 9 & 10 - The buzz and beauty that is Queenstown!! Unfortunately I awoke to yet another sleepless night and feeling awful we decided that a 10 hour hike would probably not be the best thing for me, so we headed for Queenstown instead! After eating more porridge overlooking the 'wilderness conservation area' we headed through more remote farmland and impressive snow mountain scenery towards Queenstown. The view we met as we turned the corner to see Lake Wa...

Day 7 & 8 - The dramatic fiord lands of the Milford Sound and boat race with Dolphins! We awoke to not a lot in sight except cloud and wondered if the 'Mountain Views' proclaimed by ours and every other accommodation was indeed a joke, not a mountain was in sight! After fun and games with an oil and water leak, we headed on our way on the Milford Road and what lay ahead of us was all in all a spectacular day! On leaving Te Anau and resigning ourselves to the ...

Day 5 - A Day of Contrasts - Alpine Village to Penguins to Beaches Early morning saw a slightly grumpy Nicola and a refreshed Adam awake to glorious mountains and a vast lake stretching out in front of them. Prior to us falling asleep Nicola was fretting - talking of youths pushing the van into the lake; possums attacking us on mass forcing us to hand over her chocolate bars. All this anxiety had led to two things Adam sleeping soundly and Nicola not. Miss Grumpy...

Days 3 - Journey to NZ's highest mountain- Mount Cook National Park! Awaking to the cold, we heard the unfamiliar sound of RAIN on the van; the weather unfortunately had turned just a day after we had arrived...b*****! We did awake though to gorgeous autumnal colours in our field accompanied by low cloud on the rolling hills around. Heading out we really did think our camper had been airlifted back to England in the night! Passing the usual sheep/cows staring at ...