Bloody St Patricks day - we're not well! We parked up in Haven car park and were greeted by an angry resident shouting that it's not a free over nighter despite our camper app stating it clearly is - great start! We need to make tracks to Marlborough Sounds to see the French Pass so it's a quick subway, wash and off we head north, dying. It was a great night but we can't handle it - useless! The drive couldn't be worse and on a more stable day we'd probably hav...

We get up to a swarm of sand flies and decide to leave to find some semblance of normal bug free civility. Well we find a car park in central Nelson and are delighted to discover it has shower and laundry facilities - bonus! It's at Montgomery square carpark in the middle of the town - $2 a shower and $3 a laundry wash. Jacq goes in and finds a woman in charge supervising a group of girls washing their clothes.... She has a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp. Ja...

Frustratingly we have to head back to the rental company for a new tyre and to grab a portaloo which will make the trip easier as we've had some unbelievable public toilet experiences over here - don't ask! So they sort the tyre out and we make tracks for Dunedin stopping off on route. The sights are truly unbelievable as we drive south stopping for so many pics of the beautiful lakes, rolling hills and jagged mountain tops - it's genuinely like something out of...

We have booked a transfer with our camper company Lucky Rentals, here's hoping, for 10am. All packed and ready to go we wait outside until 10.25 then ring them - they've sent the driver to the wrong address and it's another 15 mins before he gets us, good start so far. We book in and discover we get a free satnav with our all inclusive insurance - be nice for a change! The camper is small and pretty grubby Jacq wipes up dirt and the bedding is pretty grotesque, ...

Jacq gets up to head to the post office and send on our boxes - Kathy drops her in then brings us both to the airport - off to NZ we go! Bye Porters! The flight is fine just 3.5 hours, we're wrecked and snooze most of it. When we arrive we check prices for a cab to our hotel it's $30, but the driver suggests we walk saying it's only 10 mins. One thing we've learnt is Aussie and now NZ versions of "round the corner" and "just a short walk" are nothing like that -...