Hello part time lovers,

Hope everything at home is good, I hear the weather is getting better at home so that's a bonus. We left sadly left Australia on the 1st of May, 6 weeks earlier than originally planned, mainly because we had seen most things we wanted and money is getting tighter. We flew in the morning from Melbourne to Christchurch NZ. We arrived in Christchurch around 4pm and by the time we picked up Kevin, (the name of our latest Wicked camper) by the time we got our bearings and sorted out it was time for an early night.

On Friday 2nd May we went to the swimming for our daily wash and exercise, then headed up the Gondola to Mt Cavendish. It was spectacular from the top of the mountain. It gave us a clear view of Lytellton harbour and the other side gave us a clear view of Christchurch and the ocean. When we got up the top of the mountain it was beautiful and sunny but when we were on our way down it started to snow, crazy weather, just like back home. After the Gondola we drove into Lytelton, a pretty little town and had a cup of tea. Beautiful!!!
On Saturday morning we were back at the swimming, not to swim just for a shower, its cheaper than a camp site, thinking....Dancing. After our shower we set off to Queenstown. The scenery for about 45 Mins was unreal, huge mountains and pristine lakes. WOW WOW WOW.
We drove as far as Lake Tekapo and made that out base for the night. Its just a very small town but with its magnificent setting, its mind blowing. We had a walk round then cooked up a feast on the stove before retiring to bed for the night as we wanted to be up early to see the sun rise over the mountains.

On Sunday morning (4th May) we were up at 6am and headed to the Lake for Brekkie and a few snap shots. We saw a beautiful sunrise and there was no one there except us! That's what we like about having Kevin, we pick were we have breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can't buy these momnets!
So we drove the camper right down to the waters edge cooked up breakfast and chilled out watching the sun come up. Amazing. After a few hours there we went to the thermal pools. These pools are cut into the mountain overlooking the lake. The pools are outside and heated from 36 degrees to 41 degrees. It was awesome sitting outside when it was freezing. We sat in there for a few hours then hit the road, towards Queenstown, the drive from Tekapo to Queenstown was amazing some of the best scenery we have ever seen. Again WOW WOW WOW.... After a few stops to look at the scenery we arrived in Queenstown, the Adrenaline Junkies heaven its famous for its Sky Diving, Bungy jumps and loads of other crazy antics. As there was no swimming pool here we had to book into a hostel to use there facilities but still sleep in the van. We hit the pub the first night and got on the red wine. The pub was called the Pig and Whistle, great place to booze!

When we woke up on Monday 5th of May we went into the town and booked in to do a Sky Dive. It was 11.15am and then next bus leaving to go to the airfield was 11.30am so without any time to think we booked it and hopped on the bus to the airfield which was a 20 minute drive from the town. We sat around for a few hours then our names were called. We got kitted up, did some safety briefing, then we were introduced to our tandem partner. Mines was James and Jamie's was Valk.
Before we knew it we Jumped on the plane, it was about a 15 minute plan ride to reach a crazy altitude of 15,000ft. The plane journey was amazing and again the scenery was unreal, it was such a clear day you could see New Zealands highest mountain "Mt Cook" 300k's away and the Remarkables were looking Remarkable with a little dusting of snow. When the plane reached 15,000ft it felt like the engine stopped and my stomach sank, the feeling you get when on a roller coaster. We shuffled to the front of the plan, my cameraman went first, he clung onto the side of the plane to get a shot of my exit. It was an amazing feeling. We freefell for 60seconds at a speeds of over 100kmps. We free fell 10,000ft then the last 5,000 was spent soaring down on the parachute, unless you have done one its hard to explain the feeling. Its well worth doing. After the jump we had a bite to eat, steak and chips for $8 quality. (CHECK OUT YOU TUBE TO SEE US SKY DIVE) We were buzzing for the rest of the day and night....We have overused this word since we came to NZ but once again it was AMAZING!!!
If any of you are ever contemplating a SKYDIVE....JUST DO IT!!

On Tuesday 6th May we contemplated the Bungy but never had the balls so spent the day wandering around Queenstown which is beautiful town, its set on the side of a lake with the Remarkables (a mountain range) surrounding them. On Wednesday we had breakfast then hit the road again we made the short drive to Arrowtown, which is a nice little place with amazing Autumn colours. Jamie was in her eliment, she kept saying "oh I love this so much, I missed Autumn last year, this is so beautiful....it feels like home" She must have repeated this about 10 times.....BORED!
After a toastie and a walk it was back in the van. Just outside Arrowtown we spotted a hitch hiker so stopped and picked her up. She had just been travelling for 3 months in South America so it was good to get some information. The drive to Wanaka was a few hours and again the scenery was quality. Wanaka is another town set on a lake with mountains around it....very beautiful place. We cooked up a stonker of a meal then hit the hay. We slept near the lake and got speaking to a few people who were staying in their vans' next to us, there was a few signs saying no camping etc but we figured that cause we were in a van we would be ok, so it was off ot bed we went.
However at 6am we awoke to someone chapping on Kevin, it took us a while to come to but when we did we realised it was the carpark police...."your not allowed here, please move your veichale"....WHAT we were sleeping, anyway poor Jamie had to get up and drive in her skants, thankfully she found us a nice wee spot so we got a couple more hourse ZZzzzz time!

Wednesday the 7th of May it was time to get bcak on the road, Franz Josef was calling our names....
Cheerio for now Ladies and Gentlemen,
Marc and Jamie xxx