Kia Ora from the land of the Kiwi! I have surprisingly embraced the whole hippy campervan experience! Turns out campsites aren't so bad; it's quite exciting not knowing where you'll be staying next and what adventures you'll be having at each place you end up at. The only downfall is that we soon realised after arriving in New Zealand that we weren't really going to get to see absolutely everything we were hoping to on both islands - there's just too much to do in only 2 weeks and we didn't want to spend our entire trip in the car driving for hours on end from place to place. Having said that we have still managed to see and do a LOT!

After a lovely, leisurely flight from Melbourne where we were fed, had a little drink and watched 'Megamind', before landing in Auckland. We spent the night in a hostel which wasn't fab but just needed somewhere central to get our heads down especially as I wasn't feeling well my cough had kicked in at full force by this point. Next morning we couldn't collect the van until 11am so we went and had a nice healthy breakfast then made our way to 'Escape Rentals' to pick up our fabulous 'Geisha' themed campervan. We had a choice out of this and one with girls/rabbits which was potentially Alice in Wonderland but it was a bit rubbish and we wanted the 'Asia' related one to reminisce on the first part of our trip! So I was up as first driver and began driving the beast out of Auckland heading down South. We stopped at a massive industrial shopping complex to get our essentials for the trip, and we were planning on potentially buying a sat nav to avoid arguments and generally make life easier, however we couldn't find one for a decent price and actually we are glad we didn't waste our money as driving in New Zealand is so easy - there is pretty much one main highway that goes all the way down through both Islands! Anyway after all the faffing about with shopping we didn't get on the road til about 4pm and I had quite an epic first drive as we had a lot of distance to cover due to our ferry booking being only 2 days after we got the van. The drive was long but so beautiful, made such a nice change to see so much countryside - stunning mountains, lakes, little townships and general rural surroundings! Our first destination was Lake Taupo, and being new to the whole camping thing we decided to try finding one of the free 'conservation' campsites that we found in one of the brochures given to us by Escape. We came across our first issue trying to find the road on which the campsite was located…which was in the back end of nowhere. As it progressively started getting dark we found ourselves driving for ages down this rather scary horror story woodland where the campsite was apparently located. It turned out that the 'campsites' were actually just little clearings off the road within this desolate forest. So after deciding that there was not a chance in hell we were going to survive the night here we decided to turn around and find the pricey but nice looking holiday park in the other brochure! The issue was finding somewhere to turn around and we were dying for the toilet. So I had to squeeze the van into this little side pocket off the dirt track, and when we got back into the van the wheels started spinning in the mud. Oh my God. Terrified. What do we do? Luckily it wasn't actually too bad and the van did heave itself out, we were just panicking, tired and hungry! So basically we didn't find a campsite until about 10pm. Fortunately there was still a man in reception who let us in thank God. Finally ate some dinner at 11pm (in the pretty lush kitchen/lounge area) and went to bed (knackered) not long after.

We were quite impressed with our van - it had a little seating area in the back where you can put up a table, storage under the seats for our stuff, shelves with all the cooking equipment we needed, a little gas cooker, heater, lamp, sink, deck chairs and a cool box (no fridge which was a little annoying). To sleep the seating area can be pulled out and the cushions spread across and we had a whole double duvet each - which was great - no cover sharing fights! The next morning we were up and out pretty early, did a little sightseeing- Huka Falls, a Bee farm, drove around Lake Taupo which was beautiful, stopped off in Tongariro National Park by a lake and cooked ourselves a nice little mushroom risotto which we enjoyed on our deck chairs in the sun overlooking the lake - lubly jubly! Now it was Bens turn for the next long drive down to Waitarere Beach which was about 3.5 hours away but it was quite an enjoyable ride as was sunny and we could appreciate the pretty scenery around us. We discovered in Taupo the brilliant places that are 'ISITE's' where there are lovely helpful people who help you book your next campsite, give you directions to avoid ridiculous scary forest roads and they even advise you about where to spend your time in the area. On the way to our next campsite we stopped to buy some meat and booze, the sun was still out (though was a little windy), so after setting up camp we took a glass (plastic cup) of wine to the beach which was a bit of an eyesore as was full of washed up driftwood, but chilled there before heading back to rustle up our dinner.

We were up, fed and ready in a record 45minutes by 8am the next morning as had to get on the road and down to Wellington in time for our ferry to the South Island. Fortunately it did not take as long as we had feared and we arrived with time to spare so we parked up, visited an ISITE to book our next campsite then went and used Macdonald's free internet before driving to the port and boarding the ferry. It wasn't actually a very big (or particularly nice) ferry and it was a 3.5 hour crossing. So we got a crappy Panini then battled for a couple of seats. Arrived in Picton at 4.30pm and hit the road straight away, making our way down to Kaikoura. Unfortunately we were greeted by the South Island with a delightful windy, rainy evening. We arrived at our campsite around 6.30pm and it was cold, wet and miserable. So we decided to head into the town for dinner somewhere warm and dry so we had some tasty mussels in a little pub and made the most of the dry before going back to the campsite to set up before it got dark. We cracked open a bottle of red and had a cosy evening watching 'From Paris with Love' in the van!

The next morning the sun was out yay! Turned out our campsite wasn't half bad in the sun - right on the beach which was kind of pretty but again lots of driftwood. We made our way back to Kaikoura Town, and booked our next campsite at the ISITE for Christchurch. We also made the decision to book Rangitata Whitewater Rafting, as we had wanted to do it from the beginning and we had read everywhere that this was the best one to do. We then drove up to the end of town and did an hour and half cliff walk overlooking the town and out to sea which was very pretty though we were a bit gutted that we didn't get to see any Seals or Whales which the area is famous for. We then parked up a little further down and cooked a bit of lunch. I set off driving after, heading for Christchurch. It was a little cloudy at first but actually turned out to be a pretty hot and sunny evening. It was about a 3.5 hour drive again. Our campsite which we were staying at for the next two days was really cute and the owner was very sweet and helpful. We spent the evening at the campsite doing laundry and cooked up a tasty BBQ with a few glasses of wine and then packed up our things for our rafting adventure the next day as we had to be out early the next morning.

We had to leave our campsite at 7.30am to get to our pickup point for 8.30am, where we boarded the coach and had a 2 hour drive to the Rangitata River. They gave us lunch which was pretty early but we needed the fuel for the rest of the day ahead. We then got suited and booted in our wetsuits, boots, tops, wind jackets, helmets and life jackets and jumped in the vans 10 minutes up the road to the river. We got put into groups of 7, and then got aboard our rafts with an instructor making 8 of us, there were about 8 other groups too. For the first half hour as we floated down the calm part of the river the instructor briefed us on what to do, how to paddle, what sort of things we would be facing, and basically put the fear of God in us about capsizing on the grade 5 rapids that were ahead! We had 2 other English girls, a Swiss girl and 2 girls from Israel who were apparently commanders in the Army - so we were expecting great things of them, but they turned out to be rather un-coordinated and just plain lazy at times! Anyway when the rapids began we started facing some grades 1,2 and 3s which were fun, the grade 3 being quite bumpy…so what was the grade 5 like? Well before we attacked it we pulled up and climbed up this rocky cliff to have a look at what a grade 5 rapid looked like. It was scary. We were offered the option of pulling out, which of course no-one did. Then we got back aboard to face the wrath of the river! It was so much fun and we didn't capsize J !! There were a few more grades 1,2 and 3s before our next and most intense grade 5 rapid which was 3 times as long as the first one. We were overloaded with information about what obstacles we were about to face, told to paddle hard and fast unless told to stop, and told AGAIN what to do if we flip the boat - don't swim, lie on your back with your legs up, try to grab hold of the rope on the side of the boat, and keep breathing, if you do go under you WILL re-surface as the life jackets are incredibly buoyant, if you can't grab hold of your boat - grab someone else's, if you see someone swimming past your boat - help them out, and basically don't panic! So bearing all that in mind we set off down the most intense rapid any of us had ever been on and it was awesome! We actually managed to survive the trickiest part where if you got stuck there you would undoubtedly flip, and we managed to avoid the part where the rocks would rip off the bottom of the boat, and we almost made it to the end with all 8 aboard, but we got caught in an 'unfortunate' current and in slow motion the raft was tipping us out and we were all in the freezing water. I managed to keep hold of the rope on the side of our boat after I had surfaced and once I knew I was OK the laughing began, our instructor climbed on top of our upturned boat. I heard him count everyone - all 7 of us were there, then we hit some rocks, the Israeli girls are screaming and one of them seems to be having some sort of panic attack, "we have two swimmers" - I see Ben floating by, then the river calms down a bit, Jason (our instructor) flips the boat back over and hauls me in - I am the only one still holding the boat and I am still laughing my head off - it was just hilarious and SO much fun! I see Ben and the Swiss girl who have been pulled on to someone else's boat, the other girls had washed up on the Rocks and were brought back to us on other people's boats too. One of the other English girls was crying with laughter like myslef, the others looked a bit shaken up but everyone was safe and in one piece. Jen and I were still laughing for another half an hour down the river! Further down we all stopped off and got to jump off some fairly high cliffs into the cold river. We all had to do the smaller one first, and then if we were feeling brave we could attempt the bigger one. Surprisingly it was Ben who was up for jumping off the bigger one so we climbed back up and threw ourselves off the highest ledge! There were a few more smaller grade rapids after that until we reached the end, after an amazing two and a half our session on the Rangitata River! When we got back to the lodge we peeled off our soggy outfits and had a nice hot shower, then sat out in the sun and they provided us a little BBQ, we got to see a slideshow of the photos from the day (which of course we had to buy after such an epic trip) and then we had to get a coach back to Christchurch. Was one of my favourite days of the trip so far!

The next day we decided that we should see some of Christchurch before we had to move on to our next destination, and we wanted to see some of the destruction from the recent earthquake. So we drove in to the City centre, saw the famous cathedral and some of the city centre and then hit the road again. We were heading from East to West Coast so we drove through Arthur's Pass which was quite scenic but also very mountainous, windy roads. We wanted to do the 'Devil's Punchbowl' hike up to the waterfall which was halfway through Arthur's Pass, unfortunately when we arrived it started to rain, but we decided we had to do it as we were there, so we put on our coats and missioned it up the hill. It was pretty darn steep and had about a thousand stairs to climb so we were a little short of breath by the time we reached the top but was good exercise (as I kept reminding Ben!). We stopped for coffee after and realised that I had misjudged our ferry booking dates and we therefore had an extra day on the South Island . We had wanted to do the Franz Josef Glacier climb but didn't think we would have time for it but with an extra day we now could - however it would have to be the next day. So we had a little trouble trying to call around to book the climb, but we were eventually successful and booked it for the next afternoon. After the hike we carried on driving and arrived in Hokitika in the early evening, weather still not great so had a quiet one with some food and wine and watched a film in the communal TV area.

Sunday 16th Jan, Franz Josef glacier hike day. We had a couple of hours drive to get to the glacier so we left at 9.30am, and it was pouring with rain. We were really hoping that by the time we reached the glacier it would have cleared up or maybe that it would be clearer up the mountain - no such luck. We were worried it wouldn't be on, but it turned out that they very often get rain, it's actually a nice surprise when it's a clear day up there! Our tour began at 12.30pm and we were equipped with waterproof jackets, socks, boots, jackets, hat, gloves and crampons. Boarded the bus which took us up another 10minutes then had to walk for about 15 minutes where we got the first glimpse of the glacier. It was so wet and drizzly though it was not very clear at all which was such a shame. We had a little talk about what we would be facing and that there would be 5 groups according to hiking ability - fit and fast people in group 1, group 2 slightly behind them and group 5 was for people with any health conditions/old/unfit people and we got to decide what group we wanted to be in. Naturally there wasn't a chance I wasn't going to be in group 1 so I marched us straight over to the main guy and shortly after we all set off (at quite a pace he really wasn't joking!!). After a 15 minute fast walk and before we began climbing the terminal face we had the chance to adjust our clothes and we all took off a layer of clothing as we were pretty hot after the speed of the walk and we had a steep climb next. After getting up the terminal face we reached the ice, so attached our crampons and started our glacier ascent. As much as it was a shame that the rain was cold and went in your eyes and obscured your view, it was still pretty stunning and the ice was so blue. Sometimes it got really steep, sometimes we had to use ropes to haul ourselves up, sometimes it was really claustrophobic in the crevices, sometimes it was really cold waiting for the guide to pick his was into our paths to make sure they were secure, but it was a great experience and we were really glad we got to do it and by the end of the hike the weather had started to clear up a little so we got a better view of the glacier. Our passes also gave us free access to the Glacier Hot Pools, which was perfect as we were damp and cold (we were glad to have our van with us as had all of our stuff including swim suits). There were 3 quite large pools at different temperatures, pretty busy but still a chilled, relaxing atmosphere which was great. By the time we left the pools we realised that we would be home pretty late for dinner as had the drive again so decided to eat in Franz Josef before heading back. We decided we would indulge on a proper meal which we were highly disappointed with, so we also got dessert - but we had been very healthy and active so far so we allowed ourselves a night off! It was still raining so the drive home wasn't nice for Ben.

Next morning we had our first lie-in in a long time then went to visit the Kiwi centre in Hokitika town as we were still yet to see the country's most famous animal! It was a bit of a weird 'centre' with shabby fish tanks and these gruesome giant eels that we got to (reluctantly on my part) feed - they were vile. The Kiwi's were in a very dimly lit room so we could barely see them but we did get a glimpse so were semi-satisfied. We had a mooch around the town at the famous 'Jade shops' (Hokitika is famous for its Jade jewellery) and then got back on the road for another long drive to Hanmer Springs. Arrived about 4pm, it was nice and sunny again, quite a cute looking campsite from first impressions, however the kitchen was actually pretty gross and the fridge didn't work. Anyway we went straight out to the famous Hot Springs for the rest of the afternoon/evening. Were a little shocked when we arrived as we thought the springs were natural - they were not! Was still quite cool though there was a big variety of different types of springs/pools at different temperatures, some bubbling, some sulphur pools, a proper swimming pool and a mini water park with slides (but you had to pay more so we didn't bother with that).

Tuesday morning we went to do the 'Conical Hill' walk up to get 'beautiful views' of the town - it bloody rained again (ridiculously changeable weather in NZ!!) so views weren't fab and we got soggy again. We attempted a woodland walk after but it just felt like we were walking through any forest in England in the rain so we gave up and went and got some lunch in the dry before heading East and then North up to Blenheim - another rather long drive. We stopped half way back in Kaikoura, the sun was starting to come out properly, and Ben spotted a Seal - yayyy!! So we got out of the van and took some snaps - I got a little too close and it growled at me (yes I screamed and ran away) was funny! We stopped for a coffee break in Kaikoura in the sun then as we set off again driving by the coast we saw a load more seals so stopped off and took some more photos and of the beautiful scenery that we didn't get to appreciate the first time we drove through when we arrived in the South island due to the rain. There were so many different shades of blue in the ocean and the sky - truly stunning. However by the time we reached Blenheim it was raining again, so we did the usual - food, wine and had a bit of a desperate housewives marathon snuggled up in the van!

Next day was our Ferry crossing back to the North Island, so we drove to Picton and our friend the sun had come back out to bid us farewell from the south Island! We had a little smoked salmon eggs benedict brunch overlooking Picton harbour which was beautiful in the sun -so clean and crisp. Our ferry back to the North Island was much more pleasant than on the way out - I sat outside in the blazing sun writing my diary for a couple of hours and got some decent tan marks! When we arrived in Wellington we decided that we wanted to see the city rather than just driving through it so we parked up and walked around for a bit. We stumbled across this really kitsch restaurant called 'Mothers Kitchen' which seemed to do quite a good variety of food for quite cheap and was pretty buzzing. We had a bit of a wait for a table so sat at the bar, and noticed that their drinks special was a peanut butter milkshake…well how could we resist that?! It was lush. We started playing a board game they had by the bar about food and ended up staying and eating at the bar too as was quite a good atmosphere. The food was great but SOOO filling - so we waddled out a couple of hours later and drove to our campsite in Wellington.

The next day wasn't one of the best -in the morning it took us forever to get our stuff sorted on the internet so we were later than we'd planned in leaving Wellington and the drive took a lot longer than we'd hoped and we were both feeling a bit s***ty again. We didn't arrive in Rotorua until 8pm after both having driven for hours on end so we were tired and a bit grouchy however it was a pleasant evening so we got out the BBQ again (for its second use-wasn't that $50 well spent!!) and cooked a nice little meal which we enjoyed outside with (yep you guessed it) a bottle of wine!

The next day was quite jam packed as we wanted to see/do as much in Rotorua as we could. So we went to pick up our tickets from the ISITE then went to 'Hells Gate' Thermal Sulphur Park where we went on a walk around the stinky bubbling springs, volcanoes and mud baths, did a little traditional wood carving, then we had our own 20 minute mud bath where we covered ourselves in warm stinky mud, followed by a half hour stinky sulphur spa pool which was rather hot and stinky. Oh did I mention the smell?! Next on the agenda was the Buried Village - a historical village that was buried after a huge volcanic eruption back in 1886 where the '8th wonder of the world' was buried. We had a pay way more than we had expected but got a rather thorough guided tour of the site and the history of the place which was interesting but kind of dragged on a bit! We had to rush back after that as we only had an hour before we were getting collected for out 'Maori Experience' evening. I somehow managed to get showered and ready in 15 minutes (told you I've changed!) and we had a quick vodka and juice to perk us up a bit before we got picked up and taken to the Te Puia traditional Maori evening. There were about 30 of us in the group and the host welcomed us and explained how the evening would play out. Now Ben had read that we get a traditional Maori greeting and that someone from the tour group is nominated to be the 'chief', so he wanted to be chief (obviously I didn't think this would actually happen). As we waited by the gates before we were allowed in the host pointed at Ben and said that he would be our chief for the evening…haha unbelievable! He had to go forward and was instructed that a 'warrior' would come from the building ahead of us chanting and shouting and would approach Ben and lay a leaf on the ground. Ben was to pick up the leaf and step backwards not turning his back on the warrior and that he must attain eye contact the whole time! It was SO funny to watch the 'warrior' was really intimidating and shouting very loudly - Ben was pretty scared but did a good job, we were accepted and allowed in to the meeting house. All the men had to sit at the front and the women behind while the whole tribe gave us a very musical song and dance to welcome us to their tribe. Ben then had to greet them formally - by pressing noses twice with each and every one of the male members of the tribe (about 6 of them) - again hilarious! After that we would move seats and watched the tribe sing, dance, chant, show us fighting techniques, games they played, some of the girls got to try poi swinging and Ben and some of the guys were taught some tribal moves! After this we went through to the eating area and were assigned tables to sit at. Ben and I were told to sit on table 5…and no one else from our tour group joined us, hmm weird. Then the tribes family sat at our table…ohhh haha we were dining like royalty! Was great cos we got first dibs on food! It was an absolutely HUGE buffet of seafood chowder, shrimps, mussels, oysters, salad, pork, chicken and stuffing, potatoes, sweet potatoes, maori sauces, and even dessert afterwards. Being us, we ate so much it hurt, but it was just so damn good. It started to rain after dinner so we got in a little tram but up to the Geysers in time for them erupting which was rather spectacular, and were given hot chocolate (not that we had any room for it but couldn't say no - it was free!!). We were sung one last farewell song, and then had to get on the bus back to our campsite after a thoroughly funny and enjoyable evening - was kinda glad Ben was chief!

The next day we saw a bit of Rotorua town centre then went to have a go on the 'High Speed Jet Boat' on Rotorua lake. We kept seeing these boats advertised all over Oz&NZ so thought as it was our last day that we should give it a go. The weather wasn't fab so there was only a lady and her 2 kids also on our boat. We zipped all around the lake was quite a fast and bumpy ride, stopping every now and then by spinning about really fast, getting splashed, the driver would give us a little talk about some of the facts about the lake then we were off zipping about again - was good fun! After that we had to get back on the road again and drive up to a campsite near Auckland as we had to return the van the next day and hop on our next flight to the USA! That night it rained…and rained…and rained…and in the morning it was still raining. So packing and getting all of our stuff together was not the most pleasurable of times! We had to wrap everything in bin liners so it wouldn't get wet and wear shorts and flip flops so our travelling clothes wouldn't get wet - we looked quite the picture! Luckily by the time we got to Auckland city centre the rain had stopped so we managed to stay dry while we returned the van and got the bus to the airport where we changed into our travelling clothes and got on our longest flight to LA!