Trundling around New Zealand in my campervan, in a world where talking about dumping your waste is acceptable. Spent 4 days with Kate's friend, Tracy. Lovely person she is. And it was great to meet her family too. She has two lovely boys - Fletcher (3 ish) and Monty (13 weeks). Fletcher LOVED the van! ('Mummy, where's Jo and the Ban?'). So wherever we went, Fletcher came with me, strapped into his carseat in the front of the van. Tracy lives near the Able Tasman national park. A really pretty area. I went sea kyaking there and we had lunch on a lovely deserted beach. Spent most nights in motor parks. There's some quite nice quiet ones if u avoid the towns. It must have looked to the other 'campers' like I was really enjoying myself the other night...van rocking from side to side, steamed up windows, groans...unfortunately it was only me trying to catch a fly. And last night there was a lot of giggling coming from my van....due to Bill Bryson's Down Under book! Had a very 'eventful' (read 'bordering on disatrous') few days, some of it partly my fault for being a dizzy blonde. It started with me deciding to head to the beach for lunch. Little did I know while munching my sandwich that some poor guy would be bailing sand and pushing the van trying due to me parking on sand! Hmmm, won't be doing that again. But some pretty impressive wheel spins were going on! Then yesterday gave a couple of backpackers a lift. Little did they know.....I was going to get a flat. Fortunately one of them was big and strong (the other a quiet German lass who spoke few words), and he had a few more brain cells than me so he found all the jacks and spanners and stuff needed, changed the wheel and got us on our way! Then, whilst looking for somewhere to camp for the night I decide to do a three point turn on a gravel track barely wide enough to swing a possum. Yes, you guessed it, I get stuck. Then some unsuspecting trekkers turn up and I ask them to give me a push (well, give the van a push) and that does the trick.... So, hopefully I will survive the next 2 weeks without getting into any more pickles! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seen some great scenery on my way down the west coast, but think it is starting to brush over me a little and getting a bit 'sceneried out' as I've seen so much. Guess travelling can do that. Looking forward to some lazy beach time and diving in Oz... Am I in England or in the Southern Hemisphere for their summer? Well given this weather I may as well be in England! It's VERY wet. Arrived Franz Josef and all helicopter flights over the glacier cancelled. Forecast not good for a few days either. Oh well, on the bright side, it'll save me some cash. But I'm in a very beautiful part of the world and what am I doing? I'm on the internet...so I'd better get going! By the way, check out www.offexploring.com homepage. They've chosen one of my photos for display!