We had a lie in and got up late. Under door number 13 on our advent calendar was a choo choo train. After a late brekky we went to see all our animal friends. On our way to see the lambs we bumped into Barbara who asked if we would like to feed them. We very happily replied yes. The lambs were very excited to see us and they were bleating away in frantic excitement. We held a bottle each through the fence and both lambs immediately latched on and started guzzling...

We awoke to hot and sunny weather and all was peaceful. Thankfully there was not a single christmas song to be heard! Under door number 12 of our advent calendar was a trumpet. After brekky we got away from this place. We drove to Richmond where we did some food shopping and then we headed back to Smiths Farm Holiday Park in Linkwater. This is where we had stayed when we had first arrived on the South Island around four weeks ago. We had really enjoyed staying he...

We had a lovely peaceful night as we'd had the camp site almost to ourselves. As soon as we opened the door though the ravenous sandflies were back with some vengeance! We were going to stop here another night but the sandflies put us off. The sandflies are a massive nuisance here but they're not as aggressive as the nasty drivers! Under door number 11 of our advent calendar we found a cat with a christmas hat. After brekky we hit the road heading north with the ...

The rain had cleared when we awoke. When we opened our advent calendar we discovered a drum under window number 10. Despite the ravenous sand flies we had enjoyed being back at Franz Josef. The town has a lovely vibe. After brekky though it was time to leave. It was still very cloudy but as we left a small break in the clouds formed and we got our final glimpse of the beautiful snow capped peaks. We headed north and back towards Hokitika. On the way we stopped at...

It had been another very wet night but luckily our paper towel plug held all night. Under window number 9 on our advent calendar we were very excited to find the cutest squirrel wearing a christmas hat. After brekky it was still raining so we holed up in the camper van waiting for it to ease. We had intended to go on a walk to see the glacier again today but by the time the rain had stopped we couldn't be bothered. Instead we went for a stroll around the town and...