So we survived the night, with no adverse effects from the wild mushrooms. There is a definite autumnal feel to the air in the mornings now and you can see your breath in the air inside the camper van! Luckily there is a small fan heater, which takes the chill off whilst we're waiting for the kettle to boil. Tony still goes off for a shower just dressed in a pair of swimming shorts, which he insists on calling his "bathroom trousers", but as a concessio...

Well, we started the day in Oamaru, and ended it in Omarama, which is not the same place, but did cause some confusion in the map reading department, but we've had a really lovely day. Omaru, where we stayed last night, has a breeding colony of little blue penguins, so undeterred by yesterday's penguin episode, we decided we'd try to see them this morning. On the way to the jetty, we passed a cheese factory and shop, so popped in for a quick tasting, viewing and ...

Sunday's journey, from Milford Sound to Invercargill had been quite long and tedious, due to continuous heavy rain and a rather uninteresting landscape. We didn't have to check out of our campsite near Invercargill till 11am, so Tony took the chance to go for a 14 mile run (training for the London Marathon!) and I caught up with some laundry and read my book. Bliss. Tony got back and went off for a shower. When I opened the door of the camper van to go and get th...

Saturday morning saw us negotiating Queenstown again, as we went into - and quickly out of it, en route to Milford Sound and the Fiordlands of South West New Zealand. Initially the landscape was still full of mountains and lakes. The range which borders Queenstown is called 'The Remarkables', which I found quite amusing as I imagined people seeing them for the first time and saying "Quite remarkable!" and apparently I'm still slowly driving Tony insane!...

Still catching up! On Friday, we had probably the most scenic and enjoyable drive of the trip so far - Haast Pass to Queenstown, via Wanaka. The weather was glorious, more clear blue skies and sunshine, but pleasantly cool. We stopped at Thunder Falls Creek waterfall, Haast Gorge, and The Blue Pools, as prompted by our GPS Tourism Radio station, each place more stunning than the last. When we stopped at Lake Wanaka Boundary Creek, it was the bluest and clearest w...