We started our tour of the south island where the inter island ferry left us in Picton, a cute little port town. We had some great fish and chips but didn't spend long here as we were heading to Christchurch to meet Chris and Diana, friends we met in Bolivia. It was great to see them again and swap travel stories, and of course reminisce on the Bolivia mountain experience where we last saw them. Thankfully, Christchurch is pretty flat so there was no need to recreate the climb and instead we went to a small town nearby called Akaroa. Christchurch was settled by the English, and Akaroa was settled by the French - so we had espresso and pastries while sitting by the pier watching the sunset, a really nice evening.

From Christchurch, with our rented campervan called Lollie, we were ready to hit the road. First stop was Lake Tekapo (pronounced 'take-a-poo' by Michelle) which was gorgeous. Lovely bright blue lake coloured by minerals from the now receded glacier. We took a windy walk up to the observatory on Mount John, which is famed for being one of the clearest places in the world to stargaze. We took a tour back to the observatory that evening, as it was possible to use the telescopes. It was a clear night, so the view of the billions of stars and galaxies was utterly incredible. We saw the milky way in all its glory, nebulae, Jupiter and all manner of constellations. Better still, one of the guides was an astro-photographer and helped Rich take some cool pics of the stars.

From here we moved to Mount Cook and our luck held out with a perfectly clear and sunny day. We spent the day trekking and got some great views of New Zealands highest peak. The glaciers of Mount Cook are rapidly receding and with our memories of the clean and advancing Perito Moreno we were not so impressed. The memorial to lost mountain climbers was moving and gave a greater sense of how dangerous a hobby it really is.

Back in the van we took off along the coast to Dunedin, home of Southern NZ's Scottish heritage. It was a nice town and we visited the chocolate factory… Michelle couldn't resist. Full of sugar we went to the Otago peninsular to see some wildlife and check out the Lanarch "castle". A big house built by a local tycoon to impress his French nobility wife. Despite being a bit gaudy, the castle had some nice views so we splashed out on an extra indulgent van lunch (oeuf et le pain). Later, we had heard that you could see blue penguins at sunset near the Royal Albatross centre, so we headed down to see them as they came in to nest. They were fun, but overall pretty pointless as the light was almost gone as they came up the beach and we couldn't use torches as it would freak them out. That night we camped on the peninsular and enjoyed a refreshing nature hike in the morning.

Next stop was Naseby and the Central Otago region. Randomly, there was not really anything in Naseby (150 people live here) except an Olympic curling rink! We couldn't resist and had an hour lesson then took on some Americans that were also trying it out. Unfortunately we lost the match but it was great yelling at each other to sweep and not having to take full responsibility for a crap shot.

Perhaps the only - certainly the best - way to recover from our sobering defeat was to hit some wine tasting. Central Otago is one of NZ's premier wine spots (second to Marlbourugh) and the wine was great. Highlights were the Pinot Noir and Riesling. As we explored the areas of Cromwell, Clyde and Alexandra we got a real sense of the relaxed way of life and thoroughly enjoyed the balmy autumn sunshine. The autumn colours were in full splendor.

Refreshed we headed South to the Sounds (a sound is an underwater mountain range, if that makes sense). First stop was Manapouri near Doubtful Sound where we took a row boat out onto the lake then trekked to see some of doubtful sounds in the distance. The walk was great although a little boggy, and we had a great time. Rich took on the rowing and Michelle gave directions. The following day we headed to Milford, one of NZ's premier sightseeing spots. We spent 2 days exploring and although it was amazing we both felt a little underwhelmed. Probably having been spoilt in Patagonia's national parks and the fact that it was pouring with rain all the time didn't help. The boat trip was fun and we got to see dolphins, which was cool. Luckily we left in time before they closed the road due to severe flooding. They expect 8 metres of rain a year in the area, but they got lots of that allowance in the two days we were there. We held up in Te Anau for the evening and plotted our route.

In the rain we got to Queenstown, home to adrenaline activity and outdoors entertainment. Unfortunately the rain had put a stop to most of this, so while we prayed for some sunshine we tackled the indoor mini golf (Mich claiming the victory) and hit the bar with free jaeger bombs (Rich claiming victory this time). The best hangover cure was obviously a ride on a jet boat, so on with the life jackets and off we went. It was great fun with high speed 360 degree turns and lots of close misses on the banks. To finish off we had a game of Frisbee golf and took a ride up the gondala to get a view of the city. Next was Lake Wanaka. Really nice little town where we took a nice walk up Mount Iron and checked out puzzling world… a tourist attraction with frustrating mazes and visual image tricks. Good tourist fare.

With our time starting to run out we headed up the west coast to check out the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers. Parking up in the forests near fox glacier we took a nice walk and decided to camp so we could see the glacier at sunrise. Alone in the woods, miles from civilization, cold and rainy we were glad we had a van. However popping out for a quick toilet stop before getting into bed Rich managed to flip the catch on the door lock and successfully lock us outside the nice warm safe van and therefore had us stuck outside in the cold, dark wood. Great. So after testing the various window locks it was clear our only options were to break in or walk in the dark through the wood - with no torch and only our pyjamas - for 3 hours to find civilization. So Rich very manly smashed a huge rock through the passenger window. Yay we were back in, but oh crap we just smashed the window and had glass everywhere.

Windowless we had to drive all the way back to Christchurch which was the only place we could find with a window that matched and was open at the weekend. It was a long windy drive but the scenery was beautiful. Once Lollie was fixed and we were 180 dollars worse off we got back on the road to Blenheim. Arriving late at night we parked in a camp, which was pretty much a gypo camp. It was a low point and although we enjoyed the freedom of the van by now we were starting to miss a real bed.

From Blenheim we sampled some of the Marlborough wine, favourite being the sauvignon blanc at villa maria winery. We also drove along the queen charlotte road and got some great views and delicious green muscles at Havelock by the coast. With the sun back and beaming we headed to the golden coast and walked along through the abel tasman national park. It is one of NZs great walks and it was really beautiful, and we had finally managed to find the sun as well. We took a water taxi up then walked back along the bays. It was gorgeous. We wanted to stay here a little longer but it was time to return the van and leave NZ.

Back in Christchurch we happily gave back the van (3 weeks was definitely the limit!) and met up with Scott and Andrew, Annette's boys who are studying in Christchurch. It was great to meet them both and we had a few drinks in town for our last night in NZ. We hope to be seeing them again soon back in the UK.