Christchurch - Lake Tekapo
Lake Tekapo - Aoraki
Aoraki - Queenstown
Queenstown
Queenstown
Queenstown
Queenstown - Dunedin

We arrived at Lake Tekapo in the darkness so we chilled out at our hostel and the next morning our first stop was the Church of the Good Shepherd which was absolutely stunning due to its location on the lake. We managed to interrupt an Asian honeymooner's photo shoot - oops! Nearby there was a Border Collie dog statue, as a tribute to sheepdogs that helped develop the surrounding farmlands. The afternoon was spent chilling out at the hot springs, some of the pools were far too hot for Helen. For lunch we drove to the summit of Mt John for stunning views 360 degree views of the Mackenzie Basin.

The rest of the day was spent driving to Aoraki or Mt Cook as we know it and at 3755m its the tallest peak in Australasia. We spent an hour walking to the Tasman Glacier, which was stunning in its own ugly way! Our hotel had stunning views of Mt Cook, even from our bedroom window.

The following day we walked the Hooker Valley walk, the weather was not in our favour :( a lot of drizzle and wind but we were rewarded with stunning views and lots of rainbows but no views of Mt Cook as it was hiding behind the clouds. It felt like we were thrown back to our Everest Base Camp days.

On the way to Queenstown, we stopped by at a viewpoint next to Lake Pukaki with fantastic views of Mt Cook [see picture]. Once all the tourists disappeared, Nick got down on his knee and asked Helen to do him the honour of becoming his wife. Obviously, she said yes and they celebrated at the next village with pie (Helen is a northerner....). Once we arrived in Queenstown we went shopping for an engagement ring and settled for a stunning diamond solitaire. The evening was spent eating Thai food to celebrate our engagement and we caught up with some friends from the UK who are also travelling NZ, we went on the Kiwi Crawl which was fab. It even included entry to an Ice Bar and the party went on until the early hours of the morning.

After a couple of hours sleep we went to pick up Helen's ring which was resized, had some lunch at Fergburger in honour of Nicks friend Fergus and went up the skyline gondola to be rewarded with stunning views of Queenstown and the lake. Nick went on the luge ride...Helen refused to go on the luge as she had a bad experience the last time she went on one! After picking up our ski equipment, we caught up with the girlies in their luxurious Campervan before having an early night.

The following morning we were up at silly o'clock to make good time to Cardrona Ski Field where we skiied all day. It was absolutely fab and Helen had a lesson with the previous Team GB Paralympic coach and picked up lots of handy tips! The day ended skiing with Mischa and Gemma...needless to say we were terrified for them :)

The following day Nick went skiing at Remarkables, Helen didn't as on arrival an old injury came back so she chilled out and did some shopping. We had another mad night playing drinking games at the girlies campervan before heading out to the bars and casino.

On our last day in Queenstown, we had an early start and drove to Dunedin which is shockingly like Edinburgh with its hills and stunning buildings. We searched high and low for a hostel but there wasn't a lot of choice which is surprising as Dunedin is the worlds 4th largest city. Once we had settled on a hostel we went out for a feast at Dunedin's supposedly best Indian Restaurant.