Day 174 and it was a warm start for once as we woke up by the sea. First thing we did was drive to the National Museum of New Zealand called 'Te Papa'.We left the camper in the car park all day and would sleep their briefly before our ferry in the middle of the night.The museum was really good, an Interactive one so there was all sorts of exhibits and things to do and watch.The best bit though was the Colossus Squid on display as it is the only one in the world.They caught it in Antarctica by accident when fishing and managed to get it to Te Papa in one piece.It was 4.5 metres long and only the 9th Colossus ever found (all females, no male has been found).There was also a 'Wall' area like in Minority report where you could drag and drop images using a remote on this giant interactive screen on the wall, which was a laugh for about 10 mins.For lunch we went back to the food court where we all got sarnies and chocolate brownies for desserts.We are turning into a bunch of fatties.After lunch we went on the Wellington Cable Car which was a bit boring to be honest and not as good as we all expected.On the walk down the girls found a kids park and got really excited about a zip line.Once back in the city I went to library to use the internet while the others chilled in the camper.After a while Burns went on the net and I made the most of the free showers in the city centre.By 7ish after everyone had used the net we got back to the camper where we tried to cook spag bol but as the camper battery was flat we had to drive around the car park to charge it up.The lights failed us about 8-9ish so we had to go to bed and then wait to get up about 12-1am for our night ferry.

Day 175 and I woke up as the camper was moving and all I could hear was Burns and Luke arguing about which way to go to get petrol. About 2am and 10 mins later and we were on a ferry and making our way to the passenger deck.There were loads of chairs and sofas, which were covered in people in sleeping bags and douvets.I managed to get some sleep on the floor.At 530am the ferry arrived on the South Island in a small port called Picton where we drove around a found a lay-by so we could get some more sleep.by 10am we were all awake and it was roasting hot.It then took us 2 hours to drive to Nelson on the windiest roads ever.Think we all felt a bit car sick.The upshot was that the views of the islands and harbour were amazing.In Nelson we went to Woolies, stocked up on food and then parked in a car park and dossed about.Luke went for a shower, while me Laura and Helen just chilled on the grass.Burns had long since passed out and was shattered.After a brief nap myself I woke up and we did something, play Boggle.Know one was hungry which was weird, so instead of dinner we had a few crisps, and me and Burns had 2 beers which went down a storm.

Day 176 and we were feeling so lazy we drove to the showers in town (a 10 min walk).We parked up and went in to use the in relay.I had to wait ages for the blokes one to be free, and when the person came out I was horrified to see it was a girl!After an hour of faffing and getting showered etc Burns and I went for a haircut and we saw our old friend Ben from Sydney.Was well strange, Burns was so shocked he literally couldn't speak.After a brief chat with him and some time on the net we waited for the others in the car park as they had gone to do washing.Just as Burns and I were about to head into the pub opposite for a beer, the tank (I mean Camper) pulled into the car park and we couldn't hide from it.We bought some lunch and then headed to a place called Rabbit Island. I didn't see any rabbits while we were there.Instead we all relaxed by lying on the beach in the sun.Burns, who gets bored on beaches easily, went for a wander and found some dead crabs.He brought them back and arranged them into a line by all our towels for us to see.He was quite proud of himself.After this, he then wandered off and found .... a dead penguin.Helen and I didn't believe him as he often talks rubbish so we had to go look for ourselves and sure enough it was a dead penguin which was stiff as a plank and smelt awful.After Rabbit Island, we drove north through the Abel Tasman national park.The scenery was good but the roads were again windy and Luke was driving really fast round the corners which made all the things in the back fly about all over the place.The shower door kept opening, as did the fridge, books and bottles sliding all over the place.It did keep us entertained on the long drive though.We stopped for the night at the south end of an area called the Golden Bay.It was freezing cold, so we started cooking dinner to warm the camper up.Helen cooked a Green Curry (I cooked the rice but didn't do to well).The meal was very tasty and everyone loved it, but poor old Helen.Her weak stomach and her inability to eat any sort of curry on this trip raised its ugly head again as she had a desperate dash for the loo later in the night.

Day 177 and just like the night before we woke up and it was freezing cold, literally.We slept in till 10 just because it was to cold to get out from under the douvet.When we eventually did get up we drove to some Springs which are some of the largest in the world.Over 100,000 litres of water come up through this array of springs every second.It also claims to be the clearest water in the world, though I'm not quite sure how they can prove this.Instead of going North, we headed back south for the Abel Tasman national park, Burns drove this time and having been in the back on the way up, drove slowly round the windy corners!In a small town of Marahau we booked our Abel Tasman walk and water taxi and then we sat on the beach to enjoy the sun.We were all enjoying it till the sandflys arrived.Coops has an ongoing battle with these things as they seem to bite her more than most.They are also, very very itchy.She couldn't take it much longer and neither could the rest of us so we sat on the steps by the beach.Luke then climbed a tree and Burns took photos.For the night we had to drive out of town (there is a no camping rule in town) so we reached the next town south were we bought dinner, and also made the most of some free showers (me and Burns were the only ones who actually did though).We found a place to park, which was a field by the sea.There was a sign asking for a $5 donation for every vehicle that stayed.We paid up seeing as it was only $5 but I doubt anyone else did.All the other campers were proper hippies who were smoking some not so legal drugs.We played some frisbee instead while the girls sat in the camper with tea, biscuits and blankets.The can be real old women sometimes! We then played Billionaire when it got dark, just have to say Burns is rubbish at this game.After cooking I cooked dinner, Pasta Carbonara, pretty easy but in ended up with thumbs up all round.After dinner there was a makeshift production line of Helen, Luke and Burns making our rolls for the next day while Coops and I washed up.After the sandwich making, Luke was in desperate need of the loo, and wasn't going to do that in ours, so headed off in the darkness and claimed to have found a toilet in a fish factory which was a bit random.The camper battery was flat again so we had to have another early night, especially as we had a 4-5 hour walk ahead of us tmoro.

Day 178 and it was our first early start in days, 7am!After lots of faffing and tea drinking, we reached Marahau by 845 just in time to board our water taxi.The boat was on a trailer and pulling the trailer was massive tractor with an old man driving.Quite an odd sight seeing a tractor pull a boat.The tractor backed the boat into the water and we were off by 915am.Our first stop was Split Apple Rock, which is a giant granite rock which looks like an apple which has been slit perfectly down the middle and know one knows how.There were also loads of sea birds about, some called Oyster catchers, and others called Shags.We all looked like proper tourists in our life jackets and cameras out taking pictures.We then went pretty fast and headed north along the Tasman coast passing loads of white sandy beaches and clear waters.Just before our stop we saw a Seal Colony which was cool, and we then got dropped off at Tonga Bay by 1030.After a toilet break (Coops needed to go as soon as we got on the boat) we started walking, and like most of our walks, we were taking hundreds of photosof beaches and trees and all sorts.Burns had to get some extra pics for his brother so was taking loads extra.The walk was pretty easy compared to Tongariro and Taranaki and I made the sensible decision to wear flip flops instead of my painful trainers.After several sandwich breaks and some lovely lookouts and view points we reached a rocky area by the water where we had lunch.Luke even swam in the freezing cold water, but I didn't because I made a skoolboy error and forgot my swimmers.To pass the time on the walk Burns and I had loads of football 'would you rathers' (would you rather have Messi or Torres in your team?). We reached our pickup point an hour early, Torrent Bay, so decided to relax in the sun (the weather had been awesome all day).There were sandflys about which annoyed Coops no end, so whe went to the extreme lengths of wearing Burns zip jumper and also her Hoody 'as trousers'.She looked ridiculous but claimed it was the only way to not get bitten by the flys.The pictures have to be seen to be believed.We got picked up at 4pm and got a quick boat ride back to Marahau by 415 where we saw Ben from Sydney again.As the battery needing charging we paid $12 to park in the campsite and charge up.We all had much needed showers and also did some washing.Coops was bored by 6ish so cooked dinner, Fajitas, which were awesome and us lads each had 3 which made us so full for once we didn't need dessert!After dinner all sorted photos on the laptop before heading to bed, with our washing hanging up round the camper making it look and smell like a laundrette.