Leaving Australia we're already groggy at the airport because of the snorer that kept us up half the night but the check-in staff for Air New Zealand add to our misery!! Our packs are already packed and caged and i have to go through it to remove our itinerary because they need to see that we intend to leave the country! I then have to delve even deeper to remove the lighter from the backpack and place it in my hand luggage at their request! Obviously it's much safer with me on the plane than tucked away in the cargo hold!!!

Coming in over New Zealand gives us stunning views of the southern alps, Mount Cook & the many glaciers as the weather is very clear. New Zealand had to see our tent so we hand it in for laboratory tests but its ok, there's no disease on it.

We check in to our hostel - The Old Country House - and it's fantastic here! An instant winner. It's so very homely, cozy, welcoming, friendly and a great place to settle in to our new country of exploration.

Our immediate task in Christchurch is to find a new friend to escort us safely around this mountainous country. The backpackers car market is terrible and most of the cars are not looked after in any way. They don't feel loved! None of them have even been through a car wash before hand! So we try a backpackers who sells cars on the side and we find a winner. His name is Mickey and he's a Mazda 626, 1989, 1.8L, automatic and he cost us $1700. This is around £680. About half as much as we paid on Oz but we figure we'll lose less money this way when selling! He seems to run very well upon first impressions so now we're ready to hit the road!!

We don't use our first visit to Christchurch to see the attractions as we're saving them for when Alan arrives but we are here during the World Buskers Festival. Buskers as in street performers, not musical!! This takes up some of our time and is a really enjoyable couple of days, sat in the park in the sun enjoying free entertainment.

We also don't want to see the main highlights of New Zealand before Alan arrives so we decide to just drive south from Christchurch - where we probably won't take Alan - and our first stop is in Oamaru. It's only a couple of hours drive south of Christchurch which makes a big difference from the driving times and distances in Australia. A very welcome difference at that! The hostel in Oamaru is called Chillawhile and is another fine example, similar in almost every way to that of the Old Country House. Kelly runs it with her 18 month old daughter and she is so friendly and helpful. The internet is also free!! It really brings a smile to your face when the locals are this way. It makes a huge impression on not only the hostel but the country aswell. Lets hope this continues.

We had no idea of what to do in Oamaru but Kelly soon sorted that out! We visited the sight of a filming location of the Chronicles of Narnia (out a couple of years back) which is a beautiful sight with a great drive there and also had a walk around the historic precinct, near to Oamaru town centre. We managed to see some yellow-eyed penguins too, albeit from a distance down onto the beach, until someone noticed a chick sat right in front of the viewing hut! These are a bit bigger than those we saw on Kangaroo Island and they're also in Oamaru but you have to pay to see them and it's not very cheap.

We feel like we could stay around in Oamaru for a while if we had the chance as it's a great place to relax. They also have a guitar which has mostly been in my possession while in the hostel!! I have found that i miss playing my guitar since being away and every opportunity i get, i take!

After 2 nights in Oamaru we drive to a place Kelly recommended - a place called The Asylum in place called Seacliffe - about 25 minutes north of Dunedin. On the way there we stop at Moeraki to see the wierd and wonderful boulders on the beach and also for a cuppa at Fleurs fish restaurant. This place is almost always booked up in the evenings by locals who keep coming back so it must be good. We don't eat here but we see some of the dishes and they really do look tasty and plentiful.

"Why go to a place called the Asylum?" I hear you ask! Well, it's supposed to be nice and they offer surfing for $10 a time!! That can't be bad. In fact, this place is superb. The guy who runs it owns around 50 vintage cars, with a handful still roadworthy, they run cheap kayaking tours, horse rides, spear fishing as well as advising where to go to pick shellfish - all at very cheap prices (the shellfish are free!). They play very chilled music all day long and we could easily spend days, if not, weeks here without even thinking of moving on! It's called the Asylum because the grounds used to be home to one of the areas 3 mental asylums. It doesn't have that feel to it now i can tell you!!!

Two nights here was enough to get in two days of surfing and doing very little else! We then moved on to Dunedin and this place is hilly, very hilly. So much so that as we arrived, the Mickey lost his cool and blew out the contents of his cooling system. Coolant went everywhere. We had just given a lift to someone from the Asylum and dropped them off at their hostel when it happened so we weren't even at our hostel. We had a short, downhill walk to Hogwartz(!) and checked in with all our stuff. The owners recommended someone to take the car to but it was about 5ish by the time we walk to the garage so no repairs today. They told us to return in the morning - first thing.

That we did. They immediately said it was the head gasket but i wasn't so sure because their was no oil in the water and no water in the oil but they're the mechanics!! They advised not to bother changing it because of the expense of the job but they could get us to Christchurch if they ran a fluid through that can seal up any small, unwanted holes. We paid them $80 for this and we would two days before we knew if it had worked. They also wired the fan up so it ran constantly as an extra precaution.

We enjoyed hilly Dunedin (celtic for Edinburgh) for the next couple of days taking in the historic railway station and Speights brewery (trying all 6 beers - of course, they were included in the tour price!!). Leaving Dunedin we went to the Otago pennisular which included a brilliant, and quite literally, coastal drive. There's a royal albatross colony here but you have to pay to walk up and view the colony and it's the wrong time of day for them to be flying around so we miss out there. It was still worth the drive though.

It is time to head back up to Christchurch as Alan is due in a few days so, passing back through Dunedin and the worlds steepest street (i told you it was hilly!), we decide that we enjoyed our route south so much that we'll mirror it on the way back. This means the Asylum welcomes us back for 2 more nights. This means two more surfing trips, a tiring bike ride (for me, not sam) down to the town nearby for mussel picking which went nicely in my salad, more relaxing time to the good music and a special treat.

On the second surfing trip, the waves were moderate but good enough for me and i was just getting into it when two guys (better surfers) were further out and they called me over. I paddled to them, which was beyond the waves and, amazingly, we were accompanied by 3 or 4 hector dolphins casually swimming around us, under us and jumping up in front of us. This was very special indeed, the stuff dreams are made of. They stayed around for a good 10 minutes and it was one of the most memorable moments yet. I couldn't believe my luck. These Dolphins are the rarest and smallest in the world and are only found in New Zealand's waters but there are plenty around the country. Obviously i couldn't capture this on my camera but sam managed to just get a glimpse on the video camera from the shore. It's a small glimpse though! All this for $10!! WOW.

One more stop before Christchurch and it's chillawhile in Oamaru again. On the way we stopped at Fleurs where this time we did eat and we're glad we did. The meal was $30 (£12) each and was delicious. I had flounder and Sam had blue cod and we both agreed this was one of our best meals yet. Also in Moeraki is a better place to see the penguins and seals up close and personal so we spent a good hour admiring them too. What a day. Fantastic views of penguins, dolphins and seals as well as tasty fish!

The car safely gets us back to Christchurch with no further problems but we have full intentions of returning to where we bought it from to see if he can help us out with any possible repairs!