Sam left her extra layer of skin (her cardigan) at the hostel in Oamaru but we rang up to ask if it was possible to retrieve it and the next day it got dropped off at our hostel for us! Great service!!

So... we're in Christchurch for the 2nd time. Alans due in at the airport anytime soon but first we take Mickey to the guy who we bought him from and he suggests taking him up a hill and, if he blows, he will let his mechanics take a look for us. While we're chatting to the guy, Alan txts us to say he's waiting at the airport entrance - a little bit earlier than planned - so we pick him up.

After Alan checks in, we take the car up the hill and it blows! More overheating. So Anthony (who we purchased from) takes the car off us and we wait to hear back. We've got two days to look around Christchurch and plan where to go with Alan, which takes up a lot of time! With everything planned we play the waiting game with the car. To cut a long story short, they couldn't find out the cause! They changed the head gasket, no luck. Changed the water pump, still no luck. Finally, they stripped the radiator and cleaned it out and had success! We're expecting the worst with the cost and we didn't even ask them to do any work! Anthony agrees to pay half so we only have to pay $300 (around 120 pound) for all that work! Lets hope its enough.

After Christchurch, we set off to Arthur's Pass - New Zealands highest altitude town at around 900m. The drive their is mainly uphill and the car survives! A huge sigh of relief. We only stay there 1 night as we're slowly making our way around to the glaciers. Our accommodation is a little mountain house shared with 4 other people and the town is tiny with one shop and a couple of eateries. It's a town in the clouds so it has a very eerie feel to it with the constant mist. On the morning we left, we walked to Devil's Punchbowl Waterfall which took around 1.5hrs.

The next stop is Hokitika. Again, not really here for any other reason other than as a stopover on the way to Fox Glacier. Still, we find things to do such as view the serenly blue Hokitika Gorge (in the rain), a walk around all the carving shops in town, a visit to the black sand beach (volcanic sand) and Sam and I feed the hostels calf! The owner is very friendly indeed and it's a peaceful place to stay.

On the drive to Fox Glacier we pass the other, and busier, glacier Franz Josef and stop for pictures. We are very fortunate to have booked our glacier heli-hike on the only nice day surrounded by not so nice days! This is because if it's too cloudy, the helicopters don't fly and also because the glacier looks at its best in the sun.

Our hike starts with a check-in at the office then jump on the rickety old bus to the helipad where we are geared up with thick socks and big walking boots. Our helicopter transfer is the last of four so we get to enjoy seeing the other 3 as well as the fantastic views of the two tallest mountains in New Zealand: Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman.

This is the first time in a helicopter for Sam and I and it's a fantastic 10-15mins. The views are stunning and the pilot makes sure our stomachs turn at least once! He flies straight towards a waterfall in a valley next to the glacier and, for a moment, you forget how much control they have as he swings around and heads towards our landing spot on the ice. This flles like it was worth the money in itself!

Safely (!) on the ice, we strap on some crampons to help prevent us slipping all over the place and head off on our walk. The guide has no idea where she'll take us as the ice is ever changing because it moves at approx. 1 metre per day!! We're up on the ice for a good 3hrs investigating ice caves and coves. It's a superb morning and we feel very privileged to have experienced such a sight. Sam even got to sit in the front on the flight back!

We have a short(ish) walk around reflective Lake Matheson before resting for the rest of the day. Alan very kindly treated us to a meal out for dinner - our first meal out since he arrived. He must like our cooking if he doesn't mind not eating out every night!!

Our next stop is Wanaka. The drive there from Fox is superb with many viewpoints and waterfalls along the way. This stretch of road really sums up the stunning New Zealand landscape.

We're staying at Holly's Backpackers in Wanaka because we met the owner in Seacliff and he sold it to us! It's a nice place to be with good views of mountains and the lake. Wanaka is a fairly quiet lakeside town and we stay for two nights.

One of the days we decide to take Alan on a nice long walk to view Rob Roy glacier and surrounding valleys and the guidebooks say it's a easy walk. We take a pack lunch and plenty of water. The road is about 30km on unsealed roads to the start of the walk and it reminds us of being back in the Australian outback - something we didn't want right now!!

The walk turns out to be uphill all the way to the end and very tiring. The views are absolutely tremendous and we even saw a chunk of ice fall off the glacier and create it's own waterfall! Unfortunately Alan didn't come to the end with us - he stopped about 20mins short - but it was so hard. We struggled to the end but only because we're stubborn and we weren't coming all this way to miss the pinnacle!! There were also great views along the way so it wasn't all lost for Alan.

Upon leaving Wanaka, we paid a short visit to Puzzleworld which had many interesting puzzles and rooms and also a giant maze. Hours of fun!!