We made good progress on the road north from Christchurch and decided to turn off the main highway and head for the beach, after one dead end we found the pretty little settlement of Motunau, while we weren't allowed to camp by the beach there was a small basic campsite where we parked up and had our first night in the van. After leaving our payment for the campsite in the honesty box we drove down to the beach for a bowl of porridge on the shore, it really was ...

Took the short flight from Wellington to Christchurch and were picked up at the airport by the guy from the hire car company who informed us we had just missed another big aftershock from the earthquake that had caused so much damage in Christchurch. It was the same level on the richter scale as the recent quake in Haiti and it's amazing noone was hurt, we didn't pass through the city but having looked at some photos it really was lucky. We picked up our camperv...

Having been royally looked after in Auckland we were lucky enough to receive more amazing hospitality from Jon (another friend from back home) his wife Lucy and their sons Patrick and Jack who welcomed us into their home. They were equally good tour guides as well, taking us to Te Papa (the museum of New Zealand) and a wander along the harbour, a drive out to coast to look over the Cook Strait, visiting the viewing point by the wind turbine as well as pointing ou...

A cup of proper English tea and a slice of toast. Heaven. Mickey and Susie our friends from home who are living in Auckland put us up in there lovely house in Waitakere, complete with a clean bed, an en suite bathroom and supply of cheese and pickle sandwiches. Lovely jubbly. It was so great to be with friends who know us and not have to explain where we've been, where we're from and whether we can speak Spanish or not. We explored the beautiful surroundings of A...