That's it, it's official. We love New Zealand. We also love travelling, but sometimes it can be arduous - say, a 17-hour train journey slowing to a standstill in heavy fog, or an overcrowded bus in thirty degree heat, or even a plane grounded in snow. Yep that one; we haven't forgotten it. But we do know its all part of the fun and we take it all in our stride. But when travelling, as in the actual journey from one place to another, is as epic as driving a campervan around glorious New Zealand, it makes us very very happy campers indeed. There surely can be no better way to experience this incredible country.

This morning we had some breakfast and then made a bee line straight back to Sandfly Bay. With a morning mist rolling over the hills, and sheep grazing in the roadside fields, it was another picture perfect scene right there. After parking up, we practically rolled down the steep dunes to the beach and crept around looking for wildlife, aware the odds were against us to see penguins and sea lions, but hopeful nonetheless.

After a few minutes walking closer towards what we first thought was a giant rock on the sandy beach, we realised we were approaching a sleeping sea lion. Yes! We kept our distance at first because these creatures a)shift faster than George and b) are hard as nails. We eventually braved stepping closer, only to realise we'd been taken pictures of the sea lion's bum.

Anyway, now all we had to do was spot a penguin. The chances were slim but we looked all around the beach being sure not to be too noisy as we know they're very shy. Sadly we weren't having much luck and decided to head back up the dunes to the car park. As we stopped for a breather, (honestly, these dunes were STEEP!) we heard a strange bird noise, and that's when we spotted a yellow-eyed penguin up on the Cliffside! It was pretty far away, but these little fellas are one of the world's rarest penguins and we were pretty chuffed to spot one.

Back in the van, we pondered over seeing more of Dunedin's sights before heading on. The books describe the city as a Scottish settlement, resplendent in tartan and castles. We counted one castle (rip off to get in) and very little tartan. Time to move on. Our tourist radio decided to tell us all about the world's steepest street, here in Dunedin. Who knows how that's judged, but apparently Cadbury host an event here, involving rolling little smarties-like chocolates called Jaffas down the hill. It all seemed a bit strange, but did leave us craving chocolate. And as if by magic we just happened to be passing Cadbury World. Well, it would be rude not to go in.

We were just in time for a tour of the factory and have a taster of some yummy chocolate. Here in New Zealand it's pretty much the same as home. The only difference is they use sugar cane, so there's something a little different in the sweetness but it's marginal. (Trust us, we're experts.) As Easter has recently been and gone, the shop was selling lots of Easter chocs at cut price so we bought a ginormous bag to load in the van and off we went - heading for Te Anau.

It was a fair drive away, towards the West of the South Island, but again the drive was excellent. We drove for a couple of hours through some pretty pastoral-looking scenes, and we stopped in the sunshine at a town called Gore for a spot of lunch. Apparently the town is the proud 'home of country music' in NZ, with an annual Gold Guitar Week and it had a Western-vibe about the place.

A few hours later, having clocked over 1,000km on our road trip already, we reached peaceful Te Anau Lake in Fiordland. This corner of NZ has scenery that travellers like us dream of. We're pretty sure our camera failed to capture it, but we gave it a good go. Lakeside Te Anau township was the place to fuel up and recharge before heading out on the famous Milford Track to Milford Sound. We don't mean to sound like a broken record, but the lake, NZ's second largest, was simply stunning. At the tourist i-site we were told how it was gouged out by a huge glacier and has several arms that penetrate into the mountainous forested western shore. We stopped for a hot chocolate, before driving part way down the Milford Highway to a DOC site where we stayed the night. As it's not peak season, we had no trouble finding a nice secluded spot beside the lake. The sites, surrounded by woodland, are basic but they do have drop toilets (can't believe we're impressed by this - that's what living in a van does to you) and are legal so after popping a few dollars into the honesty box we could relax whilst cooking up a lovely dried pasta dinner… delicious.