Blessed with yet another breathtaking panorama from the van this morning in Queenstown, we were in no particular hurry to move on. Eventually, it was time to shimmy though, and first stop was the Mediterranean Food Market to graze at a fantastic deli and bakery - the food here in NZ is always so decent and chic markets like this one seem to be extremely popular. Next, we headed over to the Skyline Gondola. We'd booked tickets to ride the gondola up the huge mo...

After a quick stop for brekkie at a cafe back in Te Anau this morning, we were back on the road heading to Queenstown. Packing a punch when it comes to adrenaline-charged activities, Queenstown draws tourists in with a host of lake and mountain extreme sports and adventures. In fact, Queenstown is the birthplace of the first commercial bungy jump - invented in the 1980s by AJ Hackett. Caving, rafting, jet-boating, skiiing, sky diving, and parasailing are also on ...

Hands up, who thinks the world-beating collage of waterfalls, dark cobalt waters and verdant cliffs and peaks at Milford Sound are at their best in the thrashing rain? We do! Of course we had fingers crossed we'd be lucky enough to see Milford Sound on a rare, clear sunny day. And, for much of the drive along the Milford Highway, it looked promising. But by the time we met the end of the road and boarded a boat across the Sound, the iconic profile of Mitre Peak w...

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 camper...

Grateful we'd remembered to ask Apollo for an extra duvet, it wasn't as cold as we'd expected sleeping in the van last night. We woke feeling super excited about the next couple of weeks, after our first taster of driving in New Zealand yesterday. Literally within a couple of miles out of Christchurch, the landscape opened up to something from a coffee table picture book and we had a feeling the best was yet to come. Now in daylight, we realised we were parked i...