Vern: We left our freedom camping spot early without waiting for the kettle to boil and continued on the motorway to Queenstown. After an hour or so we passed a rest stop on the banks of Lake Wanaka. We stopped and stood in awe of the huge blue lake and the snow-capped mountains reflected in it. Then we noticed the faucet labeled 'Treated drinking water' and stood for a similar amount of time in awe of that. It's surprisingly hard to find clean water available i...

Vern: We woke up to terrible weather in Franz Josef, very grey and drizzling, and made our way to the parking lot for the Franz Josef glacier. The glacier is in a national park and like all parks is free to visit. New Zealand is rather amazing like this, the Department of Conservation is responsible for so much gorgeous land and maintain so many walks, and all are free to locals and tourists! Round the back of the van, we prepared our cereal in the parking-lot a...

Andrea: We woke up beachside with the waves of the "Wild West Coast" crashing below the car. It was great to wake up there, which is what I thought until it was time to boil the kettle. We have a bit of trouble with our morning coffee on the tiny gas stove when it's windy and it doesn't get much windier than next to a crashing beach in the winter. After 45 minutes of us dancing around the kettle trying to figure out where the wind was coming from and block it, mo...

Andrea: Waking up in our 'Wolf Creek' campsite was much less scary than it had been the night before. And, we weren't dead so that was great. We drove through what the guide book described as 'Up-and-coming' Murchison, a town with a population of 850, and somehow resisted the urge to stop and party. We are very responsible. Just after Murchison is Buller Gorge, a base for white-water rafting and kayaking. We also resisted the urge to do those things, but we did s...

Vern: In the morning, after a cup of coffee boiled on our gas stove and a bowl of cereal we followed the short trail to Hawkes Lookout and enjoyed a sweeping valley view. Then Andrea took up behind the wheel, only her second time driving on the left, and took us up and down a large mountain, and then onto a gravel road and into the Abel Tasman National Park. The Abel Tasman Coastal Trek is a popular summer 4-day walk in and out of dense forest and across the beac...