After a very cold damp night about a couple of hours drive from Christchurch in Peel Forest including an attempted walk which ensured Stewart had completely sodden footwear, we decided to move on from there. Next stop Lake Tekapo with its mountain fringed backdrop, incredible turquoise coloured water and complete with its twee little stone built Scottish style church in front of the breathtaking mountain scenery. Population - just 300. We headed to the hills ...

Vod was absolutely ecstatic about the swim with the dolphins - said it was better than watching the whales. This sentence is the understatement of the year, think up a few more wonderful adjectives for this amazing experience swimming in open sea , 600 m deep and surrounded by hundreds of cavorting dolphins. That evening we moved on down the coast towards Christchurch & spent Friday night camped in the middle of nowhere on the beach in glorious sunshine. I...

Well we mountain biked part of the Queen Charlotte Track as planned - 25km through beautiful shady forests with occasional views of the Sound. A really nice day but Vod shouted a bit at Stewart after 12,5km - something about it being "too much/too diffcult" but we got back ok, both completely exhausted. Slept very well that night. Next day we tasted the world famous New Zealand Green Shell mussels at the place where they come from - Havelock. As well...

Noticed we had a puncture in Taupo. Got the wheelchanged no problems & the tyre repaired but in the process they b*ggered the mechanism for attaching the spare wheel under the van - so the wheel, VERY inconveniently, had to go in the boot - much re-arranging of our stuff was required to fit it in. Many phone calls later to the van hire company and it was agreed they'd ship the spare part down to Picton on South Island and they organised for a garage to fit ...

Been doing a lot of driving since we left Raglan. The "slight detour" back to Auckland to pick up our bikes which should have taken 2 ½ hrs took 5hrs - to do 85miles/130km ! ! ! Traffic accident, massivedetour,(no people in NZ = very few roads = no alternative when roads are closed) We had to do God knows how many miles of bone jarring dirt roads to get round the holdup - but very scenic ! ! Drove down to Lake Taupo today - another 5 hours to do v...