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 it on Saturday morning.

In the meantime we left Taupo & headed down towards Wellington to catch the ferry to South Island on Friday luchtime. We drove along the desert road round the back of Mount Ruapehu - a still active volcano(last major erruption in 1995)- classic perfect cone shape towering 2800m highinto the perfectly blue cloudless sky. And right next to it Mount Tongariro - still with snow on it mid summer. Difficult to get photos to do it justice.

Spent that night in a very nice campsite just north of Wellington & finished off the day with a ride on the bikes along the coastal path.

Beautiful weather for the 3hr ferry trip from Wellington to Picton on South Island and the last hour through Queen Charlotte Sound & into Picton was truly spectacular.

The campsite we'd planned to stay in was full so we went the whole hog on "freedom camping" & just parked up in a layby with incredible views of Queen Charlotte Sound, got out the foldable chairs & had a "tinnie" until the sun went down then pulled the curtains, made dinner & went to bed.

Saturday was a bit of a wasted day messing about in Picton getting the van sorted and after all that we had quite a long drive to a very remote campsite way way way around the back of Queen Charlotte Sound. Very excited as we saw some strange wingless birds scavenging around the van after dinner - could it be the now almost extinct Kiwi which apparently still does survive around here ? ? Vod got a great photo but the guy next door reckoned it was some other much less rare/exciting wingless bird. We'll post the photo for all you amateur ornithologists out there to confirm what the hell it was.

Sunday we walked 4 hours on the Queen Charlotte track - specatcular views, fanatstic campsite 2 hrs from civilisation. Plan tomorrow is to mountain bike another section of the track - that's when the serious stuff starts ! !

P.S it was apparently a "weka" - not nearly as rare as a kiwi - but odd looking thing nonetheless