MATT; After the excitement of Queenstown we are heading somewhere a bit more relaxed...wine region, Central Otago as recommended by the nice chap in the Wanaka booze shop. Bannockburn seems like the obvious choice. The drive is amazing...the contrast, from where we have been in Fiordland (the wettest place in New Zealand - 300 days of rain a year) to Central Otago (officialy a desert and the driest part of New Zealand) which are only a couple of hours/few hundre...

MATT: So..the trek is now done, we have enjoyed another night in a big hotel room and it is time to get back to Casper and our life on the road. So after no mucking about we are parked up at the rather oversubscribed Lakeside Camper Park in Queenstown and are booking up for some things to do over the next couple of days...but today we just chilled in Queenstown (mostly me dragging a limping Kel around the gift shops and to the cinema to see "The Watchmen&quo...

Kel: Our trip started with a 4 hour bus journey to Te Anau, followed by a boat crossing to the start line. The boat trip was absolutely beautiful. A bit windy but worth being up on top deck. We then had about an hour walk to our first lodge and then had time for a nature walk before dinner. The lodges were a bit like school camp, in fact the whole trip was a bit like adult camp, but so so worth it. We shared a bunk bed room with another couple (in 30s ... turned ...

Kel: We drove down through the Crown Range to Queenstown the next day. Again a stunning drive with the scenery changing to very baren desert like land. Amazing how quickly it changes and this was only an hours drive. We stopped to view Queenstown through the valley, had brown trout sandwiches and then bombed it down for our Milford Track pre track meeting. No offence anyone, but when we got there it seemed to be a grey brigade, 4 ten year olds and us, and we wer...

Kel: Hello strangers. We've been crap at updating ... sorry. So we left the beautiful glacier land and had the most stunning drive of all down the west coast. It went past the Haast Pass and the McKerrow mountain range (of course). M was driving and I wanted him to stop ALL the time so I could take pics .. so it wasn't exactly beautiful inside the van if you know what I mean but never mind. We got there all the same, avec pics! Wanaka is a beautiful town, situate...