Hi there.

When Zoe last wrote we were in Christchurch and I had just passed a pleasant Saturday afternoon watching a game of rugby in the park followed by beers at the van - awesome!

Sunday afternoon we headed off to the Akaroa peninsular for a look-see. Don't know if our expectations were too high but it wasn't really worth the 100+km drive out there. Anyway, we did the loop track walk that our friends had recommended and then headed back towards Christchurch. That night's free camping spot was one of the best views that we have had on the whole road trip, the sunset was awesome.

From Christchurch the plan had been to head up to Kaikora for a spot of whale watching, but before that the Pimple needed some TLC so it was back to the Christchurch depot of NZ Adventure Vans. One drop of oil later along with a headlight adjustment and we were on the road again - but only to Christchurch town centre. I needed to get a typhoid booster jab and more importantly there was another Britten to sit on this time (thanks for the heads up Mr Colbrook). With the bike well and truly sat on and a Manx flag spotted and photographed we were on the road but we were hours behind schedule due to the tardy doctors' surgery.

After a night by the side of the road we got to Kaikora early on Tuesday morning where we met our friends from Christchurch. They were booked on a 9.00am whale watching boat after a no-show from the whales the previous day and we phoned up to book on the 10.30 trip only to be told that once again there were no whales in the vicinity. As a substitute activity we headed off around the coast for a walk stopping at a seafood BBQ for brunch. Despite the coldness of the water I stripped off for a swim part way round the walk - if the seals can do it then so can I but it was pretty damned cold. That evening we came up with a new plan of action - we would phone the whale watch in the morning and either do the trip or set off straight for Abel Tasmen instead.

Wednesday dawned and still no whales - stupid mammals! To add insult to injury the winds had got up and the boats were going to be stuck in the harbour for the next couple of days so we couln't even do the substitute nature watch cruise. So, we boarded the Pimple and set off up the coast with a tramping (NZ word for hikig if you didn't already know) stop planned an hour or so into the journey. The track was called Sawcut Gorge and it starts from the front yard of a farmhouse at the end of a 15km gravel track off the main road. We had been told that the walk involved river crossings and the likelihood of wet feet but we were both adamant that we would finish with dry pinkies - only one of us managed this and my feet weren't 100% dry. Following a slip off a rock Zoe resorted to wading through the water while I mixed climbing, jumping and running to get from bank to bank. 45mins into the tramp it started bucketing down so we turned and ran for the shelter of the van. The weather stayed pretty ropey for the remainder of the day so we pulled into a campsite before it got dark and sat it out until the morning.

When we reached Abel Tasman we booked straight onto a water taxi to take us up the coast to Bark Bay so that we could tramp the 20km back through the remainder of the morning and the afternoon. The taxi detoured via Split Apple Rock (see photo) which has apparently been used in a whole bunch of TV and movie scenes! The walk took us 5 hours or so but it was well worth it. We were heading south with small day packs and we saw tonnes of other people heading north with massive back packs obviously setting out for multi-day trips. At the end of the track there was 1km or so of road to get back to the Pimple and this was covered in fallen brown leaves, Autumn has finally caught up with us so I guess we'd better f**k off to Oz then, 28th April should do the trick.

That night we chose a DoC (Department of Conservation) campsite which was 11km off the main highway at Harwood's Hole - 187m deep hole in the ground. The night was beautiful, clear sky full of stars and peace/tranquillity until 5am. We were woken by a Subaru Legacy estate doing donuts in the carpark - did I mention it was 5am or that we were 11km from the main highway? When they cleared off (I hasten to say that I remained inside the van with the lights out determined not to be a hero. I did however have to stop Zoe going out in her underwear to remonstrate with them!) we discovered that we were iced up on the inside of the windows and it was pretty damned cold! As we drifted back off to sleep we remembered that it was Easter weekend and the loonies had probably been on a pre-bank holiday piss up. An eventful night to say the least.

The night was followed by a relaxing Good Friday. We walked to Harwood's Hole, visited the Pupu Springs and Pupu Hydro station and then went for a quick game of frisbee on Collingwood beach. From here we drove back to Nelson and got the biggest pizza I have ever seen from Pizza Hut which was eaten classily in the van in the carpark across the road from the shop.

On Saturday morning we called the whale watch people with a view to returning to Kaikora if they had seen any whales - the phone was answered by a very dispirited sounding voice saying that there were still none to be found (turns out that some recent seismic activity might have pushed all the migrating whales out to sea and deeper water where they feel safer). Plan 2 was put into operation whereby we drove to Picton to meet our Christchurh friends Nic and Jay to spend the day in the sun getting pissed. It was a great day and even involved Zoe and Nic harvesting a load of mussels which they proceeded to boil and eat.

With our Cook Straight ferry booked for 8am Monday we took the lazy option of hanging around Picton on Sunday. I got up at 5am on the Monday to watch the season opener from Losail and get my MotoGP fix after months of absence only to see that rain stopped play and it was a washout. I have since found out that Stoner lead from the start to finish ahead of Rossi and Lorenzo in the delayed restart.

The ferry journey was as flat calm and the scenery just as beautiful as for the journey over but it was 1 month later in the year and just that little bit colder on the open water. That afternoon we went to Te Papa museum as Zoe had not seen it on the journey south. 3 hours passed relatively swiftly looking at all sorts of NZ history and natural history/science exhibits and then we were on the road again.

Tuesday we called in to see Auntie Mo and drop off/collect stuff and then it was off to Napier so that Zoe could do the art deco city walk. The walk was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon and was to be the high point of the day but this was eclipsed when a haircut was booked for the morning before. By the end of Wednesday we had established that the haircut looks amazing, the art-deco walk was only so-so and in the hour that I had on hired rollerblades I managed only to fall off once. I am nothing more than a big kid.

Finally today, Thursday. We spent a seemingly endless amount of time travelling along a gravel track to get up to Rotarua. I daydreamed a lot about being a rally driver at the wheel of an Audi Quattro rally car but the reality was far from that as I slithered and slid up the road only loosely in control of the Pimple. We have decided to go mountain biking tomorrow and then try Zorbing on Saturday so I will have to leave it up to Zoe to tell you all about these activities.

Hope you all had a good Easter and that everyone is well. See you in October,

Nick.