South Island

After a thankfully not so choppy crossing from the North to South Island we had our first night back in the campervan after having a week of luxury out of it!! We headed to Nelson ( What is said to be the sunniest part of New Zealand!) When we arrived it was raining! Typical! After being confined to the campervan all day we headed out into town to watch the All Blacks v France and hopefully enjoy the Kiwi rugby company!

We went to the sports bar in town which was packed and after standing at the bar and being asked by several people who do you think is going to win my quick response was the All Blacks! Watching the game was very different to the bars in Cardiff we're used to in that Kiwis actually watch the game and don't take part in any form of singing which was disappointing as we thought they might have they own Kiwi take on Bread of Heaven! When the All Blacks played rubbish + France won we made a swift exit!

The following day we headed west and having been over many mountain ranges in NZ we were used to them. However on this occasion we were coming down one hill for what seemed like a very long time and after a while we turned the down music down to realise the van was making a strange noise. We pulled over to find our tyres steaming! The van obviously couldn't take the amount of breaking we were doing so we sat and had a cup of tea for an hour waiting for the wheels to come back down to normal temperature! We did start to feel stupid when many kiwis took pity on us + asked us if we needed any help!!

The next day we embarked on a two day sea kayaking trip in the Abel Tasman National park! To begin with I thought it was a stupid idea in that we would be the only ones staying in little huts in the winter overnight ( as the park was only accessible by water or on foot) Luckily there were two other Americans ( you can decide for yourself if you think this is lucky!!) stupid enough as us hiring a kayak which put me a bit at ease! When asked which one of us was going to sit at the back of the kayak Nic jumped at the opportunity to steer!!( By lunchtime I was at the back of the kayak steering as we had had a couple of close encounters with some rocks).

The kayaking consisted of some hardcore paddling at times in some choppy waters! We stopped off at some of the most beautiful beaches + bays which in summer I could have imagined being packed, I suppose being in New Zealand in Winter has its plus points in that we had the beach to ourselves!! We got to the beach where we were staying for the night after getting wet we were thankful for a gas heater!( Obviously a hot shower would have been better but we didn't have such luxuries!!) As it was dark by 6pm and no electricity i.e no lights we were pleased to be accompanied by about 10 other people!! After our nutritious meal of noodles we exchanged travel stories with a couple of other people! Then a German guy came bursting through the door saying " You've got to come outside I've never seen the milky way so clear" At this point I felt a bit stupid in that I knew the milky way had something to do with stars but didn't actually know what it looked like until we went outside! I have never seen so many stars in the sky! We couldn't believe it! It was unbelievable! So there we were 10 complete strangers, stood on a beach in the middle of nowhere staring at stars! Quite surreal!

The next day we continued the kayaking and saw some seal colonies + at the end of the day got picked up by a water taxi! By the end of the trip you could say we definately feel at home with nature. To say I was sad to be leaving my kayak I would be lying because a hot shower appealed to me way too much!!

We had arranged to meet my friend, Laura, on the Tuesday to do a days wines tasting in Marlborough but once we were in the van we soon realised it was actually Tuesday night and therefore the fresh air had obviously had a big effect on us!! The following morning we went to sample some New Zealand wine and even splashed out on a bottle in my quest to make Nic like wine!

We then headed down the east coast to Kaikoura a place where there are lots of marine animals e.g seals, dolphins + whales! We did a coastal walk which we find ourselves doing more and more walks as due to the budget it is an activity to do which is FREE! I made the mistake by walking out the shore and whilst walking back I had my head down to see what I was stepping and I heard the loudest noise which could only be described as a bark and it turned out I had got too close to a seal and it wasn't very happy with me!!

The next day we booked onto a dolphin swimming trip and after waking up far too early with excitement we headed to the bay in our quest for the dolphins. However to our disappointment the sea was too choppy so our dreams of swimming with wild dolphins were slashed . Following the bad news we headed south.

We arrived at a sleepy town town called Hanmer Springs ( famous for its hot springs!) We quickly got changed in the freezing conditions and jumped into the 40 degree volcanic springs. It was surreal to be sitting in boiling natural springs in temperatures below zero with views of snowcapped mountains.

We woke up early next morning and I jumped in the car to get us on our way, however instead of listening to Nic I managed to reverse into a big pile of snow! So not for the first time the campervan was stuck! After lots of wheel spinning, arguing and mud flying at nic the van was eventually free and on his way to Christchurch!

After checking out what the very British city had to offer us ( not a lot) due to it only being about 150 years old! we headed to Methven, a small ski town at the base of Mount Hutt. We had high hopes for the ski resort as kiwis raved about their skiing unfortunately we were very disappointed when the piste map and mountain did not quite match up because there was really only one run with a few variations. However it did offer fantastic views and was really cool to be skiing above the clouds. I found myself on a number of occasions throughout the day half way down the mountain turning around to find out Nic wasn't there! 10 mins later he would appear covered in snow saying he'd fallen over. This was a reccurring event throughout the day and I'm still hearing about his painful hip!!

Our next stop took us to the glacier country on the West coast after a beautiful 6 hour drive we pulled up to 1 of only 3 forward moving glaciers in the world. However after seeing the glaciers in Argentina this one didn't quite compare!

Again heading south we headed for a small town called Wanaka which is home to the world famous Puzzling World, lots of rooms of optical illusions. After we spent the morning there we headed to the maze. After an hour of walking in circles and getting no further we decided to leave out of the emergency exit before we stopped talking!!

The following day we ended up in the touristy Queenstown. After a quick check of the bank balances we decided that we couldn't afford to ski and that it would have to be our favourite of walks for the next couple of days!! We did however go on a trip to Milford sound which is rated as one of the most beautiful places in the World. The trip involved a boat trip through the Milford Friords with snow topped mountains, 200 m waterfalls which made us feel very insignificant in the unbelievable landscape. While stopping to look at the waterfalls we heard the captain shout dolphins (finally) so as everyone rushed to the front of the boat, however due to their speed and my photography unfortunately they weren't captured on film!

One day we headed up to a mountain to a deer park with again fantastic views over Queenstown. After plucking up courage we bought some feed and started feeding the various animals, this was hard for Nic as him and animals are not the best of friends!! Therefore he retreated to the car most of the way round!! While in Queenstown a big winter festival started, the opening cermony was cool and there was lots of fireworks!! Even the New Zealand prime minister opened the event!!

Our final day in queenstown consisted of a two hour walk to another view point. ( There was a gondala up the viewpoint, however due to the tight pursestrings we decided to walk!) This was a bad idea as I was very tired and grumpy about the walk in that it was only saving us 8 pounds!! then again when your a traveller every penny counts!! At the top we luged down the mountain which consists of little karts on a race track which was fun!! In the evening Nic had bumped into an old school friend (Chris Lewis) who invited us round for dinner which was really nice and we had our first sunday roast of the trip!

On our way back to Christchurch we stopped at Lake Tekapo. Takepo is famous for is turquoise colour and awesome views over Mount Cook the tallest mountain in New Zealand!

Therefore the second legg of our trip has come to an end! We've travelled 5,283km in the cosy campervan and enjoyed every minute but we are definately looking forward to finally getting a tan in fiji!!

Hope everyone is well at home!!

Lots of Love Nic and Jen xxxxxxxxx