After we left Queenstown we headed down to Te Anau which is the base in Fiordland for visiting the Fjords in the area (which they call “Sounds”). We went for a walk around Lake Te Anau then stayed in a proper campsite there, charged things up and had a shower (luxury!).

The following day we drove to Manipouri to catch our Doubtful Sound cruise. Doubtful is a little inaccessible - you take a boat across Lake Manipouri, which is in itself pretty impressive and takes about 45 minutes. That docks at the West Arm of the lake, where the hydroelectric power station is. From there a coach takes you over the Wilmot Pass road which was constructed for the power station and goes to Deep Cove on the sound.

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We arrived in Christchurch on Sunday 2 May - it was nice to not have to adjust to a time difference! We didn’t have anywhere booked for that night, but there’s a freephone in the airport you can use and some very helpful tourist info people.

We got a free shuttle to the Kiwi Basecamp hostel that someone had recommended to us, it was nice, just like a big house converted into a hostel! We dumped our bags and went for a wander around the town which was only a short walk away.

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After leaving Caqalai we had planned to head back to Nadi via the Queen’s Road to the south of the Fiji mainland, spending a couple of nights near Suva.

Instead, when we arrived back on the mainland we followed a recommendation and headed north on the King’s Road by public bus to Rakiraki, staying at a resort called Volivoli. The King’s and Queen’s Roads are the two major roads in Fiji, but are still unsealed in parts and some of the bridges looked really quite dodgy - especially for such big buses!

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