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.

We found our way to Cathedral square in the centre, and had a bit to eat. We had various guide books that we’d picked up at the airport, and decided to wander down to the arts district where there was a weekend market and then head down to the Christchurch Museum. That was nice, we spent a good few hours there before it closed and then went for a walk around the Botanical Gardens. We’d read about various restaurants and picked one that was a little out of the way - when we eventually found it it was closed!

Checked out of the hostel but left our bags there, wandered around town some more. Went back to the museum as we’d not seen a few bits, and generally spent the morning wandering about. Christchurch is really nice, very English and you could almost be in the UK!

We got picked up from the hostel in the afternoon and taken to the campervan depot where we got our trusty steed to take us around for the next month. We’ve christened him Steve.

Stocked up on provisions and drove down to a little town called Geraldine (once I’d conquered my fears of driving a big van in a strange country - Steve’s a little bigger than my Ka!) where we stayed at a DoC campsite. It was VERY COLD! Definitely a departure from being constantly too hot in Fiji!

We drove to Mount Cook via Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki - some of the most stunning scenery I’ve ever seen, driving round a bend can reveal enormous snow capped mountain ranges or turquoise blue lakes - amazing. Lake Tekapo was nice but Pukaki was better I think.

The drive to Mt Cook was fab too - again the scenery was incredible (I think we’ll be going on about scenery a lot!) We went for a short walk in Mt Cook village before driving to a DoC site there, where we stayed the night - even colder than the night before! The next day we spent the morning walking in the Hooker Valley to Hooker Lake where you get an incredible view of the Mountains and Glaciers. Then we drove to Omarama and camped out there for the night.

The next day we drove down to Queenstown where we popped in for a Ferg Burger due to many many recommendations - and they are very good!

Now in Te Anau and we’re doing a Doubtful Sound cruise tomorrow. Unfortunately we still can’t do photos because they insist on boxing in the PCs so we can’t get to the USB ports!