Updated on 14 November 2001

We left Sydney on 2nd October on a rainy cold day..good preparation for NZ in spring we thought. The sky was blue as we flew over the snow covered southern alps and then the canterbury plain on the descentto Christchurch where the pilot announced temperature was 26 degrees...celcius...woo-hoo ! We sorted ourselves out with a camper van ( or passion wagon as it was to be known as later...) and explored the vegetarian restuarant scene of christchurch. Yes there is one and it's very good. We got a useful leaflet enumarating how many dumb animals are spared by an average vegetarian diet..4 cows, 5 pigs, 2 sheep, 234 chickens etc etc. They are not the actual figures as we obviously recycled the leaflet later! We saw the sights which include the botanic gardens and the cathedral as well as historic early public buildings. One of the squares was being used for a backdrop for a hindi musical...which explained all the hindi music clips we had been hearing as we were having lunch in the sunshine nearby. Later we went to the ultra new leisure centre round the corner from the YHA for a swim and a spa.

Picked up the passion wagon and headed on the road. First stop the Banks Peninsula and Akaroa. Settled by 2 boat loads of French in the early days and still had some of the original buildings and french street names. The peninsula is really 2 large extinct volcanos jutting out into the sea. Driving the van up to the ridge was hard work but worth it for the superb views of the bays and ocean. Then we sped onto to Methven near the skiing resort of Mt Hutt. After another stomach churning ride up a mountain on a dirt road in the van we spent the next day snowboarding/skiiing. Afterwards we went for a few beers in the pub with James from Omagh that we had bumped into earlier in our travels in Australia and again on the slopes here.

Motored on to Mt Cook National park for some day hiking, see the tasman glacier and do some star gazing. Then onto Oamaru which has loads of historic buildings from the early days. Then to moeraki and it's collection of spherical boulders lying on the beach like a giant game of marbles. We stopped in Dunedin for a couple of days cause it was raining. We saw the penguins of the Otago peninsula and did a Speight's brewery tour. Then we saw some pink elephants.

It cleared up weatherwise as we headed towards the catlins with its deserted kelp strewn beaches...deserted apart from the sea-lions and seals that is. Saw plenty of these, especially at nugget point; also more yellow eyes penguins, a fossil forest in curio bay and slope point the most southerly point of mainland NZ. We couldn't actually get there cause the access was closed due to it being the lambing season...this happened to us more than once along this coast!

Te Anau was next which is the gateway to the Fiordland (NZ Spelling) area. We took a cruise on Milford sound, which is really a Fiord...it's sea water with a layer of tea coloured fresh on top (stained from the local manuka trees). This makes for some unique conditions with interesting underwater life which we saw some of from the underwater observatory. Above water the scenery is amazing and we have enough pictures of 155m waterfalls, towering 800m cliffs and tree avalanches to last us a lifetime. We also did a couple of short hikes in this amazing area which is a mecca for the more serious walkers on the milford track (and others) nearby.

Queenstown is the next stop on ours and many others itinaries. It's the adventure sports and outdoor mecca of NZ. We didn't do any bungy jumping for fear our brains might fall out our ears. Instead we were seduced by the power of advertising into the "Shotover Jet" ... a high speed jet boat on the shotover river through the shotover canyons. The scenery is nice if you can make it out as you whizz 50cm past the canyon walls at high speed! A few high speed (and wet) 360's later and its all over. So far the most money spent in the shortest time...well maybe Margeret and Deirdre in the casino in Melbourne came close! Marge treated paul to a night in the best fish restaurant in Queenstown and to salve his concience for eating fish had to drink some fine NZ wines also. We had to leave Queenstown as there are too many opportunities to spend money and head out for a walk around arrowtown, an old gold mining settlement where the walks are free. Weather turns bad so we head for the west coast...the wettest part of the country !

Go over the Haast pass toward the Fox Glacier stopping at some waterfalls and alongside the Haast river. On the way A Pukako (a bird, non endangered we hope) sacrifices itself on our windscreen...no collateral damage thankfully. It rains al the time and our helicopter trip to the glacier is cancelled. We walk up to it in the rain anyways. Also see lake matheson without the famous reflections of the mountains as it is still raining. On to Franz-Josef glacier which is more impressive we think as we can see a lot more of it from the approach. Which is also a wet approach as it's still raining. We go to the coast at okarito where it's dry and have a novel dry walk on the windswept beach.

Now it's coastal scenery for a while. We go to Punakaiki to see the blowholes which are impressive and noisy. Do the walk to the Fox river caves nearby which Paul decides are better not to explore with the pathetic torch (we lost the good musgraves one!) he has. Inland via the Buller George to Lyell where there would be a gold rush era town if it hadn't been burnt down and washed away by floods. Nice flat campground though ! We panned for gold in the Buller river the following morning and all we got was sunburn and sandfly bites. We headed for Hanmer Springs and the Thermal baths to recover for an hour and then sped onwards to Kaikoura.

Kaikoura is the whale watching capital of NZ due to its proximity to some very deep water where the sperm whales feed. There had been 3 males there the day before bet on the day we went they where outside the area on another basic animal activity (hunting females) and where hence nowhere to be seen. The kind folks gave us a large refund which they do when no whales are seen. We spent it on Lobster..another speciality of the area...and more fine wines to salve the conscience at the Montana winery up the coast in Blenheim which is one of the NZ Biggies.

Next stop Marlborough sounds where it rained so much we left early without doing our walk as planned. Headed off early on the ferry where the views of the sounds were superb. Arrived in Wellington where we go for a few beers, watch a bit of the rugby where Wellington lose to Otago (shocker). Went to Te Papa the Museum of NZ which is excellent...earthquake simuluator and all. Drive up Kapiti Coast to "National Park" which is the name of the town. We do the Tongiriro Crossing which is the finest one day walk in NZ...well it would be if the weather is fine. We go on a wet day which means we get wet again but it's still enjoyable with views of the steaming red crater and the blue and emerald lakes and hot streams flowing down the mountain.

Lots more hot water and boiling mud at Tokanu Thermal Park, The Craters of the Moon near Lake Taupo and Orakei Korako where there are Silicia Terraces and Ruatapi Cave with a warm pool at the bottom. We stay in A caravan park with their own Thermal Waters pools. We visited the Maori Arts and Crafts institute where we see a concert and more Geysers and Geothermal features. We are now tiring of the smell of sulphur in our nostrils constantly!

We visit the Coromanel Peninsula which has some beautiful beaches and coves as well as one with ..you guessed it... hot water springs which appear at low tide. You get your shovel and dig your own hot water bath in the sand. Well if you can locate a hot spring before the other 50 people do !! We see some Kauri trees in this area which are massive trees much prized by the loggers in the old days and hence rather scarce now. Drove on past Auckland to the Bay of Islands which is OK for a sedate cruise out to the Hole in the Rock a big aforementioned which the boat goes through..barely. Onto the Kauri coast to get wet walking to see some more big trees

Back to Auckland to relax after all the driving...see a few of the sights including the Domain and Mt Eden, an extinct volcanic cone (of which there are lots in and around Auckland). Do a little shopping and eating out after so much home cooking in the van. Really enjoyed NZ..especially being able to do it at our own pace. Sometimes the pace was supersonic but there is just so much to see and do. Tahiti will be different....just relaxing we hope...