Finally on Sunday the 20th of March Neil and myself flew from Perth to Christchurch via Sydney and Wellington. We arrived in Christchurch on the 21st of March at 4pm and were met by the guy who we hired a campervan from. After he showed us how everything worked we followed him to the All Seasons Caravan Park. We did some shopping and had an early night. The plan was to get up early and drive Arthur’s Pass to the West Coast.
Tuesday 22nd of February
We left Christchurch at 7am and followed highway 73 all the way to a town called Springfield which is the start of the drive to the West Coast called Arthur’s Pass. Absolutely stunning scenery. We did have a lot of rain/drizzle but nonetheless stopped at some beautiful places such as Castle Hill, Lake Pearson, Devil’s Punchbowl Waterfall and the Otira Viaduct where we saw our first Kea’s!! We had morning tea in Arthur’s Pass town.
After Arthur’s Pass we ended up in Greymouth, we had a look at the lookout and then drove on via a beautiful coastline to Punakaiki to see the Pancake Rocks.
It was then, around 1pm when we finally had radio reception, that we heard about the devastating earthquake in Christchurch. It was obviously a massive shock to us and besides thanking the guardian angel we had with us we were also quite upset about what was unfolding there. It had only just happened and even the radio hosts weren’t exactly sure how big it was and the extend of the damage. Once is was clear what had happened we couldn’t do anything else but to keep going and to do what we came here to do. But also show respect.
We did go on to Pancake Rocks and the blowholes and it was beautiful to see. We were really looking forward to this and not disappointed. The rocks are called Pancake Rocks because they look like stacked pancakes.
Instead of staying at a campsite around Punakaiki we decided to drive back down the coast so we had less to drive the next day as it was only 3pm. We ended up driving just passed a town called Hokitika and stayed at a Department Of Conservation campsite at Lake Matinapua. These campsites don’t cost much (between 5 and 10 dollar p.p), don’t have a lot of facilities but are usually in beautiful spots! We had spaghetti for dinner (what else) and an early night!
We ended up driving 416 km!
Wednesday 23rd of February
We left the campsite at 8.30 and drove down to Fox Glacier. We were able to do a walk and get as close as 80 metres! It only took us about 30 minutes to walk to the glacier and it was an amazing sight!
After Fox Glacier we drove back up to Franz Josef Town for a bit of lunch and we also checked our emails. At 3pm we left on a tour to Franz Josef Glacier. When we got there it was an hour walk to the Glacier. At the top of a hill next to it we put cramp-on’s on our shoes and went for a walk on the Glacier with our guide Kai. It is unbelievable, imagine a frozen waterfall in slow-motion and that’s a Glacier. The surface changes daily as parts melt and other parts re-freeze. We had a blast walking through it!
We got back to town at 7.45pm and went to some “hot pools” which was included in the package. That was great, especially after such a long walk and the cold weather! There were 3 large pools with a different temperature each, 36, 38 and 40 degrees. We stayed for about 30 minutes as we were absolutely knackered and drove to the Franz Josef DOC campsite!
Today we drove 206 km!
Thursday 24th of February
Today was the day… I that I couldn’t put it off anymore I had to drive! I was a bit nervous to begin with (considering I’ve never driven any other car than my own) but it actually went pretty good! I got comfortable quite quickly and enjoyed it. We (again) drove through Franz Josef Town and made our way down the coast to a town called Haast where we planned to grab some lunch before heading inland driving Haast pass. The town ended up being a lot smaller than we expected so we decided to keep driving and find a road house somewhere. Haast Pass was a beautiful drive with more waterfalls and what’s called “The gates of Haast”.
We found a nice place for lunch in a town called Makarora and finishing Haast Pass got our first look at Lake Hawea and Lake Wanaka which absolutely took our breath away! The blueness off the lakes was just perfect!
We arrived in Wanaka at 2pm and decided to go to Puzzleworld which was heaps of fun! It started off as a small maze in the 70’s and has now expanded to a massive 3D maze, 3 illusion rooms and a public area with tables full of puzzles which you can do as long as you like. We did the maze first and it took us 1,5 hours to complete, we then tried some of the puzzles before heading in to the illusion rooms. We had a lot of fun! And definitely a must do if you’re in the area!
After Puzzleworld we went into Wanaka and did our washing, groceries and had dinner at an Indian Restaurant before going to a DOC campsite in Albert Town which was right next to Clutha River. Beautiful spot!
Today we drove 329 km!
Friday 25th of February
For the first time this holiday we actually had a sleep in! We got up at 9am and left 30 minutes later to a Lake Wanaka Lookout. We decided we had a bit of time today so on our way to Te Anau we wanted to stop in Queenstown to book some activities for later. We drove along the Crown Range road through mountains to get to Queenstown. Right at the top there were so many low clouds that we could only see about 30 metres in front of us. But as we drove down we got a beautiful view!
Before we got to Queenstown we stopped in Arrowtown which is a cure little tourist town.
In Queenstown we booked a some activities and did shopping. We then drove to Te Anau with a de-tour to Manapouri which is the gateway to Doubtful Sound. In Te Anau we made some dinner and headed off to the boat to go on a glow worm tour. After a spectacular sunset cruise on Lake Te Anau we arrived at the glow worm cave and had a short walk passed some waterfalls. We boarded a punt for a silent (so as to not scare the glow worms) cruise in complete darkness into the Glow Worm Grotto. Thousands of tiny pinpoints of bio-luminescence made for an interesting experience. It was as if we were looking at the night sky with 100x the stars we can normally see! A rapid boat trip back to the town and it was back on the road for the 20 km drive to our bush campsite at Henry Creek, it was a very basic campsite strung out along a track on the lake foreshore. We arrived there at 10pm!
Today we drove 318 km!
Saturday 26th of February
Today was a very exciting day! We went to the Milford Sound and it was something we both looked forward to right from the start! 280 days a year it rains in this area, the rest of the year it tries to rain but a handful of days the sun is out… and guess what… we woke up to blue skies!!! We couldn’t have picked a better day! At 10.30 am our bus left from Te Anau and we were on our way. Our bus driver was really good. He had lot’s of knowledge about the birds, history and flora & fauna. He kept saying how lucky we were with the weather and stopped at a lot more places than usual because of it. Some of our stops were Mirror Lakes and Homer Tunnel.
At the Milford Sound we got on a boat and cruised the sounds for 2 hours passing Mitre Peak and the Bowen Falls to eventually seeing the Tasman Sea. It was unlike anything else we’ve ever seen!!!
After the boat cruise we decided that we wanted to do a helicopter ride, we couldn’t pass it up on a beautiful day like this! It was a 20 minute ride from the Milford sound. OMG, it was unlike anything we’d ever done before! We also stopped on a mountain and got out of the helicopter.
We got dropped off down the road from the Milford Sound where we were picked up by our bus driver. After a 2 hour bus drive we arrived back in Te Anau. We had some “fush and chups” on the foreshore before deciding out of the blue to drive back to Queenstown instead of going back to the campsite we stayed at the night before! This would save us a drive tomorrow and we get to spend more time in Queenstown. We left Te Anau at 6.30pm and finally got to Queenstown at 9pm!! A very long drive but worth it!
Today we drove 202km
Sunday 27th of February
We woke up at 8.30 am and went into town after breakfast to do some washing, get on the internet and have a look around Queenstown. After a beautiful Thai lunch we decided to confirm some bookings for Christchurch. We first called the rental company and were told that they were ok and that we can still drop the van off at the hostel. That said, we called the hostel and they could also still honour our booking but to keep in mind they don’t have any running water yet. The last company to call was the Trans coastal train that runs from Christchurch to Picton. Unfortunately we were told the train would not be running on the day of our booking. We could either go later or get a refund. We decided to ask for a refund and book the bus for that day instead.
With that behind us we went to the AJ Hackett store. AJ Hackett is a bungy jump company with sites all over the world, this is where it originated from though so there’s no better place to do crazy stuff. We did the “Nevis Arc” which is a massive swing (around 320 metres) and a 70 metre free fall! We got into a harness and could choose the way we wanted to jump (forward, backwards, up side down etc).
The adrenaline rush was unbelievable!! The free fall makes your stomach churn and the swing is just plain awesome! But it does go very quick. Before we knew it we were back on our feet wondering if what we thought just happened really happened…
After a bus ride back to Queenstown we chilled at the caravan park and had dinner at a pub on the foreshore. We managed to run into a chocolatier called Patagonia… mmm the most amazing chocolate and home made ice-cream, and it was just screaming for us!!! 
We ended up having an early night after this adrenaline filled day!
Monday 28th of February
This morning we took the Gondola up to Bob’s peak which gave us magnificent views of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu!
In the afternoon we did a Dart River Safari. First we had a 45 minute drive from Queenstown to Glenorchy with some nice stops on the way.
In Glenorchy we got into a Jet boat and cruised the Dart River for about 1,5 hours! We were shown the sights and some beautiful views as well as the driver doing several 360 degree turns at a crazy speeds (speed & turns= adrenaline and adrenaline= awesome!) It was a lot of fun.
Everytime we’ve walked through one of the main streets there have been masses of people in and in front of a place called the “FergBurger” which obviously is a place where you can buy burgers (Not just between 5pm and midnight but this place is open from 9am until 7am the following morning…every single day). So to join in with the trend we decided to have dinner there. After a reasonable amount of time in the cue we got a number and waited for “the lot” burgers. When our number was called Neil brought them up and… they were about the size of my head!!! Freaking HUGE!!! But truth be told, this was the most amazing burger I have every had in my life! And sure I was only able to finish it because half of the filling fell out and I tried to ignore it but we now understood the hype! And of course a trip to Patagonia was necessary afterwards (and yes we struggled to walk up the till to the caravan park, wished it was the other way around so we could have rolled down…)
Tuesday 1st of March
Today was a sad day, it was time to leave Queenstown. We had heaps of fun here and have already decided we’ll be back one day in the winter for some skiing!
We were on the road by 8am and started to make our way to Mount Cook. Unfortunately today was a fairly boring day with not a whole heap of cool stops and the weather wasn’t the best either. So in the end we drove for quite a while and pushed through until we got to … for some lunch. We got to Lake Pukaki at 2pm and stopped at the visitor centre where we also stayed for the national 2 minute silence for the Christchurch earthquake. We couldn’t see Mount Cook because of the weather and Lake Pukaki which is supposed to be beautiful in the sun wasn’t that spectacular.
We drove to Lake Tekapo and booked into a caravan park for the night. It was time to clean out the van and pack our stuff. Back to Christchurch tomorrow!!!
We drove 315km today.
Wednesday 2nd of March
It was time to go back to Christchurch, another uneventful driving day with a couple of stops here and there. We had lunch in Twizel.
We arrived in Christchurch around 2.30pm and found our hostel reasonably soon. Driving through the city the devastation suddenly became real and I would have preferred to have left Christchurch straight away. We stayed in our room for most of the day. At 6pm the campervan was picked up and we had some dinner from a Chinese take-away, one of the few place to still be open. The hostel was pretty cool, it’s called “jailhouse” and as the name suggests it used to be a jail! They’ve restored the place and made it functional as a hostel but you still get the prison vibe! They are still trying to recover from the earthquake but other than having no running water they did pretty well! Tomorrow we’re of to Picton!
On our last day with the campervan we drove 246km!
Thursday 3rd of March
We had to get up at 5.30am and took a taxi at 6.15 to the bus stop. We drove around the CBD and were once again confronted with the devastation as we drove past mountains of bricks and debris only to be told that was once a church, a house or a shop. It was very shocking to see. We left Christchurch behind and made our way along the coast passing through Kaikoura and Blenheim before arriving in Picton at 12.30pm. We were picked up by Mandy and Andy and dropped off at the hotel (which was absolute bliss after 10 days in a campervan!). The afternoon was very relaxing. Neil went go karting with Andy and some mates whilst I went into Blenheim with Mandy and her mother to buy things for the wedding. Picton is a beautiful little town and it’s the gateway to the North Island.
Friday 4th of March
I was picked up at 8am by Mandy and we went to Blenheim again to pick up the flowers and wine which took most of the morning while Neil slept in and had a very relaxing day. The afternoon was reserved for the kitchen tea which was organised by Mandy’s sisters!
We also picked up a friend of ours, Glenn, who moved to Wellington late last year.
We had dinner at a pub in Picton with some of the boys (Neil was there as well) and after that I went to Mandy’s and stayed the night in preparation for the wedding!
Saturday 5th of March
Today was the big day!! We got up at 8am and got our hair done with a croissant and champagne. Make up on, dresses on… and there were the cars!!
It was a beautiful day. We got on a boat and cruised the Marlborough Sound for about an hour before it stopped and the ceremony began. Luckily they both said “I do” . After the ceremony we cruised for a bit more. We docked at 6pm and went to a hall for some food and drinks! It was a very relaxing and beautiful day! By the way, Neil took all of these photos (except for the last one obviously…).
Sunday 6th of March to Wednesday 9th of March
We had 2 full days in Picton and thoroughly enjoyed them. For the first time this holiday we didn’t have to do anything! We got up late, had breakfast at Le Cafe in town, went back to read books, snooze and laze around, had dinner out, couple of drinks and then back to the hotel! We caught up with the newly weds a couple of times and did a bit of sight seeing. It was very relaxing ( we don’t do relaxing very often, not even during holidays so this was a rare treat!). And it was also great to see where Mandy grew up! On Wednesday we took the ferry across to Wellington. It was pretty calm and beautiful to cruise through the Marlborough Sound. We arrived in Wellington around 4pm and walked to the YHA hostel where we would stay. That evening we had dinner with Glenn!
Thursday 10th of March
After a nice sleep in and some breakfast we went to New Zealand’s most famous museum: Te Papa. It is a 5 story building with lots of interactive goodness! This museum is a lot of fun and very well thought out! We were there until 3pp, although we did have some lunch at a brewery around midday.
The rest of the afternoon was spend discovering Wellington. When Glenn finished work we caught up again and had a beautiful dinner.
Friday 11th of March
Our last full day in Wellington! Glenn had the day off and we met at a cafe for breakfast. Afterwards we stopped at the shop he works at and bought some stuff for a picnic. It was a nice walk through town and then we got the trams which take you up to the Botanic Gardens. It was a beautiful day and because it’s a weekday it wasn’t very busy.
We had a picnic and then walked down to the flower section before heading back into town.
We had dinner at Glenn’s house and were watching a program when we heard the news about the earthquake in Japan. Another shocking disaster to hit the world! We also had to say goodbye to Glenn 
our holiday has certainly gone fast!
Saturday 12th of March
We had to check out of our hostel at 10 and had 2 hours to kill before the bus to the airport left. We spend it at a cafe with breakfast and a book (we had our luggage with us so weren’t able to have a wander around town). We then caught the bus and began our Journey back to Perth…
