Following a rather rocky ferry ride across from Wellington, North Island, to the tiny town of Picton, South Island, we tucked into our packed lunch of tuna pittas (sat away from everyone else to not cause a fishy stink) and waited to hop onto the bus to Nelson. 3 hours later, and a beautiful scenic journey we arrived to be met by some more Mark's family friends, Kiwi Dave.
We were treated to a delicious roast, and slept well, to wake up and head off with the Grainger family for a trip to Golden Bay. We made ourselves at home in a beautiful beachfront house, with a jacuzzi bath in our en suite (as guests we got the nice room - thanks!) and set off after a bit to eat, for a walk on the beach. We wrapped up warm and meandered through hills to the extremely blustery beach. Ellen and the girls had much fun running up and down the sand dunes, while david was on seal watch - and successfully spotted one in the water around a headland. We headed back soaked but having thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the beach. The evening was spent eat spag Bol (yum) and watching films. We woke up and went on a cheeky walk down the beach with our cups of tea, catching a rare few rays of sun. The rest of the day we spent made our way back to Nelson, via a labyrinth filled with toys and plastic characters to spot, as well as walking through the 'bush' and of course stopping for an essential ice cream!
After staying with David and Ellen we got a long bus journey (our last bus of the trip!! Wahoooo) to Christchurch, via Kaikura on the coast where we saw many seals from the bus lying on the beach. In Christchurch we were met by the fabulous Rich, with our beloved hired campervan which we would call home for the next 9 days. We originally met Rich in Chiang Mai in Thailand, and then after meeting again in Brisbane managed to successfully persuade him to come along for a kiwi road trip. And what a good decision it was... A man is necessary for campervanning we have since decided! Once the food shop was done, we headed to Arthur's pass, whilst stopping on the way in a random lane way to make fajitas before we all passed out from hunger. After taking a while deciding where to spend the night we settled for a campsite in the mountains, by a running river and snow on the ground. After waking up with numb limbs and blue lips, we soon discovered that camping in winter despite being hugely fun, was a little different to the experience excited. First thing to change - pick campsites WITHOUT snow on the ground, and sub zero temperatures!
The next day we drove the length of Arthur's pass - a beautiful part of New Zealand, with snow capped mountains, rivers and valleys galore. Much of the day was spent getting to grips with the campervanning way of life. This included learning the compulsory rule of waving to any other fellow campervanner as you drive pass, learning how to fill up the water tank so the tap on the sink actually worked, fixing the camping table to the outside of the van allowing us to sit outside to eat our lunch of beans on toast, and constantly reminding Rich to shut the doors so as to not let all the cold air in. We settled down for the night after a busy day at a campsite by a lake, specifically chosen for us to make use of our new purchase - some fire wood, in the hope to make a fire there (only some places you can and can't). Much to our disappointment it was too wet, so fire making was out of the window! :( however we had a brilliant evening with many tears of laughter playing charades on an app on Rach's iPad. This was hilarious, the most funny combination being Rach and Mair acting while Rich tries to guess. His disadvantage being that we get each other wavelengths, which are strangely odd nowadays having been with each other for 7 months. Much fun was had by all it's safe to say!
We set off early the next day to get to Christchurch, for an extremely important meeting with an old friend - Mr Chen our old kiwi geography teacher! Not failing to spot him in shorts, bum bag and rucksack we couldn't help but smile. Sir (we couldn't call him Mark, it just didn't feel right despite him insisting) treated us to a drink and cake. We had a brilliant time with Chen, as he had us in fits of giggles with various tales of his own recent NZ travels and we made sure to get all the tips of where to go and what to do! A short trip indeed and we popped off to Methven, currently home to Matt Sweirgon, aka Sweirgs, who is doing ski season for the next few months. After arriving in the van, rather smelly and desperately in need of a shower it was great to be out of the camping lifestyle for a few days, have a great night out and sleep in the warmth again rather than with icicles hanging off our noses and toes. Safe to say that we had a great time with Sweirgs and all his friends, despite the fact that we never made it to the slopes ourselves!
After 2 nights of warmth and being snore free from Rich, we were back to the camper, snow and all! A days travel and we arrived at Lake Tekapo, where we made a picnic lunch, heard Rich's make believe tales of the dragons that live there and went for a beautiful walk along the lake front. All before heading to Wanaka, our overnight destination. What has now become a thriving ski town, Wanaka was once a small village on the front of the 4 largest lake in New Zealand. We took ourselves away from the crowds and headed to the west side of the lake, free from anything and everything, in the middle of nowhere, but with beautiful surroundings. The chefs that we are, we rustled up a mighty fine Chicken and Chorizo hot pot, quite a feat when you have incredibly limited space and only 2 gas hobs. Meanwhile Rich set to the 'manly' task of fire lighting... Approximately 5 attempts later and all of us rather frozen, we had a fire large enough to toast our marshmallows- the most important thing- and for Mair to melt her shoes on!
Next came the longest drive yet, to Milford Sounds. The geography destination as pointed out by Chen that we couldn't miss! A fjord, a steep 'V' shape valley created by glaciers, which has since flooded following the thaw of the glacier and end of the ice age. But not before we rustled up a brunch of pancakes, again, quite an operation, with several mushed attempts however we did succeed to make some mighty fine pancakes and we were all very satisfied! An incredible drive through snow filled fields and even more mountains and we ended up at the coldest campsite yet. Rich now ever the professional at making fires had one going within 15minutes, and we settled down for the night with only the sound of the stream outside. The following morning we went on a beautiful boat trip throb Milford Sounds. Having started the day in the worst moods ever, a freezing cold night with Mair having to have a full clothes change at 4.30am, and it pouring buckets outside. The day soon exceeded expectations though when we were three of about 20 on the boat, and were fortunate enough to have a pod of 15+ Bottle nose dolphins riding the wake of the boat! A truly amazing and unexpected addition to the day!
Dolphins experienced and we hopped back into the van, ate leftovers for lunch and headed back to Queenstown. Having decided that we could no longer stand the smell of each other and at actually maybe after 4 days we should change our clothes, we hit up the local leisure centre! With a lazy river, swirly slide and hot pool we were in the money!! Couldn't have backed for a better welcome! Feeling hugely refreshed and back on top form, we took the quick ride to the local campsite, 12km outside of the 'city'.
It seemed that luck had been on our side for most of our trip, but not for long as that morning the van died. With absolutely no knowledge whatsoever between the three of us we were pretty hopeless. After a half hour search for the correct battery (the van has two), and three failed attempts at jump starting it, we sat in the rain like something off the AA advert waiting for a recovery vehicle. An hour later and he hopped out his car, proceeded to jump start that damn thing straight away and hopped back in and drove off, all in about 10minutes. Just our luck that our final day of travels is spent at a mechanics whilst the battery is replaced. Snowman and snow angel making was well and truly off the cards! After deciding that we needed another trip to our leisure centre, we stopped off for the traveller renowned Ferg Burger, which didn't fail to please, being about the sizes of our faces and piled high!
Unfortunately however by this point we decided we couldn't take one more cold and wet night so treated ourselves to a hotel room, complete with a SHOWER and HEATING- hooray!! The night wasn't complete though without us doing one last dinner in the van, on the menu? Bangers and mash, with onion gravy and peas- we don't do things by halves!! A great way to finish off our last day, and even greater knowing that we had warm, dry beds to return to after! Following a complete repack of our rucksacks, and one last time of annoying Rich, we hit the sack! Ready to start the long journey home.
And so that's it folks! The journey is nearly over! We have one more flight left, unfortunately a 13hour'er, but with two behind us it really does feel like we are nearly there! Neither of us can really believe that it has all come to and end, for now, it's been incredible. We have had the time of our lives, experiencing hundreds of incredible things and 8 amazing countries, each with their own stories to tell. Between us we have built up a friendship that we could never have thought would be possible, having not left each other sides for more than a couple of hours in the whole trip, and having NO arguments, yep, you heard us! We aren't too sure what we are going to do not having to share a bed together again, and there will be some serious withdrawal symptoms. But it's time to get back to reality and see both our loving families and friends.
With 7 and a half months, 210 days, 8 countries, 38 beaches, 54 beds, 12 flights, 27,959km's travelled, hundreds of new friends made and too many journeys to count, many laughs and several cries, and hundreds of amazing memories, it's safe to say that we haven't done too badly!
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