We had our first really rough night last night. We pulled into the White Horse campsite at Aoraki (Mt Cook for the uncultured) to a beautiful blue sky with views of NZ’s tallest peak. We even took the little big man for a stroll around the national park area and then settled in to eat some fresh salmon for din dins.

While we were cooking our dinner, we watched all the hardcore campers trying to put up their tents ( we campervanners look down our noses at those types) in a slightly strong breeze. As it picked up a bit I decided to ignore ‘Red Wings’ protocol and  be a good sort and help out a couple who were struggling to make a tent erection. They turned out to be French and had not heard of the rainbow warrior and didn’t watch the famous semi-final.

Anyway during the night, huge winds and rains rocked our love bus, almost blowing us off our blocks and ripping the dish and panel off the roof! I couldn’t help but smile thinking of the poor tenters sitting there huddled together. They must have taken a real hammering because we were certainly taking a beating. Sure enough, in the morning the place looked like a giant had come through squashing and ripping canvas apart.

I think that the only person who had a decent nights sleep was Fergus, he slept like a baby.

A lot of people (Jimmy L) have been asking how we manage to look so clean and fresh almost like a cool mountain breeze, when we have limited access to washing facilities.

Well, the answer is simple. We store a big plastic container in the bathroom; we half fill it with water and a bit of Napisan and as we drive along the road it swishes around giving our clothes a good old fashioned tumble wash. It even gets those pesky, hard to remove, gold dust stains out of Fergies nappies.

Next weeks tip: How to reuse that dirty, gold dusted laundry water and make it drinkable !

Kaikoura was very nice, we ordered Fish ‘n’ Chips and was disappointed to find that you only get served Hoki, I was expecting blue whale or at least a small fillet of humpback. We have been very lucky with the weather, blue skies every day so far, fingers crossed that it lasts. The last place that we stayed I decided to have a little tinker with the satellite dish and managed to get it to work, so we got to watch a little bit of Doc Martin (that’s the last time I’ll be doing that). Spent one day in Hanmer and went to the springs, I think it has fixed my knee but I am going to keep it a secret as we don’t want every cripple coming down to NZ for a miracle cure. Fergie absolutely loved it in the pools; we didn’t have any swimming nappies for him but took a risk and put him in his boardies only. Made it more exciting for Keri and I as it was almost like playing a Russian roulette version of  ‘Pass the Parcel’. Luckily he didn’t embarrass us and we got away without a hitch. Not quite sure where we are heading next but will keep you posted.

After departing Wangas late on Wednesday afternoon, we arrived to a surprisingly sunny evening in Wellington and were warmly greeted to the capital by Loz, Kylie, Sammy, Coralie and their gorgeous twins Anya and Carter.  A glass of champas and some mussels sitting next to the sea while catching up with old friends couldn’t have been a more idyllic way to start our 4 wheel adventure.  While we had planned to sleep the night in Myrtle (the van) we were quick to take up the offer of a bed inside at Sammy and Coralie’s and are still waiting to spend our first night in the van.

From Wellington, we caught the Blue Bridge Ferry arriving in Picton in the late afternoon.  We were fortunate to be able to park up and Bev and Alec’s place (members of NZMCA) for the night where we applied for our self-containment certificate, which gives us a lot of freedom as to where we can stay.

From Picton we drove to Blenheim where we stocked up on supplies and then spent the night parked up at Uncle Dennis’.  After visiting a market in the morning and sharing a delicious platter for lunch at Montana Winery, we made our way down the coast to Kekerengu.

PS: Before I forget, we had our first Mr Whippy in about 25 years !

If anyone has accidently stumbled across this blog I regret to inform you that we have not yet started the great NZ adventure. Check out the countdown timer for when we go live.

See you soon !