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This is an edited version of our travel log. This forth page is about New Zealand.
August 27, 2005, Auckland
Hi all
Well we have left South America and finally arrived in Auckland. Still pretty jet-lagged, but we have a week here before we pick up the campervan and head off round the country.
Our last week in Santiago was not hugely exiting, a bit of site seeing, but nothing too amazing as we were there for a Sunday and a bank holiday, which nothing was open on.
Narrowly missed meeting up with Tim's brother and learning to snowboard, but judging by the number of people in our hostel with arms in slings, and crutches, that was probably a good thing.
Easter Island was everything we hoped it would be, I am going to nag Si to write about it now, and hopefully post some pictures at some point over the weekend.
New Zealand looks pretty good so far, definitely better food, so we will be working on putting back on the weight we lost in South America. Shouldn't be too hard with fried breakfast everyday.
September 1st, 2005, Auckland
Auckland was quite a culture shock after being in South America. It took quite a while for us to get Spanish out of our systems;
we both keep wanting to say 'hola' & 'gracias' to everyone. It also took us quite a while to get over our jet lag. Our room was a bit rubbish as it didn't have any windows, so it made it hard to adjust to the time zone with no natural light. We spent a lot of time wandering round the shops. Auckland has a weird city centre, not laid out like a lot of cities, it is almost all along one central street. We did a bit of shopping in a cheap out of town outlet mall, where we got some cold weather clothes. As well as taking a couple of trips out to some of the suburbs, including a trip across the harbour to a older area called Devonport, which had loads of cafes and second hand bookshops, so we've now got a fair bit to read in the campervan.
Auckland also gave us the chance to do a few things we had really missed in South America, like the cinema and eating in nice restaurants. Best stuff has been; breakfast in our hostel, a Mexican place, a Chinese food hall and Burger King!
September 2nd, 2005, Auckland to Dargaville
First day in the campervan! We had to get up stupidly early to get to the campervan place for 8am. The campervan is a lot bigger than we thought it would be, and the explanations of all the different bits took ages. After this had finished and we had gone to the supermarket (another novelty) we drove into the hills north of Auckland. There were some really good views back towards Auckland and then some good views of a cove driving down towards a beach where we had our first campervan meal; tuna sandwiches.
Gemma then drove all the way to Dargaville which was about 350-400km north of Auckland, arriving just as it was getting dark; a bit too far for our first day really (navigator's fault 
).
September 3rd, 2005, Dargaville to Kaitaia
We drove through some Kauri forest today and did a small walk, through the forest. As we were driving to see the oldest Kauri tree in New Zealand we came upon some roadworks; I think they were tree felling. The guy said the road would be closed for about 40mins, and asked if we knew the back road. As we didn't we decided to stay put and went into the back of the campervan and had a pot of tea (Si had a coffee, obviously) with some cake and biscuits. I could definitely get used to this campervan idea! Some people in the next car to drive down the road thought we had just stopped the campervan in the middle of the road for a spot of afternoon tea, until Si got out and explained.
Si - I was going to put on my poshest English accent and explain that we had stopped because it was 4pm and 4pm is tea time in decent places.
Kaitaia is a lot like Dargaville; another one street town, much more reminiscent of strange American small towns than anything else.
September 5th, 2005, Kaitaia to Russell (via Cape Reinga)
The last two days we drove up to the tip of the North Island and then down the East coast of the peninsula.
Yesterday we stopped about halfway up the peninsula at 90-mile beach. We were about halfway along it, so we could only see beach in either direction..
We drove on through some really rural landscapes to the top of the North Island, a lot of it on our first gravel road in the campervan. The top of the island was quite dramatic, with big waves where the Tasman sea meets the Pacific just off the tip.
As the top of the island is a scared site for the Maori, we couldn't eat there, so we drove a little way back to a campsite. It was down a very steep hill, to a huge beach with an estuary. It was so nice we decided to stay the night there in a Department of Conservation (DOC) campsite, which are fairly basic (toilet, fresh water, sometimes showers). In the afternoon we just messed about on the beach, as the tide was out. We looked in rock-pools and spent a long time on the weird volcanic rocks that made up the border of the bay.
Today was a long drive but we stopped and saw a lot of things as well.
First stop was in a cute town for a coffee and some cake. Then was drove down the coast and down a very steep cliff road to a place which has a memorial to the Rainbow Warrior. It was a steep walk up in the rain, but we got some good views over the bay.
Then we drove to KeriKeri where we looked over the river to some of the oldest buildings in New Zealand (not really that old though!). It was quite bizarre that people who came to set up a mission built a general store and individual houses (all relatively grand) for everyone, before they got round to building a church about 10 years later! While there we also visited a reconstructed Maori village. Read a story about a Maori chief in the 1840's who was taken to England to compile a Maori dictionary. He was given loads of presents and got to meet the Royal family, who gave him some more. Loaded down with valuable stuff he decided to stop in Sydney on the way back and swapped the lot for loads of muskets then attacked all the other tribes when he got back.
We then drove to the Coromandel Peninsula and stopped in New Zealand's first capital; Russell, which is now just a small town.
September 7, 2005, Rotarua
Hi
Sorry we haven't written much- too busy zooming round NZ in a Ford Transit van converted to a camper. Tim, your weblink was scarily accurate, and we have already listened to all the CDs a couple of times. We have resorted to New Zealand radio, which is not that great either but better than Nirvana unplugged and the Cure for the 4th time. You can guess who chose the CDs from that I'm sure. Unfortunately Pearl Jam appears to have been scratched, but it really wasn't anything to do with me, although the Killers and Smiths ones seem fine!?! Also agree that campervanning (sounds slightly better than carvanning but not much) is not very cool, but when we were held up by a road being closed for 45 minutes it was very nice to pop in the back for a cup of tea and some crumpets. I am not taking the piss by the way.
So far we have been up to the far north, above Auckland, and looked at lots of big trees (saw 1 that was 50m tall and 2000 years old), and very nice beaches. The weather has been pretty good, which was good for camping on a deserted beach at the very top of the island.
Today we were in Thames, just south of Auckland, which is an old gold mining town. Heard on the equivalent of radio 4 that they have just had a court ruling that they can start mining again, so we kept a close eye out for any nuggets. We did 4 small walks to see various forests, waterfalls, and mountains, which were all very nice.
At the moment we are in Rotarua which is a very strange place. We knew it was in a volcanic region, but the park in the centre of town had a volcanic eruption in 2003, and is full of steaming geysers. Steam also comes out of all the drains, and people's lawns. Plan to go swimming in a hot creek tomorrow, as well as visiting some lava fields.
Will try to write more in a few days, probably from Napier.
Now off to tune in the radio station that covers the cricket, and get no sleep while running the van battery down by listening to the coverage from 9.30pm-4am for the next few nights.
September 8th, 2005, Rotarua
We had a look at the volcanic park in the centre of town in the daylight, it was much more scary; I definitely wouldn't live here! After this we drove to a waterfall and had a nice walk through forest, by a fast flowing river. By the waterfall there were some caves, Si was afraid a cave weta might fall on his head so had to put his hood up.
We had lunch by a hot stream, where I went swimming. It was a very surreal experience - it was a bit cold outside, and I was sitting in a pool under a waterfall. You would expect it to be cold, but it was the temperature of bath water and at times got even hotter.
We spent the night at another DOC campsite, but this one was in a national park and had full facilities. Our place was under some trees, with a shallow gorge with a river flowing in the bottom, just past the back door of the van.
September 10, 2005, Napier
In Napier on the East coast at the moment. We've just been to a genius shop/museum called Opossum World all about Possums. In New Zealand the possum is an introduced pest that all the kiwis hate (people and birds!) and the museum is all about all the animals and plants the possums destroy and eat and then a section on how they are killed! There was a particularly nice exhibit of stuffed possums at various stages of life, including kits/foetuses preserved in formaldehyde. I had a go on the "shoot the possums" game where you put a dollar in the slot and tried to shoot as many possums as you could in 60 seconds (I got 29 of the varmints).
The next exhibit was about possums getting run over and featured little stuffed possums singing the country song "on the road again". Then there was a shop where you could buy possum skins and various things made of fur and possum wool. Probably the strangest shop I've been in.
We spent the morning walking in the national park (they filmed parts of Mordor in LOTR there). There were loads of mountains really close and completely covered in snow, where they had been completely hidden by clouds the night before. It was quite a surprise seeing them in the morning! We did a walk through some brown shrub land, before going through a really peaceful and pretty beach forest. After a short climb we reach a waterfall, where I went behind it, on the way we got good views of a perfectly shaped volcano, which only erupted in 1996.
September 13, 2005, Picton
Just arrived on the South Island today, but don't know where exactly we are going to be going next. We both stayed up from 9.30pm until 6am to watch the final day of the Ashes and then drove straight to get the ferry. On top of me staying up until 5.30am the day before watching it, we're both now feeling a little tired and slightly jet-lagged, we're almost back on GMT!
Went to the first Lord of the Rings location on Sunday, the Puntangura Pinnacles where they film the Dimholt Road. (Don't you find it endearing that I write that like anyone but me knows what I'm talking about?) It was really cool, just like being in the set. Hopefully we are going to see a few more places on the South Island and maybe even get to river raft down the "Anduin" past the "Argonath". (Or we go on the boat down a river and into a gorge, whatever)
Going to go back to the van soon for more sleep. 
(trying to keep eyes open smiley)
I know all England fans were probably happy when they went off for bad light after tea on the forth day, but not nearly as happy as Gemma as it meant she got to go to bed at 3.30am, instead of 6am!! (I stayed up to watch the highlights on Sky of the Lords test).
September 14th, 2005, Lake Rotoroa
Out of Picton we drove along the edge of the Malborough sound, an area with loads of inlets and bays. We got some good views of the area, we even saw a rubbish NZ bord with no wings, not a kiwi though, still haven't seen one of those alive yet.
The scale of things in New Zealand seems a lot different to back home. Everything seems to be a lot bigger, really big rivers are referred to as streams for example. The exception is hills, which are usually called "mount..." and are really small, weird.
The lake is really peaceful, with a pretty jetty, which gave good views. We camped overlooking the lake and were the only people there. During the night it started to rain really hard and didn't stop until we left.
September 16th, 2005, Lake Rotoroa to HariHari
Because of the rain we decided not to do a walk near the lake, even though they are meant to be nice. We drove down to Westport through the Buller Gorge, because of all the rain the rivers were really full and were flowing even faster. The road was very twisty and as we went down the valley the sides became steeper and steeper, but still covered with trees and ferns. Suddenly the road through the gorge ended at the coast. We stopped at foulwind point (another Cpt Cook gem) to look at some seals, who were all asleep on some rocks.
We drove down the coast to a place called Punakaiki, where the rocks and cliffs tower over the town which virtually sits on the beach. Towards sunset we walked to the 'famous' pancake rocks; weird limestone formations. We didn't see the sea shoot into the air through the blowholes in the rocks, despite the condition being good, but we did some impressive waves smashing into the cliffs and caves.
Today I went to a sea-life centre where the best thing was a kiwi (not sea-life I know). No wonder they are endangered- it was a really stupid creature that seemed to be tripping over itself and not able to see very well
September 17, 2005, Franz Joseph
Hello, we just arrived in a village at the foot of the Franz Joseph Glacier just north of Fiordland on the West Coast of the South Island. We are hoping to do one all day hike on the glacier and then maybe do some mountaineering/climbing on Fox glacier, which is the next valley along. Both come down from the Southern Alps near to Mount Cook. Unfortunately we haven't seen the southern Alps yet because its been really rainy and overcast for the last few days.
I am hoping we can get a bit of time on the internet here and I can put some more photos up. We'll probably wait until we've got some of the glacier(s) first though.
The campervan is still OK, not (completely) annoying us yet. We've stayed in some really nice campsites, mostly run by the department of conservation (DOC). The DOC campsites are the cheapest, but they only have a toilet and sometimes cold showers, so you can't stay in them all the time. The last one we stopped i was right on the shore of a lake and we had it completely to ourselves.
Tonight we are staying in one where the campsites are in rainforest, very strange.
Have a nice Monday everyone.
(me) 
(you guys chasing me.)
September 18th, 2005, Fox Glacier
We drove up to the next glacier; Fox. The road from Franz to Fox was exciting, lots of long 1 lane bridges across gorges and very tight corners to go over the pass.
Once we arrived in Fox we got very good views of two of the highest mountains in New Zealand; Cook and Tasman. The sun was out, and from a green, flat valley, you could see up the forested slopes, onto snow covered mountains, with pointy peaks at the very top. It is very impressive.
We did a short walk around Lake Matteson; the lake itself is pretty small, but it is good for reflecting the mountains. Think we managed to get some good pictures as the weather was nice.
We then drove towards the glacier. We had to go over a causeway with drops either side to ponds of melt water. We had lunch facing a moraine (big pile of stones left by the glacier). The walk up to the glacier was pretty easy, as the valley floor has been eroded to be nearly flat. Big waterfalls come down into the valley from the cliffs above. The glacier terminal was huge up close, with massive points all over the top. There was also a cave in the ice, hopefully we'll see more tomorrow when we get to walk on one.
September 19, 2005, Franz (still)
We went for a walk on the glacier today. Well really it was a bit more than that, climbing, sliding and stuff. I thought the ice axe they gave us was just to make us feel cool, but I used it an awful lot. I am far too tired after 8 hours on the ice to say much more. Will write more in a couple of days, maybe with some pictures. If its longer than that it is because I can't drive due to the bruises after being blown down a small cliff- I am serious, it was very windy. It would have to be to blow me over.
We both really enjoyed today, one of the best things we have done so far.
What a cool day! Definitely one of the best so far. When we got kitted out with crampons, waterproof trousers, ice axes, etc, I thought it was all for show.
We started the glacier walk by basically running up a moraine of rocks 100m high, and went on to the glacier from the side. From there we put on the crampons and started up the ice. At first it was pretty easy, as there were steps cut into the ice, and ropes to hold on to. This took us pretty high, to get good views of the valley, with the end of the glacier in between.
We sat and ate our tuna sandwiches on the ice (very weird picnic!), in a slightly sheltered bit, as it was very windy. After lunch the fun really started. We started to find a path upwards through various crevasses, only to have to back track once. At first it was still walking, but with 10m high walls of ice on either side. Then we got to go through a tunnel, which we had to side down to and through. After this it was even more fun as we had to make our way up a crevasse having to climb with the axes, and squeeze through tiny gaps with the axe bearing all of your weight.
Finally we emerged really high up the valley, well above the waterfall we had photographed from below. We were back in the wind and I got blown over it was so strong. We were so tired by the time we got back we ate out again - Si had fish & chips again in the same restaurant for the second night in a row.
September 20th, 2005, Franz Joseph to Lake Wanaka
We drove to what our guidebook described as a primeval swamp. It was right by the coast, it was really strange to park by a sand dune and walk into really lush swampy forest. I went by myself (Si's teeth were hurting), and it was a very nice peaceful 20 minute walk, mostly over the swamp on boardwalks. I tried to imagine dinosaurs living there, but it was too easy and I got scared. I saw some trees that used to be all over the world at the time of the dinosaurs, but are now almost extinct.
After this we started up the Haast pass to cross the Alps. It looked pretty daunting, with huge mountains straight ahead, but in the end the pass was hidden away and was fairly easy.
We camped in a DOC site next to a lake, over looked by more snowy mountains. The shore was covered in drift wood, so once it was dark Si lit a fire. It was very big and actually managed to keep us a bit warm.
September 21, 2005, Queenstown
New pictures have been added to the website. Nothing else exciting to report really. 
September 23, 2005, Milford Sound
The past two days were a story of my wisdom teeth hurting a lot, bad map reading and quite a few let downs at supposed LOTR film locations. We did see some more cool stuff though.
We didn't stay too long in Queenstown, it was a bit busy, and we didn't fancy any of the scary activities too much (for that type of thing check back in 2 weeks time).
So we drove on to Te Anau and 1/2 to Milford Sound yesterday. It was yet another impressive drive with plenty of lakes, mountains etc as you should have already seen in the pictures.
Te Anau is possibly the most soulless town on the planet. The main street was called "town centre". It was so rubbish we decided to drive onto Milford and camp on the way.
Today we drove the rest of the way to Milford, including through a 1300m long tunnel under a huge mountain. It was not very well lit, and as soon as we drove in there was a massive downhill gradient. We were both pretty scared. We arrived in Milford just in time to see it at its busiest with busloads of tourists. Although we also managed to see it on a perfectly clear day, with much blue sky which appears pretty rare according to what I have read. We have booked a kayaking trip to actually get out on the water tomorrow, which allegedly means that the seals and dolphins don't get scared and come right up to the boats. That remains to be seen, but hope the weather is as good anyway.
Finally saw a Kea (mountain parrot) which was a bit scary, but pretty stupid looking as well
September 26, 2005, Milford Sound to Dunedin
This town is pronounced dun-ee-din (Gaelic for Edinburgh) not doon-e-dine (as in a ranger in Lord of the Rings). Thus ends my linguistics lesson for today.
The Kayaking trip on Milford Sound was really good fun. We had a double kayak between us. The person at the front has to set the "stroke rate" for the paddles and tell the person in the back about rocks and stuff as they can see better. The person in the back has control of the rudder and has to keep time with the person in the front's paddling. The guide explained that double kayaks are referred to as divorce boats.
I was sat in the back and Gemma was in the front. We spent the first 10 minutes criticising each other's "stroke rate", steering, ability to keep time and general seamanship, but after this we relaxed and just both made a mess and enjoyed the trip.
The views of the sound were pretty cool as it is hard to get a sense of perspective from the shore. From the surface of the water some of the glacial carved cliffs rise up almost shear for a mile above and our guide told us for about 700m down to the bottom of the sound. We saw one seal playing quite near the kayaks when we started and then another one on some rocks from about 2m away while we were paddling. Also saw some Fiordland crested penguins swimming about 20-30m away from the boats. They've got big yellow crests above their eyes that look like comedy eyebrows.
Today we went to see New Zealand's only castle, that was built by a Victorian chap who was a bit mad, around the turn of the century.
We're off to Mount Cook in the next couple of days as its only about a week before we give the campervan back.
Very sad that no-one posts anything on the message board. 
September 29th, 2005, Omaru-Mt Cook-Mt Potts Station
After leaving Dunedin we drove up the East Coast to Omaru. On the way we stopped to see some weird rocks on a beach. No one really understands why they are there and I can see why. They are massive smooth round rocks, but some have crumbled and you can see they are hollow. They seem to be held together by another type of rock melted on the inside. They seem to be inside the cliffs and are being exposed as it erodes.
By the time we got to Mt Cook village the next day it was really cloudy, all down the valleys so we couldn’t see the big mountains. The weather got worse and worse, so we spent the afternoon in a cool ski lodge in front of a big log fire, drinking hot chocolate. It was nice and cosy, especially once it started to thunder. The campervan that night felt it was going to blow over, and I was a bit worried as the campsite was on an area that a hotel had been previously washed away.
We hadn’t believed the weather forecast for the next day, but it was right – perfect blue sky, no clouds. On a walk up Sealy Tarns there were really good views of Mt Sefton and a big glacier. It was a really tough walk – lots of climbing. Once above the height of a little hill I could see over the top of it to a lake, with Mt Cook in the background. It was quite far away, but still absolutely massive. I can’t believe we were higher in Peru (it is 3750m). It was a very impressive view, but completely knackering.
The drive to Mt Potts Station was exciting, mostly on unsealed road, with hills and corners, so lots of skidding!
Mount Potts Station is in Lord of the Rings – it has the city the Rohan people live in on the top of it. For once I recognised the place. It was really impressive and weird. The valley was massive and flat, with a boggy river running in lots of streams. In the middle of the valley was what looked like a tiny hill, because of the mountains in the back were so high. Only difference in the film was there was more snow on the mountains, and the city was on top of the hill. Si was pleased to finally see something he recognised, after the stuff around Queenstown was a bit rubbish.
September 30, 2005, Akaroa
We are now really close to Christchurch, and handing back the campervan.
Yesterday we went to see one of the Lord of the Rings sites, the big hill where the ones who like horses live. It looked pretty similar, i.e. I recognised the place from having seen the film a couple of times. We then stopped at a lake and played on the beach for a bit.
Today we are in a town that the French tried to settle. All the street names are French but that's about the only difference I can see to everywhere else. Its nice and warm too.
Nothing else to say at the moment.
Glad everyone seems to like the NZ pictures, I didn't think that they were as good as the South America ones, so its encouraging. By the way Tim I was just scared of the birds- that's my scared face not my sulky one.
The Bank’s Peninsula, [where Akaroa is], is quite dramatic, really hilly with lots of steep sided valleys all around a central lagoon, formed from extinct volcanoes.
We were at a loss about what to do, as it was nearly time to give the van back. In the end we did something silly and played a round of mini-golf. (I just won, but Gemma had a better back-nine). We camped in a small site on the peninsula and then the next day drove round some more. We went to Pigeon Bay, which had no pigeons, and then over some hills to Little River where we had far too much cake and bought two oil paintings of Fiordland.
October 3, 2005, Christchurch
We have spent a couple of days relaxing in Christchurch, and tomorrow we are taking the train back over to the West Coast. It is meant to be an impressive journey, which goes right over the top of the Southern Alps.
While we're there we are going to do some silly activities, Si is going quad biking through rivers and muddy places, and I am going black water rafting. The name of this is a bit misleading, as there is no raft. You sit on an inflatable rubber ring and go down a river through a cave system. I'm a bit scared about it but it looks like a laugh.
Hopefully will be able to post some pictures over the weekend when the memory card is full again. But maybe not of the activities, as they sound very camera breakable!!
ps Off to Australia a week tomorrow (12th Oct)
October 8, 2005, Christchurch (again)
Well we have been over to the West Coast again, on the train this time. The train journey was a lot of fun- if it wasn't for STUPID AUSTRALIANS! They just do not know how to talk quietly, so I had a total of 9 hours listening to their banality (if that's not a word it should be). This does not bode well for Oz next week, but I'm hoping they're like Americans, i.e. different in their own country.
Anyway the scenery was amazing, as everywhere else in NZ, and we saw things we hadn't seen from the road, lots of gorges and viaducts the roads don't pass. Also saw lots of snow at the top of the pass over the mountains, which was strange, as we weren't expecting it.
I really liked the cave rafting, and wasn't even scared that 1/2 the time we had the lights on our helmets off, and all you could see were glow-worms. It was pretty exiting, with lots of climbing and gushing water about, and the glow worms were very pretty.
Unfortunately the gushing water proved a bit of a problem for me. As I was sliding down a waterfall inside the cave I hit my foot on a ledge which hurt a lot. Luckily we then floated in the tubes for a bit so I didn't have to stand up for a while. The warning they gave us beforehand was that if we couldn't walk out of the cave we had to spend the night there waiting for the rescue. That made me scared so I kind of crawled out! But I'm fine, my ankle is just sprained. I also now know that New Zealand casualty departments are exactly the same as home, full of weird looking kids, rugby players, and 3 hour waits. But on the plus side also free. In fact it only took about an hour, and I now have a pretty pair of red crutches to make me feel more silly than I already did getting piggy backs from Si.
I'm going to tell him to post about his quad biking- he had lots of fun too.
October 9, 2005, Christchurch
I've left Gemma at the hostel resting her leg like the hospital told her to do. Yesterday she gimped around until it hurt a lot and then realised she should have rested it. I had to give her another piggyback back to the hostel. Still its really sunny today so she's sat outside reading and I'm going to bring her a pie back so everything's alright. They really like pies here, I'm not just trying to be random, they eat them as an alternative to sandwiches or bagels.
With her crutches Gemma reminds me vaguely of Nan-Nan, and she finds it really funny when I point this out. 
She does seem to be getting better fairly quickly though so she should be able to do pretty much everything we haven't planned for Australia.
Quad biking was cool, having already done it freestyle on Easter island I felt like an old hand. The guide did ask me not to make quite such a mess of the bike when I managed to get the water to spray up over the top of my head going through one trench. 
They had called it "grade 5", which I think was made up because that's a rafting term, but it meant it was really muddy, really wet and went through rain-forest, up stream-beds, up and down 30-40degree slopes and all sorts. I managed to get mud in my face, power-slide the quad round several corners and even cover a Swiss chap in mud. He was following me a bit close for my liking so I slowed up and then hammered the throttle spinning the back wheels and covering him, he seemed to take it all in good grace so that was OK.
We'll post a health up date in a couple of days before we go to Aus. At least all this time doing not a lot is meaning I can swot up on all the Internet based sports management games I play. 
P.S. further to the above; commiseration's to Andy for losing the Moseley-Billericay cricket challenge (on cricketmanager.co.uk) 2-1. 
Still he is good at real cricket and I'm not so I guess he has the last laugh.