We recovered from the grey of Greymouth and headed South down the West coast to the glaciers. These had big billings…can they possibly live up to expectations? Hell yeah! 

We splashed some cash on a helicopter ride over Franz Josef and Fox glaciers with a glimpse of Mount Cook rolled in. Baby Barrett insisted on the helicopter so it was just for him, honest 😉 He coped well with the flight swooping over the glaciers and Mum only screamed twice! We got super lucky with the weather – clear blue skies which made everything so much more spectacular and BB ‘threw’ his first snowball.

The other big billings of the South Island were Queenstown and Milford Sound. Unfortunately our great weather luck ran out and our flight from Wanaka to Milford was cancelled twice. We decided not to put BB through the long drive to Milford so we will rely on postcards like everyone else.

Instead of the drive further South we headed East to ‘Penguinville’ – Oamaru. And spent the evening watching around 150, 30cm tall blue penguins waddle home to nest. 

Oamaru was a super cool town with an old Victorian quandrant which is pretty rare in NZ. We did what all true Brits would do…headed for a pub and had roast beef. We can confirm that Baby Barrett is a firm fan of beef, yorkshires, roast potatoes and peas and will tolerate a bit of cauliflower. Nice work…shame about their carpet after BB scattered half of his dinner on the floor! It’s a great town (and brewery) and we would recommend a visit. 

Since photos of penguins were forbidden (even the Chinese tourists attempts were thwarted) a certain Dad was getting camera withdrawal symptoms so we headed back inland to check out the lakes of Tekapo and Pukaki. Plus we’d heard a rumour of yet another thermal pool in Tekapo.

 As we headed inland the weather cleared and we found ourselves staring at Mount Cook across lake Pukaki. It was so enticing we motored the 55km to Mount Cook village (The Hermitage) to take a closer look. 

Our list of NZ loves are growing – the scenery of course, excellent coffee, cakes, portion sizes. But New Zealanders are also entrepreneurial and special thanks goes out to ‘The Shot @ Tekapo’. Putting a space age coffee machine in the boot of a car and offering it to sleep starved mums at 7am is a brilliant idea. Mum loves that lady!!

We finished our trip in Christchurch. Visiting an old school friend, Greg and family, who visited a decade or so ago and decided there was no better place to settle. Thanks for having us!!

Christchurch was hit by the big earthquakes in 2010/11. We were told that much of the city is still being rebuilt but still nothing prepared us for the sight. It was eerie and pretty sad. They are doing some funky things with the space – a market and mall built from shipping containers for one. I think that in a decade or so a quirky cool city will emerge with a lovely colonial undertone but it will take a while. 

We have one final thing to add to the list of things to love about NZ… nope not the campervan! That’s the acts of kindness from strangers. We were struggling to find a cab from the city to the airport and time was getting tight for our flight. A random guy (Phil) and his two boys stepped in and gave us a lift across town to the airport and saved the day. This was one of many such acts by strangers we encountered along the way and we are humbled by the generosity, warmth and kindness of the Kiwis.

As we leave NZ here are 2 quotes from the road which sum up our experience of travelling for an extended period and camper vanning quite nicely…

Dad – “I’ve only been on holiday for 3 weeks and I’ve forgotten how to set my alarm clock already”.

Mum – “A benefit of travelling by camper is that it’s not too far to the fridge to get to the wine”

Next stop Australia! 😎