We're coming to the end of our New Zealand Trip with only two more sleeps in Colin the campervan. The last week has been pretty chilled out after the manic driving round South Island to make sure we saw all the top tourist attractions. We have even managed to stay in one place for more than one night!
Our trip to Milford Sounds last Tuesday was lovely: so peaceful, and we had the perfect weather for it, cold but sunny with an incredibly blue sky. I think I almost took more photos on the 2 hour boat trip than I have the whole time I've been in New Zealand! After staying another night in Te Anau (where we were rudely told to move on by some locals, and we defiantly decided to stay put) we moved on to Queenstown and booked into a holiday park for three whole nights! Such luxury. We definitely made the most of the shower facilities that's for sure. Queenstown is very different to most of the other places we've been to in New Zealand. Although still rather small compared to most of the towns and cities in England, it is very vibrant and full of young people. Right up our street. In the winter it is a ski resort, and although we are between seasons it definitely had the apres ski feel (not that I would know, I'm just taking Lottie's word for it!) The first thing we did when we arrived was to try out the legendary Fergburger that the girls had heard so much about in Australia, and it truly was legendary. The burgers themselves were massive, and we made the mistake of ordering fries as well. As a result we could not move for the rest of the day!
My sister and Jason (aka bro-in-law) also happened to be in Queenstown at the same time as us so came along to see what living out the back of a van was like. They were considerably better dressed for the weather than we were with warm jumpers and thick coats which were definitely needed in the freezing temperatures (it got down to minus 2 at one point- not the sort of temperatures I had in mind for my sunny round the world trip). I think they were pretty glad of the comforts of their motel once they had seen the pig sty we have been living in!
Whilst we were in Queenstown, one of the most important events the world had seen this decade, nay century occurred. That is of course, the Royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. And although we were, of course, not in the homeland, we weren't going to let that stop us getting all patriotic and teary eyed. Our original plan was to buy some scones, drink tea and generally be very British in the back of our van. Apparently though, the Kiwi's don't have the same passion for scones as we do and we couldn't really find any that were up to scratch. Instead we thought, sod it, why not? Lets go for another Fergburger. Let's unite the Kiwi traditions with British, afterall we both share the Queen as our Head of State. So that's what we did. This time I opted for for a Southern Swine burger, which had bacon as well as beef. I'm not sure this made it anymore British, but I like to think it did. We settled down in our campervan at 19:30 New Zealand time and did not move until gone 1 am, except for a tactical toilet break just before Kate emerged from the Rolls Royce, looking stunning of course. The New Zealand news channel covering the wedding actually broadcast the BBC coverage so thankfully Huw was able to lead through the events beautifully. It was a great night, and after the coverage was over, we all plotted how to snare Harry. If Kate the commoner can do it, why can't we. So once we return to England we are all going to be stalking Harry's every move.
Anyway, after the excitement of the wedding was over we headed to Lake Tekapo for a couple of days. The thing we have found about New Zealand is how small everywhere is. On the map, they fool you into thinking these places are going to be massive by writing the names in bold lettering. In reality, most of these places are simply a few coffee shops, a convenience store and a petrol station. There isn't even anywhere to buy clean knickers! Nightmare. I have to say, as much as I have enjoyed spending the last two and a half weeks with trusty Colin, when we had to undertake another stealth operation to shower in the local YHA which was tiny and therefore made it very obvious we were intruders, I realised, I cannot wait to stay somewhere where you can just roll straight out of bed and into a shower. I'm also looking forward to somewhere that doesn't rock violently when someone turns over in the night. Thanks Colin, for your trusty service, but I'm kind of looking forward to saying goodbye to you. Sorry.
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