Hi folks, sorry it's a been a while, but we've been on a magical mystery tour of the South Island . . .

 When we left Kaikoura we had the worst bus journey, as I was sick in a bag and James bless him held the bag the rest of the journey to Christchurch. We attempted to go out for dinner that night, but I couldn't stomach anything and my guts were telling me to not eat! However, that night my clever Mum sent us both some distant healing and low and behold the next morning I felt a hundred times better and well ready for the adventures to come . . .

 We picked up our little Campervan and once we'd settled in and picked up some food shopping we headed North . . . . It was a great day! The feeling of freedom was immense, especially knowing we wouldn't have a bus journey again whilst we were here! We arrived in Hamner Springs, inland between Kaikoura and Christchurch, found a perfect campsite out of town, had some lunch and went to explore, finding a lovely reserve behind the camp site. We paddles in streams along the way and even built a dam! It was really like being back in our childhood - great stuff, especially being as at home we'd never do this! When we got back to base we played cards for a while, had some dinner and hot showers and then excited about the prospect of sleeping in the camper for the first time were snuggled into bed by about 9pm! Sad some of you may think, but we were cozy and excited for the next part of the journey . . .