Fox Glacier? Mint!

Straight off the ferry we drove to Kaikoura ready for some early morning Whale watching:

After such an early start, we decided to take it easy with a drive to Christchurch and a little bit of a sit in the park. The next day we took another scenic drive across the country via Arthur's Pass to Greymouth.

We're in glacier country now!

We viewed the Franz Joseph glacier from afar and it was spectacular, but we decided to get up close and personal with the Fox Glacier...

Brr shiver me timbers, lets move to warmer climes.

We continues down to Queenstown via Haast Pass (where we nearly got eaten alive) and Wanaka. Behold:

On  to Milford Sound:

Rohan?

Behind all this mist is Milford Sound. Apparently.

In Dunedin we found the Holy Land:

And we suddenly felt strangely at home, but something was different and we couldn't quite put our fingers on it...

We carried on our scenic route through Lord of the Rings country to Mount Cook.

Curiously round boulders...

We attempted to locate Mount Cook, but we think it had gone off somewhere with Milford Sound :(

There she might be!

We found ourselves back in Christchurch once more, but decided to take a quick daytrip. To Antarctica :)

Where we survived an Arctic storm

Saw penguins:

and rode in an all-terrain Hagglund

We had to leave then or we'd miss our ferry back to the North Island.

I will take the ring to Auckland, though I do not know the way...

Kia Ora from Auckland!

We had a few days before we were to pick up our new home on wheels, so we took a bus to visit the local zoo!

Anyway, enough of this nonsense, lets get on the road! We would like you to meet Bill-the-Pony. Readers, this is Bill-the-Pony, our van (with his glamorous assistant):

Jenny cooking up a storm in our en-suite kitchenette

Bill-the-Pony, these are our blog readers! We named him after a pony in Lord of the Rings called Bill. It seemed appropriate as our first stop was a visit to Hobbiton!

Us under the Party Tree

And in Bilbo's window (where Gandalf pulls Sam through)

Above you can see the whole of the Shire and also where they are rebuilding the set for filming The Hobbit...

A sheep shearing demo from our friends at Hobbiton Farm.

A short 2 hour drive down the road brought us to Rotorua on the Thermal Explorer Highway. It had lots of hot springs and smelled of egg.

The park, Hell's Gate (pictured above) allowed us to do something i know you have all dreamed of...

...roll around in hot mud!

Then, after a night in a layby we took the gondola up to have a gander at the town.

And took the luge back down to the bottom. Three times.

Back on the road we go! We decided to take the scenic route through the mountains not realising it was 200k of unsealed road. It was worth it though.

After spending the night in the national park (far more picturesque than the lay-by, and quieter too) we drove via Napier (the art deco capital of New Zealand) to Wellington (the ACTUAL capital).

Chinese New Year celebrations outside the art gallery

After an eventful day visiting the national museum, eating dodgy wraps at a food market and obtaining a parking ticket, we had a quiet evening at home before the ferry journey to the South Island the following day! See you there...