They're free and we give you more than one!

Kaikoura came as a welcome stop. The last 20 clicks into the town were difficult. The roads were wet, dark and above all, non-stop bends. Tom went into the back of the van to read as I drove and stopped when we hit the last stretch, as the he was being thrown all over the place!

We stayed at yet another Top 10 Holiday Park, except this one immediately annoyed me as they operated timed showers - they gave you 6 minutes!

Anyhow, the following morning we Whale watched. I phoned from our van early to book onto the 10.30 sailing, only to be told it was hit and miss as the seas were rough and the 07.30 hadn't been able to depart. Ever the intrepid explorers, after our Nutella with twinings tea breakfast, we drove the 500 yards to the whale watching base. We were suitably fleeced and waited to depart.

We set off aboard a catamaran, with winds reaching 15 - 25 knots and swell reaching 2m! It was great fun initially watching the waves crash over the boat as we headed out to see the sperm whales. A safety briefing told us how to survive and what to do if you're sick. They had bags," they're free and we give you more than one". Well at a stop to get some air I thought it a jolly idea to test these bags and with assistance from Twinings appropriately tested more than one! We saw a whale and seals and dolphin. It was a fabulous trip even if I was feeling rather delicate!

A hearty lunch was necessary and we embraced New Zealand's pie culture! Then hit the road for Christchurch, back down the 20 very bendy clicks we'd navigate the night before and the 150 clicks of straight highway - a welcome relief.

Christchurch was just as we had left it a week earlier. However, our standing for the night was more like a bog! The redeeming feature of this site was the shower block, hot; large and powerful ;). The bog got worse though! As the next morning as Tom went out to disconnect the power and turn off the gas, I heard a shriek and exclamation outside the window "the water is this deep". The corner of our standing was under 6 inches of water at its deepest and left us a little anxious to leave before we either started to sink in the mud or get stuck wheel spinning out!

Qantas delivered us back to our families in Auckland, not before getting some money back from the camper van people for all the problems we had experienced.

Auckland is now positively warm for us and we don't understand why the locals are complaining about 10 degs - we've been sleeping in a van below freezing all week!

A van; sleeping below freezing; for a week; what were we thinking!