Off we go!

So we picked up our lovely Camper (Edmund) and off we set on our New Zealand adventure. It is at this point that we lost all internet and all of our devices died simultaneously, so apologies for the lack of posting, and I’m not going to bore you with the details, but you can have a summary of what we’ve been up to and some pictures instead.

Firstly we went off exploring the Bank Peninsula-the remnants of a volcano and a simply beautiful drive-I’d definitely recommend it.

You've got to love a country that has a free box of toys on the beach and trusts that no-one will steal it! 

Day two we headed to Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki (magical) where we had a little swim in the crystal-clear water underneath a backdrop of snow-tipped mountains. We then drove to Oamaru, a town famed for its smart Victorian buildings and little penguin night-visitors. We staked out the beach until dark, but only one tiny penguin in the murky dusk did we spy. He was worth it though! 

Day three we drove to Dunedin and enjoyed wondering around the centre. Imagine our shock when we travel to the other side of the world and stumble across an international Bagpipe competition!! There must easily have been 6 different groups (what do you call a group of bagpipers?!...a Whine of Bagpipers? An Annoyance of Bagpipers?) all competing very seriously. It was actually maddeningly enjoyable.

In the evening, we went to the Highlanders vs Christchurch Crusaders Rugby match. For those of you like myself who don’t know much about New Zealand Rugby, this is BIG. It’s a bit like Liverpool playing Man U, but rather than being supported by drunken northern Chavs (am I allowed to say that?) you have drunken Maoris who are a arguably more scary, but less annoying. So anyway, we happened to be in town, so we got ourselves some tickets (I say ‘happened’, this was actually part of a big Master Plan cooked up in Christchurch). Brodie was almost peeing himself with excitement and I have to say I was rather excited too! We backed the home team (Highlanders) for fear of getting beaten to a pulp by local beer-wielding Kiwis, but alas we lost. Still it was good fun!