We dropped the van off in Christchurch on Sunday, after more than 6000km and 46 days on the road. It was quite a trip - amazing scenery, interesting people, and some splendidly mixed weather. Snow in Invercargill turned to blazing sunshine up at the Mount Cook National Park, where we swam in the Blue Lakes beside the Tasman Glacier. In between we'd had a fantastic time spotting wildlife on the Catlins Coast, Otago Peninsula and Oamaru: sealions on the beaches; elephant seals and NZ fur seals at Nugget Point; Royal Albatrosses at the end of Otago Peninsula; and a special highlight - watching rare Yellow Eyed Penguins waddle ashore after a hard day's fishing from a DOC hide at Roaring Bay. The culmination of our wildlife-spotting extravaganza however was at the lovely town of Oamaru, north of Dunedin, where we visited the Blue Penguin colony. Here we had a tour of the nests, peered into the smelly dark depths to spy the chicks and egg-incubating adults, and later, as darkness descended, watched rafts of penguins coming ashore. There were apparently 256 of them, and we were able to get very close and appreciate their comical-looking behaviour as they headed, exhausted, back to their nest-burrows to feed the chicks. That nicely completed our penguin-spotting odyssey, as we had now spotted all three NZ mainland species in the wild (the other was a pair of Fiordland Crested Penguins at Milford Sound).

Last night we went "trick or treating". It was great. Edie dressed up as a wizard and I dressed up as Harry Potter. My hair was sprayed black and Neal put a scar on my head using red facepaints. We got lots of sweets but we had to do a performance first. We did a little kind of role-play thing about magic and we sand a song in Chinese. That was easy but everyone was very impressed. We got back after dark and it was very late so I was glad that we could just flop into bed. It was a great night. I managed to wash my hair spray out but Edie still has purple eye brows, thanks to mum going crazy with the makeup. People still give Edie funny looks when they see her face. 

After a day of food shopping, laundry, swimming, internet and general wet weather activities, we are going to continue round this southern coast to Dunedin. 10 days until we return Vera to Christchurch.

We don't let the roadsigns put us off! One of the definite highlights of the last week was a two-day trip up Raspberry Creek, in the Mt Aspiring National Park. The 30 miles of gravel took us to a great camp spot by the river, from where we explored the Rob Roy valley. A 5-hour tramp took us up to the Rob Roy glacier where we played with a kea and watched avalanches thunder down the mountain. Beautiful weather, clear blue skies and barely another van in sight.

As well as a trip up Mount Iron, a highlight of our day in Wanaka was a visit to Puzzling World - offered as a prize if the girls completed the hill walk. The three challenging maizes left us exhausted and Edie had to retire to the cafe for a break. Her favourite was the illusion rooms, where balls seemed to run uphill and she was taller than Ali. Paul, you would have loved it!

While exploring the West coast we stopped off at Franz Josef glacier, an easy one-hour walk up from the valley. In a very short distance, in fact, one moves from lush, green forest to rocky glacial moraine. Lesley combined this outing with a run, taking in a few

A lot of the services we use rely on honesty boxes for payment, including this hill station selling eggs. If not 'freedom camping' we continue to make use of the basic but scenic Dept of Conservation sites dotted around the island. They also rely on campers self-registering and posting the camp fees in a secure box. By the time we wake up at 8ish, most of the other vans have already gone. Early getaways to avoid the DOC ranger perhaps?

We haven't seen a kiwi in the wild yet, despite numerous road warnings. We have, however, been spotting a number of other birds - the girls' new hobby. Recently spotted feathered friends include: kea, fantail, tomtit, rifleman, bell bird and Fiordland Crested penguin - yippeee.

Don't worry - we haven't killed ourselves bungee-jumping, skydiving or jetboating, we just haven't been around an internet hotspot for a while! Currently in Wanaka, South Island having travelled down the west coast and over the Haast Pass. For the last 2 days we've been up at Mount Aspiring enjoying the views and doing some walks (the weather's great at the moment - but not for long!). Lesley and the girls are currently off enjoying a horse trek up at Cardrona (thanks Grandparents, for the sub!) while Ali does the laundry, shopping and email chores. Off to Queenstown and Fiordland next. More news soon...watch this space.