Only a short drive from Dunedin, Otago Peninsula has a great diversity of wildlife, including the world’s only mainland royal albatross colony and penguins on an adjacent beach.

Known as “Edinburgh of the South” Dunedin’s Scottish heritage is evident, together with its large student population, being home to New Zealand’s oldest university. We were there for three nights taking in a cricket match and some amazing scenery and wildlife on the Otago Peninsula.

We took the aptly named Southern Scenic route to Dunedin, including the most Southern point of the South Island and well worth the extra miles – mountains, rivers, beaches and an unexpected suspension bridge in the middle of nowhere.

We took a day over the drive to and from Milford Sound taking in a number of stops for walks and views. Milford Sound itself was “atmospheric” (Fiordland gets 5m of rain a year while London gets 0.6m- we had less than our fair share over our four days); brochure picture also attached for comparison. We also saw a kea (the worlds only alpine parrot) taking a liking to a tourist’s car.

The Kepler track is one of the great New Zealand walks designed to take the pressure off the Milford Track. The full walk is 4-5 days; we did one section through rainforest to Lake Manapouri.

Doubtful Sound was named by Captain Cook as he was “doubtful” that he could sail his ship out of the sound and so did not enter. It is ten times the size of Milford Sound but less accessible, requiring a lake crossing followed by a land trip before arriving at the Sound; it is therefore less visited.

Our first stop in the South Island was at Lake Te Anau, the second largest lake in New Zealand and gateway to the Fiords. We stayed at a spectacular lodge, a far cry from our camping experience. As we learned , the weather here is very changeable and we experienced most things, other than snow !

Heading north from Pakiri we made our way up the coast to Whangaruru, a harbour just south of the Bay of Islands – very quiet with beautiful beaches. The site was smaller and more basic that Pakiri, but the location stunning – literally at the end of the road, unless you count the road that continues along the beach in front of the site. Among the few other campers we met a farming family from the Bay of Plenty who took us on a trip around the harbour on their boat and also caught our lunch for us.

In spite of Tim’s reservations, we booked a (six berth !) camper van for a week. Heading North from Auckland our first stop was at Pakiri Beach, two miles down an unsealed track, a recommendation from Suzanne. It was an excellent start enabling Tim to relax into the camping way of life. We met some very nice fellow campers, borrowing a corkscrew (we managed to buy one of the few wines in Martinborough with corks) and taking recommendations for our onward journey. We even coped with the “50 cents for four minutes in the shower”.

We spent a few nights in Auckland before heading North in a camper van. Our hotel overlooked the quay where we saw the Queen Elizabeth dock, arriving from San Francisco. We ate in a number of fantastic restaurants and experienced traffic almost as bad as London.