Hooray for Virgin Atlantic! We missed our original flights from Sydney to Christchurch and as a result Air New Zealand kindly cancelled all of our subsequent flights with them. Visiting Virgin Atlantic (our Round the World ticket issuer) in Sydney to see what they could do about reinstating our cancelled tickets, they not only reinstated our cancelled tickets and changed the dates to suit but actually provided us with a replacement flight from Sydney to Christchurch for the one we had missed. All free of charge. Absolute legends! The serving of frozen fruit, broken entertainment system and rude hostesses on our London to Delhi flight is forgotten.

So here we are in New Zealand and I guess if anywhere was going to make me feel homesick, it was going to be here. Welcomed to Christchurch by crisp spring temperatures and overcast skies, the surroundings of pleasant low rise buildings could have placed me in many a rural English town. Old trams, fish and chips, green parks, bargain roast beef at the local carvery, an old fashioned family run bed and breakfast with a full English for breaky all served to remind me of home.

We spent two days in Christchurch recovering from the madness of trying sell the Matilda and preparing for our time here. After the freedom that our van granted us in Oz, there seemed like no better way to travel here. Due to our time scale, though, buying was not on the cards so we spent the best part of a day checking out all the rental companies to see what was on offer. Just coming out of low season there were supposedly some good deals to be had.

We suspected that we would have to settle for one of the old Wicked or Awesome Campers which are decoratively painted but old, basic and quite small inside (after the pop top of our Matilda anything which I could not stand up in would seem cramped). As luck would have it Britz had a price freeze on their winter prices and they offered us a Toyota Hi Ace hi top for $49 (nz) a day. That was a mere $4 (less than two euros) more than Wicked and actually cheaper than Awesome. Awesome!

It gets better though. Upon arrival at the hire centre I was upgraded to a Maui camper for free(same company, sort of, but with a much newer fleet). So we set off on our journey of the south island in a 2005 Toyota Hi Ace, a beast that is 25 years newer than our beloved Matilda, and I can tell you the difference is incredible. It wasn’t long before she was christened Mauilda.

We’d originally expected to arrive in winter, but due to our extended time in Oz it is actually spring here. That gave us limited time to get up into the snow and strap some planks of wood to our feet. Thankfully the distances here are minuscule (at least compared to where we came from). Seeing three figures on the distances to towns on the road signs is a rarity here. In Oz distances were often four figures!

Thanks to this, on day two in Mauilda we found ourselves driving up a breath taking gravel road to some 2000 plus metres above sea level to Mount Hut, one of the south island’s better ski resorts. The road was incredible, hairpin bends, alpine scenery, sheer cliff faces to either side all on a narrow dirt track got me thinking about the Pikes Peak Hill climb. For those that know what I’m talking about, yes, the temptation to rant a rear wheel drive hire car sideways up the mountain Ari Vatanen style was all too real, but I managed to refrain. Probably something to do with the large insurance excess on the van, my girlfriend sitting beside me and the several hundred metre drops less than a tyre’s width away from the side of the road.

We were blessed with beautiful weather. Clear blue skies and bright warm sunshine left us overdressed with all the ski gear on. There is not much more to say other than that I really enjoyed the day hurtling down the mountain strapped to a snowboard, then returning to the top via the lifts taking in the magnificent views. I need to get on the slopes more often.

We followed this up with several relaxed days trekking in the mountains at different locations on our way towards Mount Cook. We took in Rakaia Gorge, Shraplins Falls, Woolshed creek and Lake Tekapo. 4 days, 4 treks. At this rate I might actually get fit.

This place is truly stunning. The first taste of which came as we passed over the southern alps on our flight from Sydney. I’ve not seen an ugly sight yet with beautiful snow capped mountains, shimmering blue lakes and wonderful driving roads. On top of that, this camper van lark seems even easier than Oz being able to stop pretty much anywhere and camp. The roads are empty (the population is one quarter that of London in a country bigger than Britain) and we are covering short distances giving me plenty of time to read and attempt to get this blog up to date.