Tuesday 17th November Travelling west over Arthur's Pass Kowai Reserve turned out much better than expected. It was chosen for its position, two thirds of the way between sea and mountains, at the edge of the Canterbury plains, just outside the network of roads surrounding Christchurch. It was right next to the highway and railway, cheap and easy to find. On waking we found ourselves in a lovely woodland clearing. There were other campers there too, but also t...

Sunday 15th November Farewell Spit to Kaikoura As predicted, it rained heavily all night, so we felt even cosier than usual in the Madge Beach Bar. It did at least stay dry until darkness fell so that a)we could enjoy our view across the sand flats to the spit, and b)the car campers sharing our bit of beach could cook, eat, wash up in the stream and dive under their duvets before the downpour. We expected to wake to heavy rain, but no. There was a warm glow i...

Monday 16th November Kaikoura What a dramatic change in the weather! After last night's freezing rain, today dawned with clear blue skies and dazzling sunshine across the water. There was still a pretty chilly breeze but from our nest we could see the waves breaking over the rocks and pebbles of the beach next to Madge's wheels and, moreover, a dozen or so New Zealand fur seals swimming, playing and lolling on the rocks. Having decided that this was probably o...

Saturday 14th November Abel Tasman National Park - The North coast. Beautiful red sky at dawn today (Uh-oh). Luckily we were parked on the wharf next to the sea and there were no shepherds about to give any weather warnings. We had viewed two weather forecasts yesterday evening and didn't like either of them, so planned to find something better at the i-site later today.... After watching the sunrise from our private east facing ocean view bedroom with a mug...

Friday 13th November It was a very cold night last night and we woke a couple of times despite having two duvets on our bed! It was equally cold at 5.40 when Bill woke up and went to see if the sun had risen. It hadn't. He returned to try to encourage some enthusiasm for the event from the tousle headed lump under the duvets, and, after a mug of hot tea, was successful. The sun rose most beautifully over the distant Bryant mountains beyond Nelson and then illum...