Vern: We woke up to terrible weather in Franz Josef, very grey and drizzling, and made our way to the parking lot for the Franz Josef glacier. The glacier is in a national park and like all parks is free to visit. New Zealand is rather amazing like this, the Department of Conservation is responsible for so much gorgeous land and maintain so many walks, and all are free to locals and tourists! Round the back of the van, we prepared our cereal in the parking-lot a...

Andrea: We woke up beachside with the waves of the "Wild West Coast" crashing below the car. It was great to wake up there, which is what I thought until it was time to boil the kettle. We have a bit of trouble with our morning coffee on the tiny gas stove when it's windy and it doesn't get much windier than next to a crashing beach in the winter. After 45 minutes of us dancing around the kettle trying to figure out where the wind was coming from and block it, mo...

Andrea: Waking up in our 'Wolf Creek' campsite was much less scary than it had been the night before. And, we weren't dead so that was great. We drove through what the guide book described as 'Up-and-coming' Murchison, a town with a population of 850, and somehow resisted the urge to stop and party. We are very responsible. Just after Murchison is Buller Gorge, a base for white-water rafting and kayaking. We also resisted the urge to do those things, but we did s...

Vern: In the morning, after a cup of coffee boiled on our gas stove and a bowl of cereal we followed the short trail to Hawkes Lookout and enjoyed a sweeping valley view. Then Andrea took up behind the wheel, only her second time driving on the left, and took us up and down a large mountain, and then onto a gravel road and into the Abel Tasman National Park. The Abel Tasman Coastal Trek is a popular summer 4-day walk in and out of dense forest and across the beac...

Vern: We landed back in Auckland and picked up the camper-van we'd rented for the month from a company called Jucy. The 'Jucy Crib' is a 1998 minivan which has been converted. The back seats have been replaced with two benches facing each other, under each is storage, and when you slot a plank between these, voila - you have a bed. Facing the back door are a gas-stove, a fridge (think electrified cooler box) and a sink. Even a DVD player is mounted to the back co...