An Upside-Down Christmas

Merry Christmas! Vrolijke Kerstdagen! Frohe Weihnachten! Feliz Natal!

We left the beach in Golden Bay and started working our way down south. Overnight at the Nelson Lakes we were surprised to find Mr Van Bommel's doppelganger camping next to us! A good look-a-like but unfortunately nothing like the real thing.

The next day, after fighting off hundreds of vicious little sand flies, we hit the West Coast. Living up to its wild reputation, we were battered by the wind and covered in sea spray as we drove down the coast road. The road goes from Westport to Haast and is the same distance as Auckland to Wellington on the North Island. The beauty of having six weeks in New Zealand is that we can take our time and so we didn't need to rush down the road.
We stopped for lunch on rugged, drift-wood covered beaches, went to see the famous Pancake Rocks and gradually worked our way down towards the glaciers.

At the Franz Joseph glacier we found an amazing campsite, just outside of town with spectacular views of the glacier and surrounding mountains. The sun came out and we could see the snow, but unlike you all in England we could sit outside in our T-shirts and shorts, drinking beer and keep up our suntans!

By this time the rest of the Kerridges were in Wanaka on the otherside of the mountains, so we jumped in the camper for a long drive to meet them. The road led us away from the coast at Haast and through the Haast Pass with its stunning rivers and waterfalls, to Lake Wanaka. We met up with the rest of the clan on the shores of the lake and after swimming in the icy-cold water, had a BBQ.

Wanaka is probably our favourite place so far in New Zealand. The huge lake is surrounded by mountains, with snow-capped peaks in the distance. The town itself has a really nice vibe and lots of cafes and bars to go people watching.

On Christmas Eve, rather than the usual day's skiing, we hired bikes and cycled around the lake. Nikky, who was was adamant to prove that she could cycle the fastest, led the way and soon disappeared into the distance. Once we had all caught up, we caught our breath had a picnic at the lake. Back at the campsite, we managed to dig out some lesser-creased and stained clothes from our backpacks, polished off a bottle of local bubbly and made our way to a nice seafood restaurant in town.

I hope you are all enjoying your Christmas and festive days! It's Christmas Day here now, another beautiful day in New Zealand and we're looking forward to another BBQ by the lake tonight. Tomorrow the family heads to Christchurch to fly home and go skiing. We will certainly miss them and it will be back to pasta and cheap wine for us!

We are heading to Queenstown tomorrow and then on to Milford Sound. We will be back in Wanaka for New Year's Eve. So if we don't manage to update this blog before then, it's Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from us!