New Zealand 2002

Kathryn, five weeks in a campervan in winter? - surely not! Oh yes! One of the finest adventures we had ever been on in a country which has to be the most beautiful in the world.

From the top, photos show Mitre Peak from the boat as we went on a cruise through Milford Sound, then there is a picture of Auckland from Alison's boat, Kathryn at the top of the hill overlooking Christchurch (on our last day - very sad day handing back the campervan to which we had become very attached). Then below there's Kathryn on the Luge in Queenstown (it became quite a fun activity for us), Ice caving at Franz Josef Glacier and the famous Lady Knox geyser at Rotorua.

We also managed our first skiing experience together - both in the North (Whakapapa) and South Islands (Cardrona) so that Kathryn is on her skis at Cardrona where we nearly ran our of petrol on the slippery slope up, then some bubbling mud at Rotorua and a photo of the scenery in the North island.

Then it's Damien fishing on Alison's boat off the Auckland coast (no we didn't catch anything), Mirror Lake (for obvious reasons) near Mount Cook, Damien doing a tandem parachute jump from 12,000 ft and Kathryn showing off her snazzy Glacier walking gear! Landing on top of the Glacier in a helicopter was a thrill.

At the bottom you can see the campervan (the second one as the first one had leaked!) parked up at yet another beautiful area for a cup of tea or mug of soup - that was the beauty of this trip, stop anywhere anytime for as long as we wanted. Then there's Damien enjoying the sunshine on the coast in the North Island - the day we locked the keys in the campervan with the kettle still boiling........ (thank goodness for weak window catches!). The weather was such that there was sunbathing to be had in the North Island and then a memorable snowball fight in a blizzard in the South Island - how crazy is that? And finally the two of us in the infrequently visited area of Orakei Krako - very special, as you have to get a canoe to get to it.

We had a stopover in Singapore (just for one night) on the way there where we explored the city and went on a boat tour. We even managed to find Raffles. Many, many happy memories!