New Zealand

 Milford Sound was top priority and we wanted to do a hard-core kayaking trip. We had probably seen a photo like this in a brochure and thought "Hell Yeah!  That's us!" After finding a caravan park, we settled on this trip for the next day.  Although I have no idea why, because we were neither experienced kayakers or morning people.  So it was with a certain sense of foreboding that I rugged up in bed in our van that night.  A sense of doom that skyrocketed at about 3am when a violent storm woke me up.  The heavy rain and wind rocked the van and I thought 'surely the trip will be canceled.'       Wrong! The guide was ready to rock at 6 am, despite the sheeting rain and gale-force wind.  There were no refunds (and we had paid a pretty penny for the trip) so against our better judgement we climbed into head-to-toe waterproof onesies, and squeezed into our kayaks.  And it was actually ok!  And a lot of fun! The rain eased off...

Driving around and living in our Kombi was so much fun.  Even though it was summer, the temperatures were chilly.  I loved our cosy little meals in Ni-Van.   But we weren't in New Zealand to play cubby houses!  We were here to explore the country.