Christchurch, Dunedin, Queenstown

So we're in New Zealand! It's been such a busy week so far.
Turns out that New Zealand is really, really cold! Flew into Christchurch and it was 5 degrees! We had our first day wondering around Christchurch. It's quite a small city, although is the 2nd biggest in NZ! Very english in nature. We wandered around the cathedral and the botanical gardens, and had an amazing lunch! The food/restaurants here are amazing and we certainly been eating well. We had a few drinks that night before heading back for a chilled night out playing cards.
We got our campervan on the Wednesday - wow it is a beast! There is loads of room for all of us and even a little toilet/shower combo. It is quite easy to drive, and all of us has had a go so far. Matt did the first leg, which was quite easy and involved going straight for 6 hours, the roads are pretty simple here!! So we drove down to Dunedin, stopping for lunch in Timaru on the way.
We were driving to see one of Matt's work colleagues who is from NZ. We met up with them and went to here parents house for dinner - a roast! It was amazing, and we helped celebrate her birthday and ate cake! Here mum likes knitting and so there were all these crazy dolls about the place.
So we left there late in the evening and found our first campsite to stay in. We finally got a chance to unpack and figure out how everything works and settled down to our first night.
The following day I had my first driving experience of 'Steve', the campervan. We managed to find a supermarket and stocked up on lots of food and wine. They have these deals with wine, where if the label has fallen off, they put a plain lable on and sell it really cheaply. So we are getting really posh bottles of sauvignon blanc for about 4 pounds!!
We wanted to go out to the albatross centre, which is the only mainland nesting site for royal albatrosses. It was actually really cool, as these birds are huge!!! Their wing span is about 3m long. Anyway we saw about 3 chicks just sitting on the hill side and a few albatrosses coming into feed them. Was really cool. Unfortunately I was pretty terrified by this point as I had just driven the caravan along the windiest, single lane road in the hills. I suppose there is only one was to conquer your fears.....! The route back was a bit tamer as we followed the coastal route and had amazing views of the sea. We then started our 4/5 hour trip to Queenstown. Fortunately, the road their was pretty straight, even though it started raining. Anna completed the journey to Queenstown and we made it there by about 6.
We cooked our first dinner in the campervan - chilli salmon and scallop sauce with pasta - amazing! Also complimented by a nice bottle of chilled white wine! We then discovered the delights of Queenstown, and found Buffalos, and managed to hit happy hour! Some girls then started dancing on the bar, so the place was pretty lively quite quickly!
Up early on Friday morning as we wanted to book an activity. We had the morning free so we went up the skyline gondola, and the top of the hill gives you amazing views over Queenstown and the surrounding area. Also did a luge up there as well - drtiving these little carts downhill down a windy track!
OK I have run out of time so will update you with the rest of our adventures later. x x x
PS Photos on Facebook! xx