DEliTOUR: Sheep country

We had one month in New Zealand, during which we were accompanied by our trusty steed, Fiddy. We flew into Christchurch on South Island via Auckland and went to the camper depot with fear and trepidation filling our hearts. We had signed up for a Wicked Camper you see. They are the cheapest, known for their rough and ready no-frills approach, but also known for the graffiti that adorns their vehicles. Most of it is amateurish, garish and vulgur. Some of it is downright offensive. We had already come across some examples online and we knew that some Australian caravan parks had banned Wicked vans. Its all publicity though I guess. At the depot we saw someone drive off with Cream (with the band emblazoned on the side) and then, after they tried to stiff us with a cheaper model we got Fiddy. He got his moniker as he has "750 Rebels" tagged down both sides. It turns out that 750 Rebels are an little known Australian stoner rap crew. Wicked also don't charge for scratches and dents. And it was very clean inside. The only irk was that on the back in childish spray graffiti was written "can you breathe through your ears?". It was just stupid. But we loved Fiddy from the off. It was automatic. It was a Toyota people carrier, converted to have a wooden bed base in the back, split into three; two compartments for storage and the middle one lifted out to form a table. Foam mattresses, duvets and sheets were included. In the back was a tiny sink unit, for connection to water bottle, a big camping gaz burner, a cool box and basic cooking and eating gear, with enough spare room to store all the goodies we would soon be buying from our favourite place in NZ: Pack'n'Save.

Fiddy had a weakness. Unlike real campers (sorry Fiddy) it only had the normal car battery, which had already been run down a few times. At first we didn't realise how weak it was. By the end of the month we had needed a jump start 4 times (thank heavens they provided jump leads) but we had also jump started 2 other campers. I had a habit of leaving the lights on but also the radio or any night lights were a menace when with the engine off.

Our itineray followed a figure of eight around South Island for 18 days and then an 's' up through North Island. We started with Christchurch town; Akoroa and a boat trip to see tiny blue penguins and tiny Hector's dolphins; stunning Alpine scenery at Mount Cook; more yellow penguin spotting on the coast; vintage Dunedin; stunning waterfalls and beaches of the Catlins area in the south of South Island; Milford and fiordland (next post); lovely, desirable but exclusive Queenstown; the glaciers (Fox and Franz Josef); surf vibe on the west coast; gorgeous tropical beaches of Abel Tasman national park; and the ferry view of the Cook Straight as we crossed over to the North.

From Wellington we headed north-east and saw the neo-deco of touristy Napier; surfside Gisbourne; the geothermal mecca of Rotorua; glorious lakeside Taupo; big metropolis Auckland; the start of famous 90 mile beach; and the quite gorgeous Bay of Islands are north of Auckland.

Every other night we would find a free park camp area or park in a tranquil or idyllic layby. The other nights we would check into a fantastic caravan park with kitchen gear, hot showers and often Internet and movies. On South Island we found Dusty's Caravan park in the quiet surf town of Colac Bay. Dusty had a pub, a campsite and farm animals you could feed. A terrific combination.

We had fish'n'chips once, and, apart from that, we always ate in or around Fiddy. We ate mostly as we do at home. It was great to eat loads of pasta, fried breakfasts, muesli, yogurt and cheese. Cheese, cheese, cheese. We ate over 6 kilos of cheese in a month - and that's not including some that might have been hiding in food already. And we had our fair share of beer, wine and, of course, Kniffel. You see, after my failed gambling debacle (back to Nicaragua) I had become invincible at Backgammon so we set about the Kniffel. Once we had dined, the ambient torch was on, the last of the wine was poured, the biscuits were opened, we would break out the dice and worship the gods of Kniffel. It is Yatzy, the 5 dice game, but played with German names, so you get to speak 'like zis yah' and we have played it religiously ever since NZ. Though we had already started in Columbia experimenting with soft Kniffling, we were now onto the hard stuff. We found Yatzy paper in some no name town in NZ (thuogh of course we crossed out all the Yatzy words and wrote their German names instead - on every page!) and we played 2-3 three line games every night. It kept our mathematical minds alert (we will never be shortchanged again) and helped to pass the time as we listened the sound of the lake, breeze, wildlife or a-road nearby.

Fiddy had good legroom once the table was down and the foam mattresses were in place for bed. And out on the road it performed well. Though fuel economy was dismal in spite of my tinkering with the overdrive control and experiements with freewheeling. We covered over 5000km in a month that was filled with the most awesome scenery. You could never tire of the gorgeous farmland, alpine rising, swathes of beach, tropical forest, waterfalls (spring rain had them pumping everywhere) and the sheep. There are a lot less of them than there used to be - down from 135 million to 40 million or something - and all the best lamb is exported - but they are everywhere - and we loved them. When we get caught in a sheep jam we would happily watch them flitting past us in hazy delight. Often the farmer would race up on his quad bike and remind us to move on and stop oggling his flock. In Kaikora we wook a long walk around the spectacular rocky penninsular and decided to check the sheep show at the end. We expected the coach party to arrive any minute but instead we were sat down on the porch, given tea, and then given a private show featuring wool, shearing, rams, sheep and lambs, which we got to feed, which was nice.

And we took a lot of walks. We walked up dormant ski resorts, mountainous ravines, waterfalls, nature walks, swamp walks, coastal walks - always stunning scenery - most of it jawdropping. I couldn't tire of the driving through endless fields, flanked by huge towering immaculate bushes, with lakeland and snow-crested mountains rising in the distance.

And on North Island we were not disappointed by geothermal Rotorua. We took the plunge in the mud spa (a long held fantasy for me fulfilled), saw geysers, boiling mud pools, mud volcanoes, all kinds of bubbling muddy things all over the place - and we found Kerosene Creek. Off the beaten track and famous as a car crime spot. We wandered up the path and found a hot stream, with mini hot waterfalls, no one around and indescribable magic.