grounds of the picnic area. There were a few other tent campers but no other campervans, so we found ourselves the best pitch and parked up. We went for a nice little walk to stretch our legs after a good days driving, the air was so clean and fresh it was incredible. We were surrounded by high snowy peaks, it was just brilliant. We headed back to Bongo and cooked before it went dark, the only bad thing we have found in New Zealand is the pesky sandflies - they are evil and the bites hurt like hell, are really itchy and last for days. So we had started making sure we cooked before we needed the lights on, as they were a magnet for these horrible little critters. After we had eaten we started to realise how cold it had become, infact it was more than cold, it was bloody freezing. Out came the puffer coats and all of the other warms clothing we owned. I had bought a new hat, scarf and wait for hit, long-john type thermal leggings!!! It wasn’t long before I was wearing all of the above and this was inside the

van! Needless to say we didn’t go to bed very late so we up fairly early.

We woke up and could see sunshine over the mountain behind us but had to wait for the sun to rise high enough over the mountains before it shone down on us - it seemed to take an awful long time and was incredibly cold but the scenery made up for it, and as long as you kept moving it wasn’t too bad - yeah it was, nothing would make you warm, be it a brew or endless layers of clothes!!! Finally the sun peeped over the peak and Bongo got a small amount of sunshine, what a relief this was, it meant Rob could get started with his big walk breakfast! He had planned us a route up Helicopter Hill, which was around an hour and a half uphill but the views were supposed to be fantastic.

After breakfast we set off and