In October of 2003, Mike Wellman and I decided to head to New Zealand's South Island to take an extended look at the expanse of untamed wilderness and beauty that is New Zealand. Owing to a streak of "good luck" we were both unemployed at the time and it seemed like a good way to use the time.

We rented a camper van (Ford Transit Van converted to a 2+1 camper) and found tickets from Washington, DC through Los Angeles to Auckland, NZ and then finally to Christchurch, NZ, our pick-up point for the van.

This is the story of that intrepid trek. Each day, from the 1st of November, 2003 to the 25th of November, 2003, I will try to write up some appropriate anecdotes and trip log information in a somewhat standard format, with some of the pictures that we take along the way.

Date	Description
1-11-2003	Christchurch to Rakaia River Mouth
2-11-2003	Rakaia River Mouth to Lake Tekapo
3-11-2003	Lake Tekapo to Mount Cook
4-11-2003	Mount Cook to Kelceys Bush Camp Site
5-11-2003	Kelceys Bush Camp Site to Portobelo Vacation Camp
6-11-2003	Otago Peninsula to Curio Bay
7-11-2003	Curio Bay to Te Anau
8-11-2003	Milford Sound
9-11-2003	Doubtful Sound
10-11-2003	Queenstown and Wanaka
11-11-2003	Rob Roy Glacier Walk
12-11-2003	Wanaka to Fox Glacier
13-11-2003	Fox Glacier
14-11-2003	Franz Josef Glacier
15-11-2003	Arthur's Pass to Hanmer Springs
16-11-2003	Hanmer Springs to West Coast
17-11-2003	Northwest Coast
18-11-2003	The long road to Kaiteriteri
19-11-2003	Abel Tasman
20-11-2003	Abel Tasman II - Walking the Coastal Track