Where do I start?

Hello all, as promised I Polly am the author of this update and have I picked an update to do! So much has happened since our last blog, for starters the weather was much better, I say was because it's just started raining again! Boo hiss!!!

Ok I'll start from where we left off.

Nelson
This is where we met up with our Swedish friends again, not much to report on the place except we had a less than average curry for dinner in an establishment called The Indian Cafe, and we stayed in a hosel called aptly named 'Backpackers',the double room we opted for after seeing the other clientele (lots of crusties and men with long greasy hair)was very reasonable.
After a very short stay here we decided to make our way futher north to the Able Tasmen National Park, but before we did that we had a job to do, to turn Betsy into a mobile bed! We bought a matress (single was the only size that would squeeze past our wheel arches)along with some material for making curtains (blue with gold flowers), some pillows and a brown fleecy blanket. She looked amazing!
We made our way up the coast followed closley by the Swedes in their Spacecar (a people carrier cleaverly made into a campervan complete with DVD!)not vary spacious I hasen to add. The views where spectacular especially now the cloud had lifted and we made our way slowly up the windy hill road to the entrance to the park. The walk itself ran along the edge of the cliffs and skirted round the edge of several massive golden beaches. We stopped at one of these for our lunch (coffee and bannana's) We then headed back to the car and went to find somewhere to sleep!
We ended up next to a motorway in a free campsite where we tested out the back of the car as a bed... very nice although a slight squash!
This is when the fun began. Our plans were to proceed along to the West coast and do some glacier walking. However, the car, had other ideas! We were roughly thirty miles out of Motueka when the dreaded engine judder came back! Queue hasty call to the AA whom we had joined only four days ago. Verdict: Electronic and Transmission problems... To top it off, we couldnt get the key out the ignition, the air con stopped working and the gearstick would stick in park! The AA reluctantly gave us a budget of $800 to get a hire car, the car towed back to Christchurch and accommodation for the night. Anyway, it didnt cover the towage costs and a decision was made to drive back ourselves with the four wheel drive disabled. We ended up using the accommodation budget of $120 and picked a swanky flat with a jacuzzi!
Drove back to Christchurch on Saturday (all 500km) and took the car to the garage where we were told that nothing could be done until monday and we would have to stay in the city until then. They gave us a courtesy car which we drove off and promptly died in the middle of the street as it was completely drained of petrol.
So here we are.. total cost of car problems.. $500 and rising fast.. we need to stay here another night as there is no promise that the car will be fixed in time to leave today.. we dont know what to do and get angrier by the minute. Note to all: Do not buy a car from the back packer car bizarre!

weather has improved though!