New Zealand

Ah where to start??? We went there in November 2008 for my sisters wedding. She got married in Akaroa http://www.akaroa.com/fpnew/fastpage/fpengine.php/templateid/204. It was so beautiful. As I was in the wedding party we got to get a yacht over to the reception. I mean where else can you do that??? We swam with the smallest wild dolphins in the world. They were so playful and the team that took us out were amazing.
It is a very small village but great! We went to see http://www.thegiantshouse.co.nz/ The Giants house. You should book in advance and stay there. We didn't but it looked like a fun place to stay!!

We went back to Christchurch to pick up our campervan which we were getting the next day. We stayed in the YMCA http://www.ymcachch.org.nz/accommodation/ and I could not recommend it enough. The room was spacious and we had a balcony. There was no breakfast but there are so many great places to it!
We went to the http://www.styxandstone.co.nz/food.aspx and cooked our own food. We actually loved this so much went a second time when we got back to drop the campervan off. We stayed in http://www.heritagehotels.co.nz/christchurch/ Hertitage Hotel and it was very nice. Cheap as well!! No breakfast included but there is a lovely restaurant across the road that does a fantastic breakfast so I would head there!

What I liked about travelling in New Zealand with a campervan was the fact that the sites were in the town and cheap where as in Australia they are outside the town and more expensive.

We started from Christchurch and drove to Greymouth apparently that is the biggest town on the west coast. You could have fooled me as you could see tumble weed in the streets. Anyway we pulled up to the side of the road and went off to bed.
The next morning we headed off to Westport where we saw where my sister and her husband lived and worked. http://www.gentleannie.co.nz/photos She ran the cow shed. The beach and views were amazing.
We then said out goodbyes to my sister and we headed off to Hokitia. We spent the night just off the main road and then headed into town for some breakfast and Peter did some shopping. Kind of reminder me of the old western movies!
We went to see the Punakaiki rocks which on a good day like we had they made a lot of noise and came up past us. They are a must see.
We went to Wanaka and compared to Queenstown this is definitely much better. You can do most the adventure that Queenstown offers but at less cost. Queenstown is where we did our bungy jump. We did it http://www.bungy.co.nz/kawarau-bungy-centre/kawarau-bungy Kawarau Bridge which was the first orginial bungy. I prefered it as you were falling into a river as apposed to hard ground not that it makes it any easier to jump!! I don't think I would do that again. We did a skydive as well and I would definitely do that again. We did that in Wanaka http://www.skydivewanaka.com/ over lake Wanaka. We got the package that includes a video but another person jumps with you to take the video. Much better! We did some jet boating http://www.kjet.co.nz/ which was enjoyable but I have doen it a number of times. If your not in the front the view isn't as good.
While in Wanaka you have to go to the cinema. Its really old with couchs to sit on. Kids can sit in cars as well and they even have an intermission! http://www.paradiso.net.nz/about_the_cinema.html You have to go there. It was one of our friends so we had gotten t-shirts printed for his birthday and everyone their kept commenting on them!
http://www.dineout.co.nz/restaurant.php?rest=6693 Speights Ale house does really good food. We actually went here twice, it was that good!

Dunedin is a college town so loads of young people out and about. This was

Ottawa

Went to Ottawa for the Winterlude festival http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/winterlude/ It was so good. We stayed http://www.travelodge.com/Travelodge/control/Booking/property_info?propertyId=14048&cid=GTFTL&brandInfo=TL in the travel lodge and it really was downtown. If your looking for a room to chill out in, I would definitely not recommend it. It is small and very old but for us on a budget and being out and about it didn't matter. We went down with a family and they stayed in the Minto Suites http://www.minto.com/find-a-hotel-in-ottawa/projects.html and they were amazing. If you have a family it is a very good idea. You also get a little kitchen so you can bring in your own food.
We got there late so just had a few beers but the next day we were straight down to the canel for some ice-skating. Damien had only skated once before. The skates were about $20 to rent for 2 hrs with a $50 deposit which you get back on return of the skates. 2 hours was enough as we were pretty wrecked when we got to the 1km sign. We stopped and got Beaver Tails. They are so good. They are dough with different toppings. We got Chocolate on one and Cinnemon & Sugar on the other. I could have eaten them all day but that would not be good. Damien got some maple syrup on a stick..
We dropped back the skates and went for a pint in the Black Tomato. It was definitely for adults but the menu looked very good.
After that we went to Parliament hill and took pictures of that and the court house. After that we went to the Currency museum which is free and very interesting. They do all currencies and where they came from. The staff were friendly and helpful also.
After that we went to D'arcy McGee's which is of course is another Irish pub. Like all Irish pubs its over priced and packed but we got 2 pitchers and it wasn't too bad.
The next day we went to the Museum of Civilisation http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/home. It was fantasic. For only $12 it was really good and they have a really good childrens museum.
After that we went to see the ice slides. They were great but we didn't want to get wet!!

Ottawa is a great capital city and I would recommend visiting!

Montreal

Well what a city????
It was so nice to be back in Europe or what felt like Europe. The city looked old, your taxes were included and most of all they all spoke French.
It was not as I had expected.
The car journey takes about 8hrs so I would definitely advise stopping half way and spending the night there unless you really like driving and its a nice day.
Its any easy drive but as its a highway from Toronto to there, there isn't much to see. We stopped in Brockville which is a nice harbour town. As it was Autumn the leaves were all a beautiful wine colour.
When we got there unfortunately for us, like all travels we had reserved a hotel room online. I know never the best but lucky for us we hadn't paid anything so we declined to take it. We ended up The Best Western Downtown http://book.bestwestern.com/bestwestern/productInfo.do?propertyCode=67013 It was the best we could find. We went for dinner in the http://www.schwartzsdeli.com/ Schwartz for dinner and it did not disappoint. This place is famous for its food and service. Celine Dion among many greats have eaten there. We went for the plate of meat which comes with bread, some sides of Fries, Pickles and Peppers. The service had to have been the best as they really don't care. We were only new to Canada so we were not sure what Smoked Meat was and they just pointed at someone elses plate to explain. You go in though expecting that so we still tipped. After that we strolled back to the hotel as we were very full....
The next day we headed off to the old town of Montreal were we saw Notre Dame, city hall and a protest.... We did the walking tour of the old city. It was by far the more French and you could stop in little cafes for hours.
After this we went up Mont Royal. The view of the city was amazing and watching the sun set, I reckon there have been a lot of proposals up there. It is someone so relaxed in such a vibrant city.
We opted to try some drinks and food. We went to Brutopia on Cresent St http://www.crescentmontreal.com/en_crescent_merchants_pubs_clubs_bars.htm There are loads of places to go there. I wouldn't recommend going there for food as the food was not good but I would recommend their own brewed beer.

All in all I recommend Montreal, I wonder if had we come to Canada first would we have settled there instead of Toronto?????.....