Throughout my career, I've been fortunate enough to be transported through time - whether to post-war Britain in Call the Midwife, or travelling back to Victorian times in The Railway Children in 1970. I have enjoyed acting in historical dramas, but I've always believed these worlds no longer existed. Then my husband John Tham and I visited New Zealand.
There is a lovely old-worldliness to the place, which is charming without being old-fashioned.
We found ourselves in a world full of surprises, where we made new friends, discovered stunning landscapes, ate exceptional food and drank world-class wine.The realisation that I was somewhere very special first occurred to me at Annandale on Banks Peninsula, a week or so into our adventure.
I was sitting on the porch of our converted shepherd's cottage, high on a hill, surrounded by 2,000ha of prime grazing land.
I marvelled at views of the Pacific Ocean and the snowy peaks of the Kaikoura Range.Inside, in the kitchen, the fridge was stocked with wine and our gourmet cook-at-home dinner, ordered before we'd left and organised on trays, with simple instructions.
John laid a log fire and we watched the sun set as we sipped bubbly - pure bliss. This extraordinarily beautiful countryside is only 30km from Christchurch.DON'T MENTION MIDDLE EARTH
Our journey had started at the Bay of Many Coves, a lodge that could only be reached by boat. It is in the Marlborough Sounds, in the northeasterly corner of the country's South Island and is a maze of channels and waterways created when the sea flooded an ancient river system.
On a recce of the surrounding area, I clambered up a trail to the top of the hills through ferns and was rewarded with spectacular views across the bays.
For a few days, we were away from roads. We would walk the many trails or take kayaks and meander along the coast.Then we were ready to start our exploration by car. New Zealand's South Island is as dramatic as it is diverse, changing within a few miles from The Lord of the Rings territory to deserted beaches. John was keen to avoid Tolkien associations, but some of the landscapes do make you think of Middle-Earth.We ventured along the most northerly tip of the South Island along the Queen Charlotte Track, stopping all the time to view the zigzag of waterways stretching out endlessly before us.
This first road led us to the Abel Tasman National Park, and the Resurgence Eco Lodge. The alpine-style cabin had an open-air bath enclosed by shutters.I soaked in warm water looking up at the forest while listening to the tui, the little native bird, gurgling its bell song around me. I was in the middle of a conservation area surrounded by wild woodland.
At the nearby Abel Tasman Coast Track, I swam in the turquoise waters along the coast and found my way inland along tracks lined with tree-ferns and waterfalls. I could have stayed here for much longer, but we had an itinerary to follow and had to move on.
STILL REBUILDINGBack on the road, I sampled some local delicacies en route south to Annandale and Banks Peninsula.
I tucked into fresh green-lipped mussels in Havelock and, as John was driving, I didn't hold back in tasting local vintages from an estate in the Waimea area.
Next, we stayed at a B&B called The Red Barns, a former dairy on the outskirts of Christchurch at Tai Tapu.
Christchurch is still being rebuilt after the devastation caused by the 2011 earthquake - when 10,000 homes were destroyed in a day.I found a city of proud, resilient people. The pieces of transitional architecture I spotted - the cardboard cathedral and the shopping mall made of shipping containers - stood out as monoliths of resilience and hope.The next day, we were off to Governors Bay and Ohinetahi gardens. These lovely private gardens were created in 1977 by the architect Sir Miles Warren.
TIME FOR A TRAINHeading from the east to the west coast, we left the car at Christchurch station, where we boarded the TranzAlpine train to Greymouth.
For me, the train remains a simple and meditative way to travel, with the metronomic sound of the wheels rolling over the tracks and navigating mountain passes while looking at the scenery.
From the carriage windows, I took in the Canterbury Plains, before we navigated the gorges and mountains that rise into the spine of the South Island.There was a stop at the halfway point for a few nights - Wilderness Lodge at Arthur's Pass is located on a working merino sheep station, surrounded by native forest and a national park.
When we arrived, I was struck by the setting. The lodge was hardly visible among the trees, and inside it felt like I was perched among the branches, looking through foliage to the mountains beyond.
Back on the train, we headed to the north-west coast to pick up a car at Greymouth. Then we headed down the north coast, stopping on the way at Hokitika, a delightful town renowned for pounamu, the much treasured local jade.During a memorable stay at Lake Moeraki Wilderness Lodge, we went out on a tour with Gerry, a keen conservationist and the owner of the lodge.One night, I was told the conditions were perfect to see glow-worms, so we set off on a walk down the road. I couldn't believe we would see more than a few little dots of light among the trees. But as our eyes became adjusted to the moonless night, Gerry turned off his torch and thousands of tiny lights showed up among the foliage under the overhanging rock.
SOME LOCAL COMICS
On another excursion, John and I set off with Gerry in search of the Fiordland crested penguins. After ambling along a narrow, winding path through scrub, tree ferns, among fascia trees, across shallow rivers, we arrived at a beautiful, windswept beach.
"We'll just sit on this log and wait," instructed Gerry. This beach has no road to it, so there were few visitors. The penguin colony was hidden not far from where we sat.After a short wait, one wobbled out of the surf, then another. They would dip back in then waddle towards us passing close and clumsily clambering and hopping up the embankment where their young were.
We sat captivated, watching their comic antics for most of the morning.Heading off again for our longest drive yet, I was prepared for the terrain to be the same for many miles - but it wasn't.
We stopped at Ship Creek before turning inland and wandering along the cleverly designed walkways that took us through a floating forest among giant trees and fabulous ferns, some huge and oversized, others almost microscopic.
We walked along the wooden pathways posted as a half-hour walk but there was so much to take in, we were still there a few hours later.
The landscape changed radically within a very short distance.
As we headed inland through the Haast Pass, we crossed rushing rivers and waterfalls. Then the landscape changed again, this time to tussocked hills and valleys strewn with rocks left from glaciers long ago.Onwards to Lake Wanaka and Lake Pukaki and, finally, the shores of Lake Tekapo.John and I were warmly welcomed at Alpine Suites on Tekapo by Jenny and Kevin. We were the first guests to book into their new property and they wanted to celebrate, so we were treated to dinner.
My natural British reserve at joining two strangers for supper disappeared as quickly as the wine.
The next day, accompanied by our hosts, we walked up to the observatory and had a bird's view of the country around us. They pointed out the different lakes from there; I could see not only Tekapo but also the smaller Lake Gregory and Lake Alexandrina. The lakes were a brilliant blue because of the refracted light from the glacial deposits.We wound our way down, crossed some farmland, went through a gate we would never have known about, then along a dusty track to Lake Alexandrina. There we found a number of small, wooden period houses, weekend properties for city slickers.A MAGICAL RIDE
Driving past Queenstown, we headed deep into Fiordland National Park, the country's largest national park, famous for the many sounds along the coast.
Here we stayed at Fiordland Lodge, where the huge picture windows look out over the lake and mountains beyond.For a totally different take on the landscape, we took a magical helicopter flight over the park's mountains, valleys, rivers and lakes, which were every bit as spectacular as billed.
After being dropped at the top of one of the lower peaks of the Kepler Mountains, we walked down through the forest, ferns and mossy banks back to the shores of Lake Te Anau.
The combination of the grand vista and getting up close to the flora and fauna let me appreciate both scales of this landscape - an incredible experience all round.
WATERFALLS AND DOLPHINS
The southwest corner of the South Island was a revelation. A stunning drive through the glacial valley brought us to Milford Sound, with waterfalls and dolphins and an unexpected encounter with some of the endemic mountain parrots known as keas.Doubtful Sound, our next stop, was not accessible by road, so we were taken by boat and four-wheel-drive across the waterways and dirt tracks to our departure point for an overnight cruise aboard MV Southern Secret.
As we sailed down the fjord, the mists were constantly shifting and the light played with vertical forests and steep valleys, which looked as if they had plunged into the water.We were in awe at the drama and extraordinary beauty.
I kayaked with Jason, our guide, while the rest of the party fished off the boat. Gliding along close to the shore, waterfalls cascading into the Sound, I learnt about how if one looked carefully, one could spot the semi-precious stones, garnets, in the rock faces of the mossy cliffs that tower 600m above.
Kristen, our on-board chef, served scallops and blue cod caught only moments before, then played sonatas by Chopin and Beethoven on the piano. Listening to the music surrounded by Doubtful Sound was a truly special experience. - The Sunday TelegraphPLAN YOUR TRIP
GETTING THERE: Your best means of getting to New Zealand's South Island from South Africa is to fly with Qantas, which will take you to Christchurch via Sydney for about R10,000. See skyscanner.net.
TOUR INFO: The writer travelled with New Zealand In Depth. A similar 12-day itinerary staying at all of the lodges mentioned costs from £6,950pp (about R114,000).
IN SOUTH AFRICA: Several local companies can help you book tours of the South Island. Try Thompsons' eight-night "Southern Wonders" tour, which includes the TranzAlpine Train, from R32,986 or Trafalgar's 12-day "Southern Drift" tour from R69,600...