NZ

My relatives Lois and her son Matthew kindly picked us up in Auckland at 4am and by 7 we were on the Ferry Waiheki a small island where they have been building a house which could feature on Grand Designs, so we fit right in with not a clean sock between us!!
Lois & her family fed, tendered and sight saw around Auckland & Waiheke v. well.
We picked up a rental car 2 days later and headed Nrth for the Bay of Islands, Waitange Treaty Grounds where there Maori's signed up with the Brits. ninety mile beach and every time you turned a corner more stunning scenery - which beacme a common problem in NZ!
Then off Sth to Waitome Caves where we Black Water Rafted our way through caves in the freezing cold water and the dark, under ground to see the glow worms in their thousands, glowing like stars on the roof of the caves.
Then Rotarua to see the ground bubbling all around you with thermal pools guysers and a constant smell of sulpher!
We had a lovely thermal pool in the rain.
We tried to the Tongariro Crossing which is classed as one of the top ten 1 day walks in the world but unfortunately for us (as the pictures area amazing) winter had well and truly set in and there was too much snowq for anyone to go up there in the forceable future. We were told 2 Americans died up there a couple of weeks earlier - no doubt the usual badly equipped story! Unlike us who have now bought nothing but thermals in NZ to face one of their coldest winters on record so we're off to Antarctica next!
We then made to more of my relatives in Eketahuna which has a pub, a community owned shop and Tourist Info. Centre, a charity shop where Chris bought a Eketahune rugby jumper for $3.00 and a local radio station run by 2 old blokes who steal the news off a national radio station every hour and transmit as part of Eketahuna FM- hilarious.
Anyway Norma & Peter own a beautiful farm and apart from the constant rain for the 2 days we were there we had a fantastic time. It was nice to see and understand how theses small towns work and how much of it is down to the community working together.
From there we did a super quich tour of Wellington , as in we saw the sites but we've both had enough of Big Cities, not that NZ really has big cities but anyway, we ran out of time & were happy to get the ferry 2 the Sth Island.
This crossing across the Cook Straights is meant to be one of the worst sea crossings in the world and we were forecast for 120 mile winds and rain - what joy! Anyway, we borded as foot passengers (the next car to be picked up on the other side) got our fisk & chips - you can't beat a bit of grease l;ining in your stommach to keep sea sickness at bay and off we went in what turned out to be one of the best crossings ever known on the ferry - a bit disappointing really!
We headed east for Blenheim decide we didn't like that and back west to Nelson which was just gorgeous. We went to the WOW museum there (World of Wearable Art) and they have one of the rings used in the Lord of the Rings. Nelson is very Arty place and the sculptor who made the several rings for the film was from here.
Next was a stop at a Gold mining town to pan for some of that there precious metal. Naturally I got more then Chris but you're more than willing to judge for yourselves on our return.
Finally we make our true destination of Franz Josef & Fox Glaciers and more walking (in the rain), to the glaciers and the glow worm tunnels (but sadly even they were hiding from the cold!)
We wanted to do the heli-hiking on the FJ glacier (as we heard it was better than Fox) so you get to see the ice caves. Typically the day we arrived was glorious sunshine and the next 2 days were awful so the helicopters that drop you off on the glacier couldn't go up, so we had to do quad biking instead while we waited!
Finally, we got a break after hanging on specifically another day to do it and it was absolutely incredible. I don't know which was better the walking on the glacier or the helicopter ride over it.
For anyone following our footsteps here look out for us as we are now staring in the companies new video too - I kid you not!
It was well worth the wait we had to leave immediatel as the Haast pass on route to Queenstown had to be crossed in daylight as the weather is sooo treacherous across it at the moment (4 people died crossing it that same night).
We arrived at Queenstown (exhausted) for the start of their annual winter festival (pure luck). Sadly we had energy for nothing but sleep after of course the usual bottle of wine!
Ist priority of the next day was to find new accomodation the place we stayed in had the heater on a 1Hr timer and in below -5 it's not bloody funny when you get out of your cosy, warm sleeping bag.
We chanced upon a lovely hostel with Very Hot Heaters and turned out to be a great find - lovely place and great, helpful staff. So we warmed up and began planning where to spend our time and life's savings over the next few days. For those of you who don't know Queenstown is the home of Bungee and the original one is still there, and Much, Much, Much Bigger ones, 134 metres or there abouts. This in turn makes Queenstown the home of Adrenalin Junkies. I've never seen so many things you can do too induce adrenalin in one place in such a small amount of time.
We decided on 2days skiing, Chris didn;t the Canyon swing for which you drop free fall 60 metres and then swing across the bottom of a canyon until they decide to winch you back. We took a Jet boat ride down the DaRT rIVER which is in the area of Glenorchy where alot of Lord of the Rings was filmed and absolutely beautiful. Thanks for the cold warning Chris 10 layers just about kept me warm but not as warm as the possum boot liners we bought down there!!
Then we took a 13Hr trip to Milford Sound and a Boat trip on the sound out to the Tasman Sea and watched a pod of Dolphins (including 2 babies) playing around the boat and catching it's slip stream on the way back - just Great.
A mammoth drive to Kaikora by which time I couldn't speak (lucky for Chris)I was so tired! Whale watching here for Hump Backs and a seal colony. We got a nice little video of the whale justt as he heads under water. No pics were taken cause it's a waste of time they just look like blobs in the water!
And here we are in Christchurch the 1st time we've seen broadband in the country and the 1st time in weeks we've had time to do any of this.
Looking forward to our now many thermals collecting dust when we hit Nrthn Oz on Monday and some bloody warmth.
As usual no grammar or spelling has been checked so you'll have to work it out yourselves!