Did the earth move for you? Well it did for us...at 6.30am. In Christchurch. First there was a low rumbling, then an all over vibration, all finished off with an eerie silence. The earthquake, not a big one fortunately, was centred just 30 kms from Christchurch, and measured 4.9 on the Richter scale. It was more than a little un-nerving though, makes you wonder just how terrifying a big one would be...

Well we waited and waited and never received a call from Tim. Not having his number there wasn't alot we could do so we just hung around in Queenstown (played another game of golf - Jen won this time) and headed out for a few games of pool (which, she points out, she also won) , a few beers (or baileys and malibu if you're a girl) and some food at a bizarre japanese teppankyaki place. On waking we headed the 250 kms to Moeraki - home of the boulders. These are like huge marbles (some 1-2 metres across) that have found themsleves on the beach and are slowly being eroded by the wind, and sea (and seemingly the endless bloody rain!!) They are really striking as there's about 20 of them and n-one really knows why they're there.

We left around lunchtime and carried on up the road to Christchurch, where we watched the Warriors lose and caught up on email last night. Our first (well to be honest Jen's) bits of Spanish seemingly have gone down quite well as we have had a couple of replies from places which, when translated, seemed to answer our questions. Our 'learn Spanish in the van' has gone really well, if we're asked our name or our nationality - we can also so we're 'very well thank-you'...but we're buggered if we're ill!!! I'm going to attempt to learn it in 11 hours on the plane, unless there're some REALLY good movies on...

On our way back to the campervan depot today we had a bit of an incident when a cyclist and car collided just in front of us in the middle of one of the busiest junctions in Christchurch (on the main thoroughfare to the airport from town). Jen hopped out (being a qualified 1st aider!!) and took control of the situation, we donated a fleece blanket to the cyclist, who, after a brief check up by the paramedics was found to be OK - just cuts and bruises. We eventually made it back to the depot and gave our van back and got the deposit back (important bit). SO here we are in Christchurch - this'll probably be the last entry before we head to South America so just a couple of minutes to sum up NZ really. It is so similar to the UK - weather, people, places, most of the scenery (we don't have stuff like Milford/Queenstown though). They people are, as a nation, warm and friendly with a real self-depricating sense of humour and are little pessimistic at the best of times ('Oh we'll never win the world cup' 'we're bound to have a big earthquake soon, we're overdue by 800 years' etc etc...). Again, very similar to the UK. They also like to take the piss out of their nearest neighbours (the Aussies) as we do with the Scots and French etc...

All in all we've really enjoyed it here, although the last 4 1/2 months have been 'plastic' travelling really as it'sa been sooooo easy. South America should be a whole new ball game, we're going to have to get back to haggling, watching our packs like hawks, and eating new food (not burgers, kebabs and the like)...hell we may even get a tan in some parts as we're both now whiter than white again. We're determined to come back to NZ in their summer and do the things we couldn't for whatever reason (dive the Poor Knights, walk the Tongariro and Routeburn tracks, see Milford without gale-force winds and rain), and will certainly miss the people and ease of travelling...goodbye 2 hours in a campervan, hello (again) 12 hours in a truck. In mud. Miles from anywhere.

Not much to update - we played a game of golf and, for a change, I won... we also went to see Bad Boys II which will be noted in future generations for it's liberal use of the f-word! It was pretty good though - funny in parts but a good all round action movie.

View of the mountains before entering the Sound; Us and a fast flowing creek/waterfall thingy



Mirror Lakes, the inquisitive Kea



The entrance to the Homer Tunnel.



Us on the boat



Milford Sound in all it's glory...



'Ickle Baa Lamb!!!' (mint sauce anyone?)

Our guide for the trip to Milford Sound was a chap named Dave Hughes - the owner of 'Trips 'n' Tramps' (tramping being the NZ term for long walks). A sheep farmer for most of his life he started 'people farming' (his phrase for tourism) about 15 years ago and now operates up to 6 buses, some 363 days a year. He also doubles up as the local courier, a point not lost on us as he stopped at a number of local houses en route with flowers, parcels and letters. Our fellow passengers consisted of 4 middle-aged Aussies who were really pleasant and a couple from California who were vastly different to most Americans we've met, they were quiet even to the point of near humility. Although the female of the American couple did win the award for stupidist comment of the day when suggesting they should build little sheep shelters for the poor lambs - it was then that Dave explained to her that an average farm could have 50,000 + sheep spread over many many heactares...

The trip to Milford is one of the most amazing 120 kms of road I have ever travelled, and we stopped at a few places on our way. The Mirror Lakes gave a reflected view not dissimilar to that at Lake Matheson (different mountain though), whilst at Deer Flats we all enjoyed a cup of tea/coffee/hot chocolate, and some great biccies that Dave swore he got up at 5am to bake...The road through the Alpine section (Homer's tunnel et al) had only reopened a day or so before and is closed regularly due to avalanches. It was, indeed, to shut at 4pm that evening so we had to be quick getting in and out. The tunnel itself was great fun, although I was pretty glad we weren't having to drive it...many a campervan has had an argument with a coach, and or the tunnel roof and many a campervan has been damaged. It is completely dark in the tunnel and it slopes at 10 degrees, so it's really daunting. Water constantly runs through the roof adding to the eerieness. However we got through (and back) with no problems. The chasm, some 11 kms before Milford was well worth a look - The shape of the chasm is similar to the Remarkable Rocks (Kangaroo Island, South Aus) in shape except that these rocks have been shaped by water running onto them, not the wind. There is all manor of swirls and patterns as the water thunders off the mountains at a hell of a pace.

After finally arriving in Milford we were shepherded onto our boat, the Milford Mariner, which was, bizarrely enough for a boat, voted best hotel in NZ in 2001. Strange people these Kiwis. We enjoyed the first hour of the cruise, the sheer walls, and waterfalls 3 times the size of Niagara Falls adding to the drama of being such a small speck in a vast glacial lake. Then the weather stepped in...it got so windy we couldn't hear ourselves speak, and we could lean in to the wind without falling over. And then the rain came. We tried to brave it for a further 30 mins before heading inside out of the elements only to have to sit next to a load of Americans who, from their accents I asumed hailed from the deep south...to say I have never met a more witless bunch of moronic individuals would be entirely the truth. Of the group of 7 or 8 at least half had not even been out of the bar area to view one of the most breathtaking sites I (and surely they would) have ever witnessed. When one of their group came in after one of the many waterfalls his wife remarked, rather prudly, 'I don't need to go outside now we've got a digital camera, Chuck (can't remember his name but Chuck fits about right) just takes the photos and I look when he gets back'...On another occasion Jen, who for her efforts at taking in the view had got soaked, was mocked - 'Look how wet she is...' IDIOTS. Then the particularly annoying fat one with the digital camera - 'Chuck' - who, incidentally was wearing a matching 'Dunedin Albatross' bright red sweatshirt to his wifes ('what taste!', or should that be 'what taste?') started singing in a 'look at me, I want to be the centre of attention way' some ludicroud ditty abou tbeing a pirate. He then berated anyone who cared not to join in, despite the fact no-one knew the words. Unsurprisingly his cronies found him utterly hilarious, so when we were disembarking I nudged him overboard and he drowned...only joking on that last bit. Despite the weather doing it's best we enjoyed the cruise and trip immensley and arrived back in Te Anau around 5.20 having had a great day.

Overnight it rained, and rained, and rained, and thundered, and rained, and rained...you get the picture...so much so that we both had the best night's sleep we'd had for ages (work that one out - we couldn't!) and have driven back to Queenstown to meet up with an old friend tomorrow. Tim is the son of Diana and Reg, and sister of Mandy, who my mum once taught (!). He emmigrated to NZ a few years back and now has a wife and kid (and another on the way) out here! We're meeting for a coffee tomorrow before we head back to Christchurch for a couple of days...South America is scaringly upon us, in fact this time next week we'll be in Chile...we're both excited but a little nervous at having to do some proper travelling again...

Our last day on the piste was spent with a very short lesson on some rock hard snow/ice, followed by a great afternoon with myself and Jen finally doing some blue runs together. I've finally managred to master the turn in on my toe edge, but, alas, not at great speed, these things take time. Helen and Rich also progressed to a blue run in the afternoon, so we were all quite chuffed. In the evening, after a great pizza at 'Winnie Bago's' we all had a farewell drink as we're unlikely to meet now before we get back to the UK - they've got another 4 weeks or so in NZ and are then doing a different route to us in South America. There is a possibility we might meet in Quito just before Xmas but that's about it. Seeing as though they're going ot live 20 mins from us in the UK we're bound to stay in touch.

So, farewell to Queenstown, until Saturday at least when we're popping in to meet up with an old family friend who emmigrated to Christchurch from the UK a few years back. We are now in Te Anau which is basically the last village before the road to Milford. We've booked on a day trip to the Sounds tomorrow as the road has recently reopened after 5 days shut due to the risk of avalanches.

Just 4 pictures to show...

The four of us in Queenstown, some of the Hector's dolphin



Me in Pupu Springs, and us skiing in Queenstown

I ache. All over. My pecs (or moobs), my biceps, my triceps, my stomach mouscles, my knees, my calves, my ankles, They all ache. On the positive side we've all had a good day on the slopes. I've mastered(ish) the art of turning properly, and I even managed some carved turns today which is a little advanced but hey that's OK for now. Jen's lesson wasn't as good as yesterday but my guy was excellent and we learned loads. H & R are progressing well, in fact Rich was in the same group as me today and has done really well considering he first strapped on a board yesterday. Not alot else to report apart from the fact it was so cold last night that I woke up with frost on my nose - looking forward to South America - it's got to be warmer there surely!

Saturday evening was spent at Helen and Rich's lodge where they cooked us a great tea consiting of pork, mustard, creme fraiche and a little cider! It was excellent. Myself and Rich then headed out to watch the New Zealand Warriors keep their NRL title hopes alive with a 17-16 win over Canberra. It was an excellent match, but we soon hurried home as we were up early this morning for boarding/skiing. The good news is that as of this evening (Sunday) none of us has any serious injuries...a few bruises but not much else. The weather was great, and we had a lesson each in the morning before meeting up for some narly powder dudes. Jen is up to level 4 (from 1-6, 6 being seriously good) and had a really good day, not falling over once apparently, although we can't confirm this as she's far too good for us mere mortals and tends to go on the (ever so slightly) harder runs... I started the day on level 2b but have been promoted to level 3 for tomorrow, it also seems I have finally mastered the toe-edge turn so I am starting to pick up a bit of speed, which in turns then leads me to forget how to turn but remember how to fall spectacularly. Rich has done really well on his first ever day on the slopes, and Helen has too, looking every bit the classes' demonstrater when she came down.

Having said all this here we are at 5 (ish) so knackered we're already talking about tea and bed...no beers tonight! The plan is to do another day tomorrow at Coronet Peak before hading to the Remarkables on Tuesday.

I am pleased to result that I am now officially luge champion after having beaten Rich 3-1. Jen beat Helen too (2-1 I think) so I guess we'll have to have a re-match at some point. Jen won the crazy golf (by 3 shots from me and Rich) and I beat Rich at pool (3-1) so it was a good day to be a Cornwell! These rainy day activities occured due to the mountains being closed and H & R's insurance mishap which they've now sorted. In the evening we went to an Irish pub, Pog Mahone's, where everyone was Irish - hell they even had the all-Ireland hurling (men playing kind of aerial hockey, not to be confused with women throwing stones down some ice whilst shouting 'hurreeeeeeeee') and then on for an Indian. Jen was feeling a little rough due, we think, to the pinkish hue of the chicken we ate on Thursday evening so we thought the way to sort her guts out was to go for a curry and it seems to have worked a treat!!

One of the mountains is closed again today (Saturday) due to high winds, the only on eopen is having a kids fun day so we're steering well clear. Hopefully we should be able to get some boarding/skiing in tomorrow, as for the rest of today - no idea what we're going to do really.

Well we've got our skiing/boarding kit and are ready to rock and roll except Helen and Rich can't find insurance anywhere so we've got to chill for a day or so and perhaps get on the slopes tomorrow. It's not too bad as we ate some pretty pink looking chicken last night and it hasn't agreed with me too well. Looks like the rest of the day will be spent hoping the weather continues to improve and luging, not necessarily in that order!

Hector's Dolphins are one of the rarest dolphins in the world and are only found in the waters around New Zealand. They are the smallest dolphin (female slightly bigger than the male - 1.4m Vs. 1.2m) and are a kind of mixture of white and grey in colour. Our trip headed out in pretty calm conditions considering the winds lashing the harbour, and within about 20 minutes we had spotted the fist pod, and the 6 swimmers duly slipped into the freezing cold (well, 10 degrees but it felt MUCH colder) water. It was so cold that when you put your head under you got one of theose headaches you get when you eat ice-cream too quickly. Our suits kept us afloat with the minimum of ease and we all spread out and waited for the dolphins to approach, which they did pretty much straight away. Now it must be said that the dolphin magnets of the day were Jen and another girl, whilst myself and the others were not as attractive, probably because my wild trashing in the water (not used to not having fins whilst in the sea) scared them they might get a kick in the head. Having said that they moved so quickly you couldn't touch them if you tried. Eventually there were around 20 of them, and they took it in turns to pass, obviously laughing at the human's utter inability to swim. Needless to say we got some great vidi clips and a couple of piccies which will eventually find their way onto here. It was a wonderful hour or so and much better than the Kaikoura experience we nearly took as there were much fewer people, more dolphins and we only had to travel 20 mins each way (as opposed to 90!) We were a bit sad to leave Akaroa - it has a lovely harbour, and old french-themed shops and arcades - we could have spent another day or two...BUT we heard that Saturday heralds the start of the school holidays so we have rushed down to Queenstown in a vain attempt to get some 'boarding in before the brats arrive. So that's where we are now, although it's very different to how it was the last time we were here - it's pissing it down for starters. Also the winds are so high that some of the ski fields are closed so our sprog-avoidence plan may be thwarted. We came here via Lake Tekapo, a church on it's banks, and a statue to the ordinary working collie. We'd have stayed longer at the lake but the weather was shocking.

So the plan is to spend some time on the slopes, but not sure how (very badly), when (soon) or where (or for how much!!!) yet.

One interesting anecdote is that the guy who performed the maori welcoming ritual on me up in the Bay of Islands a few weeks back when I was the chief for the day accidentally hit a British backpacker with his stick a few days ago and has broken his jaw in a number of places, he's currently having it re-set - seems like I got off lightly!!!

So our big exciting, diving on our own day arrived and we headed up the road from our campsite in Nelson (where the bloke had owned and run said site since 1976 and although he wanted to sell as a going concern now he couldn't due to rising property prices, when I suggested he sell the land (it must be worth a bit as it's near the town centre) he said he couldn't as he'd had such a personal involvement with the place and it was like his baby....I felt a bit sorry for him to be honest) to Motueka where at Sportsworld we hired our dive gear for the day. The nice lady that served us gave us a weight belt with a whopping 30 lbs (14 kgs ish) of weight on it, we won't need all that we figured as we normally dive on about 5-6 kgs we would be less buoyant due to freshwater but more so due to thicker wetsuit...oh how spectacularly wrong can you be....?

The first thing about Pupu Springs is the distance it is from the car park, with dive gear, it the sun. It's 10 minutes but whilst waddling with all said gear it seems to take alot longer. By the time we arrived we were so knackered we had to take some kit off and have a break. The 7mm suits did the trick though as when we enetered the water you couldn't feel how cold it was. But we couldn't sink. As the bag was too heavy as it was we didn't take any extra weight to the springs from the van so thus we just kind of floated on the sruface. Hell it was only 4m deep so it wasn't too bad. I had just enough weight to duck-dive down for some rocks which we thought would weight us down a little more, unfortunatley we only realised after getting out that they were pummice-stone and thus did not help us sink at all as they weighed about a kilo between them. The springs itself though is quite inredible, so clear so you can see as far as is possible, no murkiness (a little to be fair after we got a bit tangled in some weeds - the currents were stupidly strong) and a great experience. We were a little disappointed about the lack of wildlife but hey it'd be like fishing in a goldfish bowl for the lazy fisherman so I guess most of the fish have gone that way...we did see an eel, a couple of fish and a fresh water lobster thingy though.

On the way back to the van we decided to do the 'drift' dive in fish creek. Now on most drift dives we have done you kind of loat along in a very weak current taking about an hour to do a couple of hundred metres. Not fish creek - oh no! What happened next was both exhilerating and incredibly frightening. We zoomed along over rocks in water about 30-40 cm deep before emerging in a 3m deep pool where we could catch our breath. The current then got me again and before I knew it I was heading off down the river...Jen following behond a moment later. After about 20 metres of zooming we grabbed onto a branch and realised our exit from the rapids was on the other bank...and there was no way on earth we could cross. After a few minutes Jen climbed our bank only to discover she was no standing in an island, all great fun this eh? Eventually we found a creek that wasn't flowing like a prop from a white-water rafting video and we managed to get back to safety...all good fun...?!?!?!

After depositing out (rather muddy) gear back at Sportsworld we headed off to Belnheim where we stayed overnight. The next day we travelled south, past Kaikoura and Christchurch to Akaroa - where we are now. The trip itself was pretty uneventful, punctuated only by text messages from Helen and Rich who we were supposed to be meeting in Queenstown at the weekend (they're going to learn to snowboard - hurrah I won't be the worst on the slopes for at least a day!), it turned out they were heading to...Akaroa, so we booked it at the same place and had a great night catching up, planning the next few days (came to no real conclusions on that one) drinking (and splilling) red wine and eating tacos!! GREAT NIGHT! Jen bumped into Helen this morning and she had a bit of a headache by all accounts...we're both fine, and we're going dolphin swimming today. It's cheaper here than Kaikoura and there are less people on the boat so we're hoping it'll be really good, we have our camera, and case so hopefully will get some shots.

On last footnote - another bit of trivia really about NZ. We've noticed alot of the road signs warning people not to drive as quickly an the like as they have a massive problem over here with road-deaths...here are a selection of the rather natty signs:

'Drive Wild, Kill a Child'

'Blood Split, Life Guilt'

'The faster you go the bigger the mess' (lost the ability to rhyme as we went further south seemingly)

'The quick are the dead'

More as we see them...

After today we're heading to Mount Cook and then on to Queenstown where we think it may be a little busy as it's coming towards the end of the ski-season and it's the first day of school holidays on Friday - arghhhhhhhhh, lots of 7 y.o.s whizzing past be at mach 10....nightmare.

OK so photos below, and hell, some of them even uploaded before I write about them - that's a bit too efficient even for me...

Heading north we made it up to Punakaiki before sunset (this place name reminded me of 'poodlephykies', which for some weird reason me and my brother used to call a belly button when we were about 6...) home of the pancake rocks. Noone knows how they were formed or indeed why they are there but they are, if you get my drift. Sunrise and sunset in one day was all too much and we trudged the 50 kms or so south to Greymouth before our 'fush and chups' dinner. Greymouth should definitey be rhymed with Plymouth, as it is particularly grim, especially when wet and windy as it was the night we were there.

The weather during the night and in the morning was grey and awful and we gingerly started out over Arthur's Pass (no idea who Arthur was/is sorry!) which was specacular indeed. At one point we were in the valley surrounded on all sidees by snowcapped mountains. When we arrived at Kaikoura (our destination for the night) we paused for a few minutes for a cup of tea, for me to finish yet another book and to watch a whitebait fisherman as the sea came crashing in around him. And that was just about all there was to Friday really...until we ended up in Kaikoura for a beer. Richard (who doesn't drink much) livened up after his half of cider and decided to start moving things around in the restaurant we went to, he grabbed the specials blackboard and the A-frame outside and positioned them so we could see and read them, all a little bizarre but quite amusing nonetheless. My dinner was awful, they brought by steak cold, so I returned it apologetically. The chef was obviously from the Gordon Ramsey school of charm as he clearly just bunged it in the microwave/deep fat fryer as it came back as tough as old boots and well-donw to the core. Not feeling like causing a scene I simply asked them to strike it off the bill, which they did, and the rest continued on with their meals. It's not like I'm going to waste away is it??

This morning we went whale watching courtesy of Whale Watching Kaikoura (tm) and Richards credit card (our thanks go out to parties...) and it was another fantastic experience. The sperm whales are toothed and can eat giant squid up to 5m in length - not too keen on falling overboard then, I'd be like an h'or deauve (or however it's spelt...). WWK were excellent and highly imformative, showing us computer generated videos of how the cayon we were in would look without the water (over 1200m deep) and the like. Well recommended. And where to after that. Well we fairly raced up the coast, said goodbye's to Richard and Lynn and have now arrived in Nelson, just 100km short of Pupu Springs where we are planning to dive tomorrow. Richard and Lynn are headed off to the north island (which will be a bit of a let down after the south methinks) and we hope they get on well. They've been more than generous, paying of r just about everything the last few days so a big thank-you from the both of us. In the last week we have driven over 2,000 kmns trying to give them a feel for the island, and I think they had a good time, we certainly did.

Us and Sally and Richard on the Miramar Peninsula, and Allen's Beach, annd a couple of the BIG sealion...





More from the Otago Peninsula - Albatrosses, and a penguin, followed by us on Baldwin Street - the steepest street in the world.





Various pics from Queenstown






Lake Matheson reflections (and me looking reflective...)



Fox Glacier



WHALES!!

The last job to do in this visit to Queenstown was to get some snow chains as we were warned to carry them at all times throughout the South Island. This, we duly did, and headed north on what would prove to be a fantastic day. The first of two lakes soon came into view - Lake Hawea. It is a beuatiful azure blue and stands next to a number of snow-capped peaks. The views were stunning as we passed through and alongside Lake Wanaka. Before we stopped for lunch we stopped next to a couple of mottled horses and fed them grass, burger rings (crisps) and mints. They seemed to lap them all up, not fussy in the slightest. We carried on, over and through the Haast Pass, stopping only for Thunder Creek, a 100-foot waterfall. Our brakes were smelling of burning rubber, a fact brought home to us when a bus driver said he could smell us comiung from a km away!!! No hand-brake on this time though - just very very steep hills. Our destination for the day was Fox Glacier (why come all this way for a mint I hear you ask...?) where we found a campsite and then bombed down a 6 km track to Lake Matheson - where NZ's highest point - Mount Cook can be viewed in the reflection of the lake. Normally that is. Instead we got, Mounts Cook and Tasman, on a cloudy day, surrounded in cloud, with a cloudlike reflection. Were we deterred? No not really as we vowed to return at 6am (!!!!) for sunrise...these things always sound good at the time. On our return to the village we tried to find the Glow-worm forest which seems to have been cordoned of and turned into the Glow-worm Cafe with Glow-worm Experience. It was shut. We gamely decided to head down the road and, with my father in law as chief trespasser we hacked our way into nearby forest and managed to find a couple of vaguely glowing things. Almost satisfied we finished the day at a wonderful little cafe which served hot chocolate and citrus flavoured beer - now there's a winning combo.

The alarm went off at 5.30 and we decided to go back to bed - it was warm under the covers - in the minus degrees outside them. However Richard had other ideas as their van's lights were on so we felt almost compelled to join them in the trip to the lake. For once getting up early was the right decision...To get to the viewpoint you have to walk around the lake to the other side (about 40 minutes) so it was about 6.30am by the time we got there, but the views were worth it. The coud of the night before had cleared and gave way to wonderful views of both Mount Cook and the slightly smaller Mount Tasman. Best of all the water was as still as it could get so the reflection was almost perfect. We were also the only people there which made it even better. A few photos later we headed off, the mount once again shrouded by a dense mist by 7.15. Stopping only briefly at the cafe next to the lake (run by the grumpiest woman on the planet, although she did do a good breakfast to be fair) we headed off to have a look at the glacier. It has been receeding for the last few hundred years and the walk from the car park (an hour return) used to be glacier, but no more. It's something to do with the ice melting quicker than it forms apparently. The views were good, although you couldn't go on the glacier without a guide (none handy, or cubs for that matter) which was either for safety (as they claimed) or a ruse to use the expensive guiding companies...you decide...

Onwards and upwards to Franz Josef Glacier just up the road where we tried to book a heli-hike last night, unfortunately they were all either too expensive or fully booked, or both. So we climbed up to the viewpoint and took the obligatory photos. Richard's knees playing him up a bit so we didn't do the full walk. Since that time we have headed north through less spectacular scenery but with windier roads (Jen was driving thank God - I had a kip!) towards the Pancake Rocks where we hope to reach tonight. From there it's the Tranz-Alpine 'Athur's Pass' tomorrow and whale watching (which Lynn and Richard are paying for - YAY!!) on Sunday. Their ferry to the north island is Sunday afternoon. We've booked ourselves some diving in Pupu Springs on Monday - this is the worlds clearest (but also, seemingly coldest - 6-8 degrees C) freshwater lake - with 65m (!!!!!) visibility. The whole she-bang is costing about 30 quid each for all the kit as we're doing it ourselves with no giudes, it is only about 4m deep, and 45m wide (they proved the visibility thingy using mirrors) so even we should be able to navigate it.

Making our way out onto the Otago Peninsula we thought it would be prudent to call ahead to book onto tours. After a few minutes we thought our plans for the day, which involved whizzing round the Royal Albatross and Penguin centres and then heading off to Queenstown before sunset. We didn't bank on the birds not being around until 11.30 and 3.15pm respectively. This stumbling block, however, turned out to be the thing that made the day so successful. It meant that we had to find other things to do...thus we headed down a gravel road to Allen's Beach (no idea who Allen is or was but it's a nice stretch of land to own/have named in memory of you...) where the Lonely Planet said you can sometimes see some seals. Arriving over the windswept dunes all we could see was swirling sand and a few rocks. On closer inspection though, one of the rocks was the biggest Hooker's Sea Lion we have ever seen. It was clearly lazy or tired as it couldn't quite make it to the dunes and just kind of stopped midway up the beach. It must have weighed 200KGs plus (they can way up to 400) but didn't seem to mind us approaching him, although we clearly weren't going to go up and stroke him or anything like that...Before leaving the beach we found another 5 or 6 none as big, some as tired, some more lively. It was great fun and we got (yet more) great seal/sea-lion piccies.

The Royal Albatross Observatory is the only inland place where these magnificent, and frankly, huge, birds ever land. After a brief Attenborough narrated DVD we went up to a little bunker on Paraoia Head where some chicks currently reside. Now, with the parents only returning with food once a week, and with only 12 chicks around we thought our chances of seeing one fly was pretty slim but we did, on 3 occasions. A couple of things are a bit difficult to take in without seeing them in action - 1) they can fly up to 100km/h + and this is stupidly quick, 2)their wingspan can be anything up to 3.5m. Thus, they have to be seen to be believed. Their life cycle is a bit odd too, they leave their nests after about 5 months and then do not touch land again for anything up to 5 years. At that point they start having massive great albatross parties (there ain't no party like an a-bird party...) where they all strut there stuff for a month a year until some 3-5 years later they finally find a partner whom they mate with for life. The amazing thing is that the birds always arrive within a few days of each other despite not seeing each other for a year at a time. Something to do with magnets in the brain apparently. The birds are tagged and from this the wardens are able to tell that a 42 y.o. female has returned agian this year, having ditched her husband she is now with a 17 y.o. toyboy. I think they'd nicknamed her Demi, but I may have been mistaken.

Onqards then to Penguin Place - home to 2.5% of the worlds entire yellow-eyed penguin population (that's 100 out of 4000). They are the 3rd largest breed of penguin and did the usual penguin stuff, ate fish, swam alot, and waddled around in a stupid manner. It is an excellent centre with a number of warlike camoflaged hides and trenches. I half expected the penguins to start throwing grenades or opening fire with some light artilary but no such luck.

Our final stop for the day was Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world. It is 161.1m long and 47.22 high which gives it an average gradient of 1 in 3.41. The steepest part is 1 in 2.86 apparently. we climbed to the top and took the obligatory photos. Although we didn't eat there there is a fantastically named restaurant in Dunedin - 'A Cow Called Bertha' - hopefully they didn't kill that American we saw in Rotorua, although there would be enough meat for a few months...We ended the day with a great stonegrill meal as we were up early today to make the trip to Qneenstown, which is where I am writing this from.

Queenstown is the self-styled adventure centre of the world. You can bungy, luge, raft, jetboat, the list is endless. It is really a resort town though due to the proximity of a number of ski-fields. We took time out to take in the scenery via Skyline (similar to Rotorua) and enjoyed some tremendous views of the lake, town and surrounding mountains. We also all had a go on the luge. Lynn beat Richard 2-1 whilst myself and Jen drew 2-2.

Well it's now 6pm (ish) here and Jen's mum and Dad, Lynn and Richard, are still awake which is pretty impressive since they arrived just under 12 hours ago after 25 hours on planes and in transit. They are both well, and brought us a couple of guifts, Jen, chocolate and pants, me some whiskey. As I've said before it really is great to have them here!!!!

On the journey down to Dunedin, where we now reside, I travelled with Richard whilst Jen sat with Lynn. This was mainly to keep them both awake, but also as whilst I got an update about Blair/the UK economy/the job-market and other (relatively) high-brow topics, Jen got to chat about the important things like Holby City & Casualty, the dog, and family gossip (one of their distant relations has gone a bit crackers apparently...)

Richard's brand-spanking (and frankly alot nicer than mine...) camera was full of piccies and videos of Oscar, which we will be uploading to our hard drive to keep when they leave. He has grown loads although still looks facially the same as when we left.

Tomorrow we're off to the Albatross Sanctuary and the Penguin (er...) Place (they obviously couldn't think of any other noun for 'home of penguins' that was alliterative...) and are going to try to see some seals on the way. Then we're off over to Millford Sounds (where alot of Lord of the Rings was filmed) which is in the Fiordland National Park. Apparently the road has just reopened after the recent earthquake caused an avalanche, although we have been warned of imminent snow showers over the coming week.

After surfacing around 10ish we had a great brunch at The Chocolate Fish Cafe, on the sea-front, consisting of a full-english and a chocolate fish (I kid you not!) We also bought a piece of artwork by a local artist for about 25 quid. Bargain! It was decided we were going to go for a tramp (local term for a walk over bush-land, not an attack on a vagrant) around the Mirarmar Peninsula, and we did - some 10 kms of it, up and down o'er hill and vale. It was excellent and there were many great viewpoints of Wellington, the harbour and the Cook Straight. In the evening we visited a Mongolian BBQ (called, rather unimaginatively 'Genghis Khan', one highlight of the evening was ringing them up to book a table and asking 'Hi, is that Genghis Khan', kind of hoped there'd be some bloke grunting on the other end 'Yes, it's me, could you hold on a minute I'm just raping and pillaging...') and gorged ourselves. We finished off a couple of bottles of wine, more in commiseration really as we lost comprehensively - 3-1 - to Richard and Sally at pool earlier in the night. With all of us feeling knackered, and Sally suffering from a nasty cold we headed back and had an early night.

We bade farewell before we went to bed, and sneaked out around 7.30am in order to catch the ferry to the South Island. Richard and Sally have been really kind, putting up with us for a couple fo days and taking time out to show us the area, so we hope to be able to repay the favour one day.

The South Island is much more mountainous than the north, and is home to most of the ski-fields. As soon as you start the drive south from Picton you can see the snow-covered peaks of the Kaikoura Range in the background. It is breathtaking. We've now arrived in Christchurch - about 350 kms south of Picton where we are 'picking up' Jen's parents tomorow morning - not sure what's planned for the next few days...

I have to say that sometimes I am the luckiest guy alive. The rugby I watched last night was the best match I have ever seen, decided by a penalty in the last minute and won by a single point - 26-25. It's a shame I am talking about the Brisbane Bronco's Vs St.George NRL game we caught in the pub after the Wellington - North Harbour game which was monumentally awful. OK, so the conditions were poor but it was still a depressing display of how not to play rugby by the country that loves it more than any other. (North Harbour won 15-3 btw, scoring a try in our corner of the stadium in the last minute - the only highlight for us...) The only other moment of interest was a streaker, buoyed by former all-black Mark Ellis' dare on live TV a couple of days ago, trying to get on the pitch, via a parked van (the pitch is some 5 feet or so below the bottom of the grandstand, thus the van roof proved a useful allie). Ellis' dare included evading the arms of at least one steward for the reward of $1,000 NZ (and an additional $1,000 for each steward you evaded afterwards). Incidentally with the maximum fine of $1,000 in force for streaking in theory you cannot lose...however 'ginger', as he will surely be forever known after last night's escapades, did lose. He somehow contrived to slip off the van's roof, and thus into the waiting arms of a steward. He was then held on the ground for at least 10 minutes (he must have been stupidly cold) before being hand-cuffed and led away by the boys in blue. So cold, wet, $1,000 lighter and ginger, not a good night really.

Having watched 80 minutes of poor kicks, dropped balls, and farcical streaks myself, Richard, and Shane (a schoolfriend of Richard) retired to a pub where we watched the most sublime display of rugby I have possibly ever witnessed, won by the kicking and 2 tries of the tubbiest least-likely looking player on the pitch...in the last minute...in Brisbane...with GORDON TALLIS playing for the Broncos - MAGIC!

We arrived back shortly after 11.30 to find Jen and Sally and a couple of empty wine bottles. They had been putting the world to rights by all accounts and we joined in for an hour or so before heading to bed.

Richard and Sally have been wonderfully accomodating, and we're looking forward to a day out and about in Wellington. Sally and Jen decided last night the itinery for today so we're going with the flow.

Te Papa is excellent. For starters it's mainly free, I say mainly as you have to pay for the interactive exhibits which were (computerised sheep shearing aside which was fantastic) all pretty awful anyway. The Timewarp that took you forward in time to 2055 felt like it was made in the early nineties. Needs upgrading a little methinks. Among the galleries, and exhibits was a fascinating section on the geography of the local area, and the tectonic plates throughout the world. One plate goes straight through NZ and you can see why there is so much vocanic activity. Also a bit worrying as we're heading to the South Island where they had a 7.1 Richter scale earthquake just last month and they are still having aftershocks.

Nando's appears to be in NZ which is great news although they were out of spicy rice so that particular cultural highlight will have to wait til lunch today. We've popped round Richard and Sally's and dumped our stuff there. We're meeting up with tthem again tonight (I should hope so we're staying at their house!!!) and I'm off to the rugby with Richard and a mate whilst Jen is staying in to watch bad TV and drink wine no doubt. The rest of today is going to be taken up with the bits we didn't get to yesterday thanks to the inclement weather - namely the cable car (if it's not too windy), houses of parliament, and markets which were closed yesterday but oh so luckily (honest) open on a Friday.

We're on the Picton ferry first thing Sunday morning and then we're dashing down to Christchurch to meet up with Jen's parents who should arrive around 8am on Monday morning.

While we've got a fast connection here's some more piccies....

Maori rock carvings on Lake Taupo; Huka Falls



Wai-O-Tapu, and the fish I put back (4 pound rainbow trout)





Cape Palliser...a seal yawning ('bloody tourists....'); me, lighthouse, moon, van, seal, countryside...ace piccie!!

With the weather taking a turn for the worse towards the end of the week (we didn't know how bad it was going to get...) we decided to head out to Cape Palliser - about 100kms from the Hutt Valley. We set off under beautiful blue skies, and despite the part sealed, part unsealed road we made good progress, arriving at around 11am. The area was highly reminiscent of the Cornish coast and it's fishing villages - even down to the boats with battered bulldozers attached to the front to help pull them out of the surf and up the beach.

The lighthouse at Palliser is a little like an old fashoined barber's pole - red and white striped - and stands atop a cliff some 300 steps high. For some reason the land was cordonned off (lambing season) so we took a couple of piccies and then made our way back. Parts of the road were so bad it had completely subsided into the sea and it was one lane - we also got to go through a ford where the bridge was 'Cars Only'. All great fun if a little 'not-insured'...

One of the cape's other highlights (other than the magnificent rolling scenery - you could even see the snow-capped peaks of the South Island in the distance) are the seal colonies that lie just a few metres from the road to the lighthouse. Heeding warnings not to get too close or cut off their route to the see (this makes them very aggressive apparently) we spent a half hour watching them on land - mostly sleeping, and in the sea - mostly playing. It was great to be so close to nature without it being behind bars.

Onwards to Wellington then - we are staying in Lower Hutt at the mo, which is the closest campsite to the City Centre. The weather (sorry to bring it up again I sound almost like a Kiwi...) was horrible last night - wind and rain so volumous that it caused our skylight to leak, fortunately not on the bed or it would have been distinctly unpleasant. It is still raining hard so we're off to do the museum run followed by a search for (cheap) original Maori artwork to add to our collection from other countries we have visited. We're really looking forward to a couple of nights in luxury (thanks Richard and Sally) before the ferry which could be pretty awful if the rain and wind keeps up.

First impressions of Wellington are good - it seems to have a really good mix of museums/cultural stuff and the important things like bars and restaurants. Today will tell - we start at Te Papa - the National Museum of NZ - 'Our Place' as it's affectionately known to the locals.

Up early then for the quick run 50-odd kms north to Wai-O-Tapu (ignore previous incorrect spelling) which is 'New Zealand's most Colourful Thermal Site'. Not the biggest or best, but the most colourful. For all I know this could have been due to copious amounts of dye.

The main reason for coming was the Lady Knox Geyser which goes off at 10.15 am every day, with the help of a kilo of carbolic soap (something to do with viscocity and surface tension). It went off on time, we took a picture or two, and then left. That's all there was to it. The park itself was OK. Certainly colourful and sulphuric. There were some lovely Jade green and yellow pools and generally it was well sign-posted and informative and thus worth the drive.

On our way back through Taupo we stopped at Haku Falls - one of the fastest running waterfalls in the world. Many a kayaker has been killled trying to shoot the rapids that proceed it. It is slightly artificial though as this part of the Waikato river contains a hydro-electric power station which increases the speed of the water flow during peak electricity usage (day-time). The power station was well hidden and didn't seem to detract from the natural beauty of the surrounding area at all.

After a quick lunch stop we found ouselves in Turangi - at the south end of Lake Taupo. It's much smaller and less touristy than Taupo and we managed to find a guy willing to take us out fly fishing on the lake. This is something I've wanted to do for years and I gamely promised the campsite owner any fish I caught. Our guide, Colin, had been fishing the lake and surrounding area for 26 years and was anice enough guy. He clearly knew his stuff and after the briefest of introdcutions we got down to business. After an hour or so of nothing he finally struck, and I was soon reeling in a '4-pounder' which we landed fairly easily. He asked us what we wanted to do (I didn't relally have the heart to kill it) and Jen reminded me of my obligation to the lady at the campsite. Within seconds the fish was dead - clobbered right between the eyes (well if it wasn't dead it would have had a hell of a headache). He then bled it (cue Jen nearly throwing up) before gutting it. It appears this one was off upstream to spawn (there were thousands of eggs) which made us feel even more guilty. Anyhow what's done is done and the lady got her fish. We caught 3 more - one a baby and the other two slightly bigger than the first (one was a 5-pounder...woooohhhhhh!!!) and put them all back. Our guide got interesting after a while and started telling us about some of the turf wars between his (extended) family and friends and the local Maoris. He was the first rascist we've met in NZ which in itself is pretty amazing in comparison to our friends across the Tasman. He had had some interesting scraps though, including one episode with a cricket bat which is better left not told.

After returning triumphant we received a free beer each (yay!) and headed off to bed - a storm was whipping up so we battened down the hatches again, and tried to keep warm in the face of winds and rain you just don't get at home...

The storm had abaitted when we awoke and we set off south - past Tongariro National Park, along the 'desert road'. Although the cloud cover was low you could just about make out snow on the peaks - the reason we were unable to do the famous Tongariro Crossing. Incidentally 4 hardened hikers were air-lifted from the peak just a couple of days ago as the weather closed in in around 30 minutes.

Palmerston North was to be our first stop-off point, one reason for stopping here - the rugby museum. From the outside it looks like an old school hall or similar - I was expecting something grander. Having said that the inside was amazing - hundreds and hundreds of artefacts and mementos, from the last 120 years or so. It was really well laid out with some interesting diversions - TV showing the Hong Kong sevens (the one where the Kiwiws won it not this year...), ansaphones you can ring with recorded info, and many others too numerous to mention. It was so good that even Jen, with her pathological hatred of all things sporting, had a good look round for an hour or so...and all for 10 dollars between us - definitely one of the bargains of NZ!

The last 100 kms or so were interesting as the navigator (Jen today) decided we should take a back road up and over some hills to our destination for the night - Upper Hutt. Now these aren't hills in the UK sense, or at least not hill roads in the UK sense. Hence we spent the last 30 kms doing about 20km/h one a track just about wide enough for a Ford Fiesta. We passed loads of rocks/boulders that had fallen down the sheer cliffs to one side, but, frustratingly we never got a clear view of the valleys below thanks to some large fir trees that blocked our view. Darn trees eh? How dare they?

We're going to explore the area to the south and east of here over the next couple of days before arriving in Wellington on Friday in order to meet up with Richard and Sally. It's going to be lovely to be in a prpoer bed again.

Only one thing to note really and we've local radio (you've never heard bad local radio until you've heard Kiwi local radio - it is truely awful, trust me I've listened to BBC Radio Cornwall and this is significantly worse) to thank for this. Thursday in New Zealand is National Penis Day. Not sure why (anti-feminist backlash?) but it just is. Strange lot these Kiwis.

Just having looked at our stats (will have 10,000 hits by the end of the year) I saw that someone typed in 'latest miracle in the world' into google and got our website purely thanks to my mis-spelling of 'the' - I spelt it 'thte' and so did they on the search. I feel so proud that some happy soul chanced upon this whilst looking for Christ's work...hahahahahaha they couldn't have been further away eh?