New zealand

We drove a van, we trekked and drank wine. Each of these things we did a lot.

The north island's biggest highlight was trekking the tongarearo alpine crossing (sp). Superb volcanic trek with emerald lakes and red volcanic stuff everywhere, it's also the location of mount doom from lord of the rings. So we nicked some of the volcanic lava as a souvenier. Naturally. Best trek in nz!

Also wine tasting in hawkes bay and learning all the tricks of the trade. I asked one wine expert - how do you know if it's good wine? He replied, if you want to drink more of it, it's good. Well worth the tour aye? Haha

driving to the northern tip of nz was lovely but weather sucked when we got there. Managed a decent walk but slipped over and crushed by arm with my own fat arse! Worth the views though.

Rotorua was a bit of a let down considering the hype but the camp site was lush with our own lake and kerosine creek with the thermally heated water was good fun!

Taupo was amazing! Lots to see and do and mostly thermal and volcanic stuff! Favourite town in north island!

Seeing scotty and Brooke was great! Thanks for the tips, the food, the beer, the bed! All very needed!

The south island was something else! Spectacular drives around the whole island and beautiful views... A walk that rivalled the alpine crossing... The mount cook walk! Was beautiful and I was able to fulfil an ambition of standing naked on top of a mountain! Photo to follow!

Sky diving at fox glacier was a real treat! 12000 foot, 45 second free fall and a superb view of the glaciers, lake matheson and mount cook. They are the only company in nz to allow you to take your own camera up so... Photos to follow! Was a great experience and hand on heart - wasn't scared! Tanya was more scared about the turbulence in the plane going up then the drop from the plane coming down. Can't be explained really.

We managed another wine tour - this time at Blenheim! We stayed at the house (mansion) of a grape maker (real title to follow) and took some - slow - drives around the local wineries. We even managed to fit in some tennis on their court and some swimming in their pool!

Kaikoura was a favourite too. We did a lovely Coastal walk and got up close and personal with some wild seals. Er, photos to follow!

Hanmer springs is my favourite town in the south. Beautiful alpine village with a tiny population, some lovely walks and some springs that we were able to spend the whole day in. Beautiful place!

Abel Tasman was a great place too. Was a real pain tryin to find our camp site but once we were there it was the mouth to some superb treks - one led to the biggest hole in new Zealand. Was more interesting seeing it than writing or Reading about it. In fact, I might take the bit about the hole out if I run out of space here... But the walks were lovely and I some lovely views. Photos...

The glacier towns were pretty lame but I guess they don't have to be good when they're surrounded by icy mountains, beautiful lakes and rain forest. I'll forgive them for having a boring town. Got told we were camping on private property which was a panic as I'd had a few and couldn't drive but the farmer didn't really mind and was pulling our leg. The kidder.

Queenstown was a tourist fest. Everyone goes there to jump out of planes, bungee, abseil, climb, trek, boat, play Russian roulette with de Niro and Christopher walken. It's an active place where everyone seems to want to do something a bit dangerous! But we walked up a hill and went go karting. Was just as fun!

After that was mt cook with the naked mountain walk, lake tekapo with a nice little walk and onto oamaru where we saw some lovely little penguins. We saw five yellow eyed p's which are the second rarest in the world and 12 blue p's which are the smallest in the world! Was
pretty far away though so photos probably will not follow.

Back to christchurch to hand in the van and fly to kuala lumpar. The city is still devastated by last years earth quake and some of the sights were a bit shocking! A bit scary that when the earth goes mental there's not much anyone can do!

New Zealand is the most beautiful country we've ever been to and cannot wait to go back!