Last NZ blog ;(

Hey all, sorry for the lack of blog's recently, we have been busy bears.

So Mum and dad got down to Queenstown on the 23rd of December, they came up to the tennis club to see Mishee and I, it was awesome seeing them as hadn't for 8 months. They had an amazing motor home (more like a bus than a motor home!), it was huge and had loads of space.

We stopped at Mark's (my boss) house for a few nights while mum and dad explored the area around Queenstown and you could instantly tell they loved New Zealand as much as we did. We got them tickets for the Shotover jet boat ride as a Christmas present, which was pretty extreme for mum as its an intense jet boat ride through real tight canyons well fun!

We had a class Xmas in the sun and stayed at a 5 star resort called Millbrook Resort (Mishee woked there). Mum and dad treated us to a luxury 2 bedroom house for 2 nights. Dad and I took full advantage of the championship golf course, which we got on the cheap because everyone at the resort loved Mishee, unfortunately though, dad took me to the cleaners twice! Fair play to him though he has got very good (as much as that hurts me to say!!!) On Xmas day the 4 of us played a few sets of tennis on the grass courts. I got revenge on dad by winning 2 sets to luv. And Mishee beat mum 6-2. So good result for Mish there! Sorry mum! We then relaxed in the hot outdoor spa pools, it didn't feel right doing this on Xmas day, but was amazing none the less!!
Staying at Millbrook resort was amazing, such a treat, so thanks again mum and dad!

Just before leaving Queenstown we decided to go out on a high or should I say from a height, yes you know it Mish, dad and I jumped out of a plane over Queenstown at 15.000 ft, the highest sky dive you could do!! Going up was really scary and I have never seen poor Mishee so scared! Some people think bungy is more scary but I think we both agree skydiving is! It takes 20 minutes in the smallest plane to get up to 15,000ft, as you wriggle to the edge you really do think what the hell am I doing, but with no time to even think about whimping out you are upside down and seeing the plane disappear above you! Dad's instructor was mad and did a very impressive flip out the plane but was a bit rough when the shoot opened as it made Dad feel a bit sick! But fair play to Dad, if I'm skydiving at 55 I'll be happy! What a legend, that 60 seconds of free falling out of the sky was an incredible experience, so I definitely recommend NZONE in QT. Id never thought I would sky dive but I'm so glad I did! Because I'm scared of flying I felt like I wanted to jump out anyway!Some people says it cures your fear, well that's rubbish because we have just touched down in Auckland and I was sh..... it the whole way!!

Leaving Queenstown was pretty emotional we never thought in 4 months we would settle in so well and meet such good friends I have to say a big thanks to Mark for employing me. Tennis coaching was a class job as I got to know so many people the only bad thing is they made me dress up like a fairy at the Xmas party, but it seem to make everyone laugh so its all good! Mish loved her job as well as she got to do all Queenstown's amazing activities for free and worked with some cool people in an amazing resort. Queenstown is a very very very livable place!

After that Mish and I and the grey nomads headed up the west coast. The west coast has some of the most amazing scenery I have ever seen, however I had no idea how unpopulated it was!!! A few towns along the way but they cant have any more than a few hundred people, this one town we passed only had one house in!! I guess coming from the UK you just expect to see a lot of town and city, but as you all probably know the UK population is 62 million and NZ only 4 million, I bought a t-shirt saying 'no traffic, no stress no problem', and that really is the way here. Kiwi's are so relaxed and are so friendly we loved the space and we could park the camper any where and save $70 a night not paying for a camp site! Charlie the camper was class, even had a toilet and a shower although I had to put down a firm rule of no number 2s in there!!! hahahaha!!

The highlight of the west coast was Fox's glacier and Franz Josef glacier which were huge and both came down below tree level, which doesn't make any sense really. They are amazing to look at and the walks out to them are really cool, so that's worth a look. Lake Matherson was also spectacular with Mount Cook, the biggest mountain in NZ over looking it. But to be fair everywhere you looked you saw lakes, mountains, white water streams, blue seas it was a pretty awesome trip, and there were no arguments for two weeks living in the van together, I was an attention seeking little b***** at times so sorry for that M & D, poor Mishee is used to it!
In the evening we played blackjack and some card games which was really funny fair play to Mish and mum they are good at blackjack, dad was useless on the other hand! At meal times we had a little campervan masterchef! We all had to cook a meal and judge it out of ten, in 4th pace was dad with the driest plate of food I have ever had its so bad I cant even remember what it was.! In 3rd place was mum with a nice beef stroganoff which got a a few 9s, I got 2nd with bangers and cheese and garlic mash with gravy! And Mishee got first for Pad Thai which is a Thai dish which Mish fell in love with in Asia, and was her first time cooking it, it was so so yummy dad found it a little hot but I think he still gave her a 9! So well done Mish.
We also had a very competitive game of mini golf up on the north coast of the south island in Takaka, I took the title on day 1 and dad on day 2, Mishee threw a paddy because on day one she had a shocker, but I love the fight in her was very funny!!!!

We then traveled to Nelson and then to Christchurch, where we sadly said good bye to mum and dad and was then picked up by Mishee's cousin Paul, who is an absolute legend, We slept in his corridor, which was surprisingly comfy! He showed us the sights and even lent us his car, we went to watch a down hill mountain bike comp with him and he talked about his love for cycling. Fair play he has done some cool stuff! He cycled and camped from British Columbia in Canada down to San Fransisco in the US for 5 months! Now that is a real traveler! He told us some class traveling stories about sleeping rough in Alaska under the stars to having bears a few yards outside his tent in Canada! Big respect Paul!!!! We went out for a few beers one night but mainly chilled at his in the evenings and wandered around the city in the day.

We are flying out of Auckland tomorrow to Santiago Chile for our South American adventure, we cant wait!!!

New Zealand has been amazing, our favorite place was easily Queenstown, I don't reckon there is another place like it in the world if you like partying and sports and relaxed people and spectacular views its for you!!!! So thanks New Zealand for an Amazing 4 and a half months!!!

Hope you all are well and the blog's will keep coming now as we are on the move again!

Thinking of coming to NZ?? DO IT!!!

Peace

Ads and mich xxxxx