Hello everyone and welcome to our latest blog. It seems all our blogs we start with an apology for the long delays, same again in this case! We have, however been seriously busy enjoying ourselves so that's a good thing for sure.

This blog will be full of what we've been up to and promises to be quite a long one but we don't want to miss anything out. Be sure to catch all the photos too. There are many albums so make sure you check the rest out and not just the latest ones. They are the final one of Rotorua, South Island, Fiji and Sydney.

I promise it will be worth the read and when you make it down towards the end we'll share some exciting news with you all.....if you don't know already that is!!!

Right, here it goes;

When we last updated you we were still in Rotorua. The last attraction we did there was a place called Te Puia. We again posed as hoteliers with Jenny so we could get it free. She helped us save quite a bit of money buy doing that!!!!

Te Puia was a really great place. It was similar to Wia-O-Tapu we visited when Ben was over (The geothermal wonderland) with its geysers and bubbling hot pools of mud but it also did a lot around the NZ culture with different shows and wood carving workshops. They also had a Kiwi encounter there where you could see a kiwi bird up close. It was good to see one as it was in our last week and we didn't think we would see one.

Before we knew it we had to say goodbye to Rotorua and the good friends and work colleagues we met whilst there. We had quite a few goodbye drinks and were lucky enough to get some really lovely gifts and leaving cards.

Our next destination was Wellington, at the bottom of the North Island. We were stopping here for the night before we caught the ferry the next day to the south island. Whilst in Wellington we caught up with a friend of mine Kieran, who I played rugby with back home. He's from NZ and had returned with his fiancée Lindsay after we left the UK. We had a nice meal with them both and it was wonderful to see another friendly face. We also arranged to see them both again on our way back up the next week.

The ferry across the Cook Straight was 3 hours but flew by because of the stunning views of the Marlborough sounds on the way into Picton, where the ferry docks.

I'll share this with you as Julie says to;

As we were coming into the south island and to all the great views I've just mentioned, we were both outside on the ferry taking the views in. As you know, Jules had taken to calling me 'the scenery geek' as I tend to get a little carried away with the camera. Anyways, I got the camera from the boss and was happily snapping away and I was in my element. I cried out 'Jules.....the scenery geek is in scenery heaven!!!!!'. I turned round to smile at Jules, blissfully unaware she had wondered inside whilst I was shouting out and looking up at me was this little kid who was looking at me with concern! I felt a little silly to say the least as he ran up to his mum and started pointing at me. Oh well....!

We had been in the south Island literally a touch over an hour and we had already visited our first winery!!! Jules keeping true to form there then!

We made our way down to a place on the east coast called Kiakorua and saw some fantastic views along the way. At one point even Jules said 'wow'. Who's the geek now!!!!

It's hard to describe the vastness of some of the mountain ranges. Even the pictures don't do them justice really. I look likes someone put a skyline above the clouds in some of our pics.

We drove along the coast most of the way down and saw seals and penguins along the way. You don't get them on the M6!

Kiakoura is famous for whale watching which you can do all year round and we were lucky enough to be able to do it. We were out at sea for about 3 hours and saw 4 whales, countless dolphins and the largest bird in the world....no...not Michelle Mcmanus, the Albatross!!!!

The whale watching was fascinating and a must do to anyone who ever makes it out that way. When we got up close to a whale everyone on the boat would instantly go silent and just watch. It really was memorable, especially when they would dive and you saw their tales. We've got some good pics of them.

Straight after the whale watching we headed down to Christchurch which we both loved. Sadly we were only there for one night but we still got a good look at the city and the night life. Christchurch was really comfortable and really felt like home for some reason. Jules said it reminded her of Oxford a lot.

After Christchurch we made our way further south to Dunedin. It is NZ's 'Scottish city' and there was a big Scottish influence there. Jules was REALLY looking forward to going there and getting Haggis for dinner. To start with we didn't find any Jules wasn't too impressed. She said she thought she'd built it up too much to be like Edinburgh. We joked she was going to nip off and see her family (real Edinburgh residents!) to get some but eventually we found a place that did it and she was grinning the rest of the evening.

Dunedin is close enough to the Catlins Coastline on the south east of the island and we spent a morning checking those out. It was a really nice coastline and you could see seals everywhere in their natural habitat. It was great.

We filled that afternoon with the Speights Brewery tour which was great fun. I did have to laugh at the lack of interest during the tour from some people as they were there purely for the free beer at the end. We got our fair share for sure and Jules was getting into it too sampling the dark ales to the lighter beers. A good afternoon!

The world's steepest street, Baldwin Street is in Dunedin too. I couldn't resist walking up it and it certainly lives up to its name. At one point I looked down at my feet and I could see behind me!!!!! There are pics on here of it but I don't think it truly picks up how steep it is. It has to be steep to beat the streets in San Francisco for a start!

The next town on our south island adventure was Queenstown. We got a sweet deal on an apartment for our two night stay there. It was right on lake and some great mountain views from the balcony - cant complain!

We got quite a bit in whilst in Queenstown. The first full day we drove out to Milford Sound which was just stunning, it really was. The drive out to it was just amazing. I got a little telling off for driving and trying to take pictures at the same time! I know I'll cop some stick from my brothers for saying this but it is amazing how small everything makes you feel there. The mountains are enormous. Please take look at the pics to see what we mean. There's one where a waterfall makes a ship look tiny. You'll also probably work out that was the first day we worked out how to use the black and white feature on our camera!!!!

We made it back to town in what must be record time for the journey in time to experience the shot-over canyon river jets. High speed boats whizz you through the gorge and you narrowly miss the rocks every time. Our driver was doing 360 degree spins right in the middle of the thinnest part of the canyon. We both really enjoyed it and were pleased we made it back so we didn't miss out.

The next day was left Queenstown but not before I got in a couple of canyon swings. I had wanted to a bungee jump or alike and this one took my fancy. It is the world highest canyon swing and 360ft high. Basically you jump off the platform and as you are about to smash into some rocks you swing out across the canyon. I did two jumps in the end. The first was backwards and was seriously scary. Even my s*** was scared! The second I swung out and hung on the rope upside down and then went. Please check out the links for the videos and let me know what you think....

Just click on these. Jump 1 and 2;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJVUdaWnAgg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mDnMwidsAU

We next stopped at Franz Josef Glacier up the west coast. Another lovely drive with mountains everywhere. It's clear that if NZ ever runs out of trees then the world has a serious problem on its hands!

We stopped off for a few hours to see the Glacier which was really cool. We didn't know what to expect as it isn't something you see every day but were suitable impressed. We were hoping to go up to the top by helicopter but it was really cloudy at the time so decided to give it a miss.

On our way back to the car we bumped into some backpackers we had met in Rotorua. It was really weird as you never expect to bump into people like that. We only got to see them briefly though as they were actually off to climb the glacier as part of a tour group.

That night we finished up way up the west coast at a place called Hokitika. We got a nice room right on the coast but the town was a little eerie to say the least. It was really tiny and like a ghost town almost. I believe it was a much busier town years back when they did lots of gold mining in the area.

The following day was our last full day in the south island. We drove to Picton to wait for our ferry back north, the next day. Picton is really quite a nice little place. Jules loved it even more as she able to get some more haggis in a Scottish bar and to top it off she was able to wash it down with a can of iron bru!

It was back to the north island the next day and we spent most of the afternoon looking around Wellington which was good to do. It's a nice place. In the evening we met up with Kieran and Lindsay again and had the added bonus of another kiwi friend, Ben, being back from the UK so we were able to see him again too.

I think by now you'd have begun to realise we did a lot driving and the drive back to Rotorua was the last one we had to do. I think we did about 2,500km's that week!

We stayed in Rotorua that night and had a nice night out with our friends and had to bid them a final farewell.

The next day we got the bus up to Auckland where we were for two day before we flew out to Fiji. We stayed in the Rydges hotel at a super rate (Cheers Jemmel!!!!)It was a lovely way to see out our stay in this amazing country. Jules and I were sad to leave to be honest but the prospect of a week in Fiji helps you out there! Our last weekend in NZ we saw them win the rugby league world cup which was great. It was cool to be in Auckland and to watch it all unfold. There were lots of happy people around that night!

So the fat lady sang on our time in NZ and it was time for Fiji.

It was flippin' hot when we got to Fiji. Really hot! We were in for a good week! We got to our hotel easy enough and we had a picked a great spot. We had a pool the one side of us and the beach/sea the next. The sea was really warm and we spent quite a bit of time in and out of it.

We went straight to check the beach out and within seconds we were drinking milk from a coconut thing called Bou, with a local. All good fun. The inside bit was rank though and we soon gave it back to him!!!

Our first full day in Fiji we headed into the town centre closest to where we were staying which was an interesting experience to say the least. The local shop keepers were really trying to get you in their shops. If was a bit uncomfortable to start with, people literally trying to drag you in their shops but soon we grew a thick skin and were able to tell them no!

We went into the local market once and there was seafood out on the floor, not refrigerated!!! That place was jammed packed and it was nice to have a look around. They didn't sell any dairylea triangles anywhere though!

We spent a lot of our time on the beach soaking up the sun and dodging the rain showers in the afternoon. When it rains in Fiji.....it really rains! Afterwards its more fresher so it's back on the sun loungers.

I don't want to put this on here but if the roles were reversed and this happened to Jules I'd want to tell everyone so fair's fair!!!

Put it this way....I'm not fond of hammocks anymore! I really liked lazing in them in the Cook Islands and my face lit up when I saw a couple on the beach in Fiji. I got my book ready and was looking forward to a relaxing read. I sat on the hammock but still wasn't centred and more off the edge so pushed myself up to get centre but I lifted my weight too far the other side and my legs went right over my head and I went bum over boob in a big way!!! The hammock span right round as I fell off and I was dumped into the sand. I looked to Jules once I got up and she was laughing SO hard. So hard in fact no sound was coming out!!!! You know who your mates are, hey! I wasn't going to be mastered by the hammock and before we left I got on it safely, after the bruise on my back went down!

We had a great time in Fiji and met some really lovely locals and fellow travellers but the day we'll both always remember was the 26th November. We took a trip out to one of the 333 islands Fiji is made up of called Mala Mala. It is the size of two football pitches and you can walk around it in 5 minutes. The island is uninhabited and we were sharing it with about only 15-20 people. It was about a 45 minute boat ride out which was nice enough. We got to see lots more islands on the way but Mala Mala was way out there and in the middle of nowhere. Jules was really looking forward to the day before and I wanted to go there as it looked really romantic and I had a master plan I was hoping to pull off....I was going to ask Jules to marry me!

In the morning there we went snorkelling over the coral reef that surrounds the island. We were out for about an hour and it went so quick. We saw some great marine life and didn't swallow too much sea water either.

After lunch it was time to put my plan into action. I had bought the ring back in NZ and had been waiting what seemed like ages to ask Jules the big question. We went for a walk around the island and it seemed like we had the island to ourselves as we didn't see anyone. It was lovely. I asked Jules to stop still and look out to sea for a moment and not to look round. Whilst she was gazing away I was busy in the sand writing ' WILL U MARRY ME? X'. I knew knelt down behind it holding the ring up and then asked Jules to turn around. Her reaction was everything I wished for. I asked her the question and she got the answer right so Jules and I are now engaged!!!! Afterwards she was looking back at the sand and she told me I spelt You incorrectly.....I was trying to save time so it was ok!!!

Needless to say we had a wonderful afternoon on the island and many people were congratulating us on the way back to the mainland.

In the evening that day we took part in the Fijian Kava ceremony. It's a traditional drink made from the root of a special tree. If you drink enough you can get pissed but you have to drink loads though. We gave it a go that night was a couple of Norwegian guys but didn't really feel anything. Fun trying though!

Obviously we'll remember Fiji forever but we still had a really nice time there and liked the country a lot. The locals are all really friendly and make you feel very welcome.

It was time to head to our next destination which was Sydney. On the way there we had to stop off in Auckland so in one day we had been in Fiji, NZ and Australia!

We're in Sydney as we type but leave tomorrow to head to Brisbane where we are looking to settle and do the same sort of thing we did in Rotorua with work etc. By the time you're reading this we'll be on our 16 hour bus journey!

Sydney has been brilliant. We both really love the place. We extended our stay by another day to get as much in as we could. We have to fly out from here to get home so we get to come again but still wanted to stay a little longer. It seems like a really laid back city. It is still busy but the lovely weather certainly helps the mood. The centre has everything and it is ever so clean. We've seen the landmarks such as the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. It was great to see these up close. You get some great views at the harbour, also up the tower which was wonderful also.

We made it Bondi Beach today and both liked it very much. You can see why loads of people go there. It was packed when we were there and it was a Wednesday morning!!!! Imagine it the middle of summer. Jules said we've been spoilt with the beaches we've been on in the Cook Islands and Fiji as we practically had them to ourselves, Bondi was busy so that was a little different.

I also bumped into friend in Sydney. Steve 'Billy' Bywater from my home town. He was walking through town whilst I was waiting outside a shop waiting for Jules. It was so strange. We spent the afternoon with him and he was there meeting another friend from home Chris Tilley, so it was double strange! I didn't even know they were over here so great to see them. Small world and all that!!!!

So far, so good for Australia. We're looking forward to the rest of our time here.

Thanks for reading our blog update and well done for making it to the end!!! Please leave us a message to say hi as these have been drying up lately so let us know how you are people.

We'll update again when we're sorted in Brisbane. Let's see if I can get a job before Jules this time....?

Cheers everyone

Hugs and Manly Handshakes,

Alan and Jules

xXx