After saying some sad goodbyes in Sydney to our 'Christmas family' we caught our flight into Christchurch on Tuesday 2nd January. We arrived at around 11pm local time and headed to our hostel in the center of town.

On Wednesday 3rd January our adventures in New Zealand began and we set about finding our way around the small city. Christchurch is a very beautiful place, with the city centered around the cathedral square. We got a shock this morning - with a backpack full of summer clothes we found out that New Zealand is cold! So I (Debs) had to take my shivering self around the shops to find a winter jumper, whilst Alec nursed his flu with a few lemsips. We then went on a tour of the local 'fudge factory' - we were tempted by the promise of free samples! We were expecting to see an old N.Z tradition as the staff were all wearing Victorian type clothes. However, it turned out that was just a theme and the factory had only been open 16 years and was actually owned and run by a British couple....so a very cultural experience for us!? We then spent the rest of the afternoon updating the website. So although N.Z didn’t have the most exciting start, it was nice to have some recovery time after all the partying in Sydney.

On Thursday 4th January we spent a few more hours in the Internet cafe updating our website (we really should do it more often - we just don’t learn!) and then headed to the local art house cinema in the afternoon. (as it turned out the biggest tourist attraction in Christchurch is the fudge factory tour?!). The cinema was great, as it was a tiny 11 seater and was just like being sat in someone’s front room, which was a great novelty to two weary travelers. Although we managed to pick a film that was based on the formation of the IRA, a bit of a tear jerker for Alec (Alec would like to add here that he has no affiliation to the Republican army and the tears were ones caused by the sadness of the story, not pride for his fallen brothers)

On Friday 5th January we set about learning a bit more of the city we were in and completed the lonely planet walking tour. The tour started in the Cathedral and we climbed the very steep and claustrophobic steps to the stop of the tower to see the fantastic view of Christchurch at the top. We then continued to the outskirts of the city, stopping by a stream to relax in the sun and watch the gondolas' go past. Continuing on to find a great little Belgian beer pub, where we enjoyed a cone of chips and a few blonde beers. The walk then took us up to the Botanical gardens and the Christchurch museum. There were some interesting Maori artifacts and an exhibition about a New Zealand project in Antarctica.

On Saturday 6th January we started our journey with the kiwi experience bus. Our first driver was 'smiley' so called because when he was six he was in a Colgate advert - supposedly. The start of the journey was great, sat opposite Alec and I was a 19 year old cockney boy who reminded me so much of my little brother, so I was quite enjoying talking to him. Though if you’re reading this Matt - he was clearly not as good looking as you!!??? hahaha. The first journey to Kaikoura took about 4 hours and took us through some amazing scenery, the country is so beautiful and lush green with Deer and sheep farms everywhere. Kaikoura is a small village, born out of a whaling station. On our arrival there we went for an explore up the main street and followed the coast round for a few hours. It was an amazing walk, taking in the beautiful sea and the snow capped mountains in the distance. Our walk (by a complete lucky accident) took us to a seal colony and we were able to sit and watch the seals lounge on the surrounding rocks and then play in the sea. A local tour then arrived that allowed people to swim with the wild seals so we were able to watch the weird and wonderful sight of people swimming and playing with seals and seal cubs in the ocean. We then headed back, stopping at a local pub ( our driver said if we did the walk it was tradition to stop for a sneaky drink on the way back, and who are to break with tradition?) We went to a take away and had fish and chips on the promenade for tea and then it was an early night as had to be up at 4.30am to do our dolphin swim.

On Sunday 7th January we were up at 4.30 to make it to the dolphin center for 5.00am to take part in the dolphin swim. When we got there we were given wetsuits, snorkels and flippers and shown a film about the experience about how to get the most of it. This meant making lots of noise under the water and to be as active as possible, with lots of diving under the water and swimming in circles with the dolphins. We then headed to the boats and started our journey out to find the dolphins, the matty lookalike who did it yesterday said they found a pod of about 200 dolphins and went swimming with them, so I had my fingers crossed for that. The journey out wasn’t great, and Alec and I were both starting to feel a tad sea sick, so we were pleased when we stopped after about 40 minutes at a small pod of dusky dolphins. When the boat stopped, they sounded a big horn and everyone was to jump out and start trying to attract the dolphins by singing through the snorkel. Though the water was freezing, a real shock to the system, after five or so minutes you begin to warm up. I started singing 'postman pat' the only thing I could think of at that silly hour of the morning, with Alec opting for the popular 'la la la la la'. When I saw my first dolphin it was amazing, but they are so quick and at one point I had about five whizz past me. We stayed at this point watching and swimming with the dolphins for 20 minutes and then moved on. We then moved on and luckily found a much larger pod and the horn went and we were all in the water again. It was here that I was lucky enough to swim in a circle with a dolphin on two occasions, both lasting about 30 seconds - I cant put into words how amazing it was. Alec was even luckier and had 2/3 dolphins swimming with him about 4 times!! After this swim we were all called back into the boat and it was time to head back, we had been out in the ocean for about 2 hours. So, battling sea sickness we had to get changed from our wetsuits in front of the whole boat and get into our warm clothes, a lot more complicated than you would think. The trip was absolutely awesome and one of the best things both of us have done on the whole holiday, well worth the early morning. When we reached dry land, it was a rush to jump in a hot shower and then get ready for the kiwi bus to pick us up at 9am and we started our trip along the coast to Nelson, driving through the Islands' main wine producing areas and finally arriving at about 4pm at 'The prince Albert Hotel'. This was a great hostel, was v.posh and they gave us a chicken roast dinner for $10 - BARGAIN.

On Monday 8th January I awoke feeling a little unwell so I slept a little longer whilst Alec went for an adventure to see what Nelson had to offer. As it turns out - it wasn't much, but it was a very pretty town. The rest of the day involved a trip to the doctors and sleeping off some painkillers, so not much to talk about for today.

On Tuesday 9th January I had a relaxing day in bed to recuperate whilst Alec went for an all day hike in the Abel Tasman National Park. (Alec) - Since Debbie was either sleeping or chasing the magic dragon on painkillers for most of the day, I thought I should contribute on this bit. I took a bus north into the national park and then got a taxi boat along the coastline to a remote beach called Barks bay. I was then given 4 hours to walk the 10km through the forests and mountains back to my pickup point at Anchorage (another beach). Although it was raining, the scenery was beautiful and I could see it being even more stunning on a sunny day. Although I got pretty wet, I had a really nice time (though it was a little weird spending the day on my own for the first time since September 10th!). When I returned to the hostel around 7pm, Debbie had climbed down from the ceiling and so we had a nice tea and then went to bed.

(Debbie) On Wednesday 10th January we hopped on the Kiwi bus again to travel to Westport. Our driver this time was 'hot lips', a guy with far too many women jokes, but he took us to a winery for free wine tasting, so I forgave him! When we arrived in Westport, it appeared to be the town that time forgot, with a lot of bleak looking areas and the majority of locals were sporting mullets! In Westport we stayed in 'Basil’s' hostel and spent the evening with a group from the bus watching a movie marathon, starting with Layer Cake, The Devils advocate and then a bit of 'The Exorcist'. Alec cooked tonight and treated me to macaroni cheese that his grandma had taught him to cook!

On Thursday 11th January we left the exciting Westport and moved onto Lake Mahinapua, stopping at some good picture points on the way. The journey to Lake Mahinapua was a journey into the wild west area of New Zealand and we stayed at the Mahinapua hotel or "poo bar" as it was so called, a hotel literally in the middle of nowhere. This was to be the location of the famous kiwi bus fancy dress party. On route to the hotel we stopped in a place called Greymouth to get our costumes. The theme of the party was for boys to dress as girls and girls to dress in bin bags! With our outfits sorted we headed to the hotel, where we were treated to a steak and venison stew meal and then after a few nerve steadying drinks we headed off to get into our outfits. I was sporting a zorro outfit complete with cape and sword and Alec was wearing 12 year old girl pj's, tinkerbell wings and a wand!! My outfit was originally meant to be Xena warrior princess, but after we had put the 'Z' on the back of my cape, we remembered 'xena' was spelt with an 'X', doh! The party in the bar was excellent, and the locals that turned up seemed to enjoy the oddness of the evening too. Everyone in the group made lots of effort and we 'got amongst it' as our driver likes to say. Check out the pictures on the web site...

On Friday 12th January we left lake Mahinapua with a heavy hangover and started our journey to Franz Josef. On route, we stopped at a wild west center that 'showed us the way N.Z used to be'. They made us watch a dvd of men hunting deer from helicopters to the soundtrack of 'get into the danger zone' from top gun, all very funny. We then got to see the wild boar he kept and some possums. The kiwi's really hate the possums, I think they were introduced to the country by England, but I thought they were cute. We then stayed for a full breakfast in the cafe, an excellent cure for the hangover. We arrived in Franz Josef at about 3pm where Alec and I had planned to do our sky dive over the glacier and Mt Cook, but it hadn’t stopped raining and you couldn't see anything from the air so we decided against it. We then spent the rest of the afternoon having a little cat nap as we had a big day ahead of us on Saturday.

On Saturday 13th January we took part in an all day hike on the Franz Josef glacier. The tour company gave us waterproof trousers and coats, mittens and a woolly hat for the day. We made our way to the glacier and it looked like we were going to be blessed with the weather finally (as it has done nothing but rain the whole time we have been on the west coast) but we were wrong - the heavens opened and didn’t stop raining all day. But, it didn’t seem to matter, the hike on the glacier was unreal and we both really enjoyed it. Although it rained all day, we still managed to get some good pictures, take a look on the website. When we got back, soaked through it was a competition to see who could get to the hot showers first and we took advantage of the food backpacker special in the hotel bar.

On Sunday 14th January we left Franz Josef at 7am and started the long journey to Lake Wanaka stopping at some impressive waterfalls on route for some Kodak moments. We arrived in Lake Wanaka late in the afternoon, after another long afternoon of 'LJ' talking till the cows come home (our balding, small driver - famous for such catchphrases as "get amongst it", "sweet as" and "flat out"). Lake Wanaka was very beautiful with the most amazing scenery and a place where finally the sun was shining, after 2 weeks of rain. However, one of the best bits was finding out that the room we had booked had an en suite bathroom with a bath! Needless to say, running a nice hot bath was one of the first things I did! After a bath and a cat nap, we headed to the red rock bar in the center of town to meet the group for a few drinks.

On Monday 15th January we traveled from Lake Wanaka to Queenstown. Our first stop on the journey was to 'Puzzle World', a fun place where water ran upwards and you could get lost in the wooden maze. The second stop en route was at the A J Hackett bungee jump over Kawarau river. This was something Alec and I were not going to take part in, especially after the scary museum of bungee. However, I decided to face one of my biggest fears and do a jump dragging Alec along for the ride in a tandem bungee. It was incredibly scary, and it was only 43m, I really couldn't have done the 215 meters in S.A. We were both very pleased that we had completed it, and proudly wore our A J Hackett t shirts all day! So with big smiles and an adrenaline high we arrived in Queenstown. On arrival we took a ride up the Gondola to the top of one of the mountains in the town (Smith & Berry families check out the Queenstown postcards that are on their way home). At the top you could then get a ski lift and ride the 'luges' down the hill, that were a bit like a go kart but faster. It was so much fun, though I was going a bit fast on the advanced course and ended up riding right into the fence! On the evening, it was Karaoke night in the local bar and LJ had decided that our bus should challenge the other rival bus company "Stray" (who seem to run busses full of elderly bird watchers - not too threatening) to a Karaoke-off. In the end, nobody really seemed to stick with LJ's proposal and we all just focused on singing badly. Debbie and I treated the crowds with our classic rendition of Toto's "Africa" and the DJ commented that our applause was the loudest so far (though we did really expect as much - we are amazing at Karaoke). All the lads off our bus attempted to sing total eclipse of the heart but after the autocue broke and the song deteriorated into made up words and removal of t-shirts, it was decided that Debbie and my performance was probably the highlight of the evening (admittedly, only decided by me, but a decision was made all the same). For all you DIY S.O.S fans, we were also treated to a rendition of "mustang sally" by TV's Nick Knowles (who looked a little like a homeless bum - see the photos).

On Tuesday 16th January, hangovers in tow, we wandered around the town trying to arrange a hire car for the north island and a trip for the following day. In the afternoon, after discovering that many of our photo CD's had become scratched (AAARGH!) we spent several hours recovering photos and saving them onto sturdier DVDs (which would later become corrupted and hence require more recovery - wooop!)

On Wednesday 17th January we got up early and made our way onto the bus for a day trip around the "Milford Sounds" national park. This is an area of outstanding beauty where a valley has sunken slightly and allowed itself to be filled by sea water which makes for a beautiful boat ride through a steep-sided river-mouth (a little like a Fjord). On the journey through we saw snow-topped mountains, vivid blue glacial rivers and stunning waterfalls. The boat ride was also amazing as we were blessed with great weather and managed to get a bit of a tan whilst riding around the sounds. Upon our return, we decided to have our final Furgburgers for tea (a local delicacy - the most beautiful beefburgers in the world!) and then went out for some drinks in a local bar.

On Thursday 18th January we got back on the Kiwi experience bus and headed north for Geraldine, a small town where we would be picked up to go on a white water rafting trip. That night we stayed at a beautiful cabin in the mountains which was owned by the rafting company. The two of us and another couple (Paul and Gemma) had fajitas and beers on the front lawn whilst the sun went down and then stayed up watching DVDs around the log stove. Needless to say, we all slept well that night.

On Friday 19th January we were woken up around 9:30 and given breakfast and lunch before we were given all of the equipment and clothing we would need for our rafting trip. A big group of us then got a bus further up stream to the launching point for our rafts. Our raft group included Debbie and myself, Paul and Gemma, a wierd Swiss guy, a Dutch girl and an American. We were all encouraged to jump in the water before we got into the rafts so that we were acclimatized to the (bloody cold) temperature. Our supervisor for the day was a guy called Rhana (though the name Banana stuck because Alec couldn't remember his real name). Once in the boat, we were first taught about all of the commands which he was going to shout at us and how we had to react. These included:

"GET DOWN" - climb into the bottom of the raft

"HOLD ON" - hold the side rope with one arm and lean into the boat with the other

"OVER LEFT / RIGHT" - supposedly a means of stopping the boat capsizing with members from one side of the boat leaning onto the other - though it would later be used as more of a cause than a solution

"FORWARD / BACK PADDLE" - shouldn’t need too much explanation!

We then practiced these commands and what we should do if anyone fell out of the raft. Before we reached the serious rapids, Banana decided to see how the team would handle a capsize in a calm stretch of water. To do this, he cunningly directed us so that we were at an angle to the flow of the river and then called out "OVER LEFT" which caused the whole boat to flip over, scattering everyone out into the river. Some of us got stuck underneath the raft, others just floated along side but the important thing is that we all survived! We were then ready for some proper rafting and so we went down a series of differently graded stretches from grade 3 to 5 (grade 5 being the most challenging type which can be used commercially). Before each stretch, Banana would explain what we had to do and the route we would be taking, though generally we would just follow his commands as we went. Each stretch was challenging in a different way but somehow we managed to make it through them all without capsizing and the only team member to fall out was the American and we didn't miss him much anyways! We were then allowed to jump into the river from some rocks and float down the rapids at high speed which was loads of fun (we had passed all of the grade 5's by that point!). At the end of this stretch, we took turns to jump off some 10m rocks into the river and had our photos taken. We then rafted back to the pick up point and headed to the lodge for a BBQ. That night we got a lift back into Christchurch and Alec spent most of the evening repairing to aforementioned corrupted DVD's whilst Debbie washed our clothes.

On Saturday 20th January, I got up at 6am and eagerly got the bus through to the airport to pick up our rental car for the next week. Although we got a relocation deal and were only paying $5 per day, the usual rate on this car should have been $68 per day so when I arrived I was expecting something a little special. Anyways, as I was driving back to the hostel in a Hyundai Getz, I was feeling that maybe we hadn't picked the best value company! We then grabbed some breakfast and made our way to Picton to get the ferry across to Wellington on the north island. Since we only had one week to see the whole of the north island, we headed out of Wellington and tried to get as far north as possible, with our main destination being the town of Taupo. We didn't make it quite that far and at around 9pm we decided to stop for the night at a small motel in the countryside. This was a lovely local pub with some bed rooms out the back and we had a pub tea and a couple of pints before heading to bed.

On Sunday 21st January we made our way into Taupo with the intention of doing a skydive and then staying there for a night. Taupo is a beautiful small town based on New Zealand’s (and possibly the southern hemisphere's) largest lake - lake Taupo. When we called around we realised that the A1GP motorsport world cup was on there and so every bed in the town was booked. We still inquired about the skydiving but it was too windy so we gave it a miss and were heading back to the Getz-mobile when we were accosted by a man in a pizza hut t-shirt who asked us if we wanted two free tickets to the A1GP. We said "why not" and hopped on a free bus through to the track. After finding our seats, we watched the end of a Porsche cup race and then the parade for the A1GP race began. This involved each country's driver being driven around the track in an old Porsche (with NZ's driver being last) and then various Maori dances and songs (none of which we could see from our seats, but they sounded good!). After the national anthem, the race began. From the start it was obvious that the German driver who was in pole was going to do well as he lost the French and NZ drivers who were in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Unfortunately, since we didn't have the best seats, we had no large TV screen to watch the TV coverage from. This meant that as soon as several cars had gone into the pits and returned, we had no idea who was in first place any more! After a confusing 10 minutes, we decided that we should leave early since we needed to get back into town, pick up the car and drive back past the track before the race finished so we didn't get stuck in the traffic. Our next stop was Rotorua, a town which several geothermal features caused by the tectonic activity underneath it's soil. These included Geysers, natural hot streams and mud baths. Something which the guidebooks did not mention however was how strong the smell of sulphur was. This was caused by the hot steam rising through the rocks and picking up the smell on the way. After a while we got used to it though and just before we got into town, we stopped at Kerosene Creek - a natural hot river with water temperatures of around 50 degrees centigrade. The river felt just like a hot bath and it was really relaxing to float around in (though we did feel a little lethargic afterwards!). There was also a waterfall there which did feel just like a hot shower! After we had dried off we made our way into the center of town and stayed in a hostel where we cooked chicken kebabs for tea, for the change of smell as much as our own enjoyment!

On Monday 22nd January we woke to see that it was a beautiful day and we were both feeling brave so we called the skydive people in Taupo and asked if the conditions were good for jumping today. They were happy for us to jump so we quickly drove south before they changed our mind and made our way to Taupo airport where they are based. We selected to do a jump from the maximum of 15,000 feet which implied a 60 second freefall (I found that it felt more like 10 seconds, though Debbie thought the opposite) and paid a little extra to have another guy jump with us to film our exploits. We had to wait a good 3 hours for our turn since it was a busy day but at around 3pm we got kitted up and jumped in the plane each with our own tandem jumper and camera man. The flight up was beautiful as we could see all of the lake and surrounding mountains. We were told that at 15,000 feet you could see both the east and west coasts of the north island. At 12,000 feet some other jumper's got off then it was just three of us left on the plane for the oxygen assisted climb up a further 3,000 feet. Once we were good to jump, Debbie was first to go so her camera man climbed out of the plane and onto a ledge then she and her partner shuffled up to the door, counted and then jumped out of the plane. Next another guy went then it was my turn. The instructor told me not to look down but straight out and cross my arms. We shuffled, counted and then jumped. Once the initial thoughts of death were over, the freefalling experience was like nothing I have ever felt - it was just like being in a windy, gravity-free environment. After some spins and funny poses for the camera man, the chute was pulled at 5,000 feet and we had a further 5 minutes to float back down to the ground. The view from here was amazing (I know, I've probably used up all of the possible positive adjectives by now but it was a good day!) and gently climbing down to ground level was really relaxing after the sensory overload of the freefall (though both Debbie and I said that it made us feel a little queazy for some reason!). We gently touched down and I realised that I was the first one to land so I got the chance to watch Debbie come down too. We then got out of our gear and watched each other's jump DVDs which brought it all back again! We were both a little shaken up but we thought that we should eat something and relax a while before our long drive north. After tea we decided to drive all the way to the most eastern point of the north island - East Cape so that we could be the first people in the world to see the sunrise on Tuesday 23rd January. This seemed a pretty monumental drive and by 11pm we had finally made it to the cape and managed to find a nearby lodge which fortunately had a lovely bed and we managed to get around 4 hours sleep before we had to be up again!

Tuesday 23rd January - We got up at 4:30am and threw some clothes on then drove out to the east cape which involved about half an hour of dirt tracks which the poor Getz-mobile bounced along until we reached the car park of the east cape lighthouse. We climbed the 700 steps in the dark to the top and when we got there, we found around 10 other people who were all here to be the first in the world to see the sunrise. We sat there for around an hour before the sun was fully visible and the sky lit up with stunning crimson and orange colours. We got some amazing photos (to be uploaded soon!) and we both agreed that it really was worth the lack of sleep to see! At 7am we left the cape and made our way back to the lodge for a couple hours more sleep before check out at 10am. After getting up and dressed, we began what would be another epic drive to the bay of islands in the northern end of the island. This really was a full day of driving so not much to report until 9pm when we arrived in Whangarei (Maori for "Cherished Harbour") and peeled ourselves off our seats, let the blood flow back into our buttocks and then went to bed!

Wednesday 24th January - So far today we have planned our last few days in NZ and had a little look around the Maori town of Whangarei. Tomorrow we are heading up to the reportedly beautiful bay of islands for a couple of days of sailing and sunbathing before we depart for the coup-affected country of Fiji on the 27th! Wish us luck!!

We hope that you are all well and enjoying the wind/snow!

All our love,

Debbie and Alec