This may be the short version!!!

Day 1
Off we went from Auckland heading for Matamata aka Hobbiton. What a great tour it was. We had to sign a disclaimer that we wouldn't put any photographs anywhere on the internet as the set has been changed since filming 'The Hobbit' films, which finished six weeks ago. So I'll have to show you some photos in person when I see you all! I can't wait to watch the clips that are filmed in The Shire again to think that I've been there!
It was late afternoon by the time we had finished so we drove to Rotarua to stay there.

Day 2
In Rotorua we went to see some geothermal pools and mud pools. Steam just rises randomly everywhere in Rotorua. There wasn't much else going on so we drove to Taupo. There was a waterfall called Huka Falls - so powerful and so, so blue.
We began our camping at a free campsite just outside the centre but it was a bit noisy.

Day 3
More geothermal! We went to the Craters of the Moon. A walkway through lots of geothermal activity and then up to a viewpoint. It was a lot better than Rotorua. It looked like something prehistoric with all the steam rising everywhere and the backdrop of pine trees and volcanoes. There was a hot spring that runs into a main river just randomly outside of townZ If you sat in the right spot you'd get the boiling water mixed in with the freezing river water at a good temperature. The hot water was just too hot without it!
It was our 2nd night free camping, still noisy but we love our sleeping bags! We have a much better tent and a blow up mattress so it's all good. We also have camping chairs which is great as well.

Day 4
We left Taupo (after realising that we cannot affird a sky dive *sob*) and headed to Tongariro National Park around the bottom of the gigantic Lake Taupo. It is dominated by three volcano peaks, the smallest of the three being 'Mount Doom' in 'Lord of the Rings'.
We did a couple of short walks; one to a river and one to a waterfall before we said goodbye to Ben's dad who needed to get back north whilst we continued south. We reach Palmerston North and treated ourselves to a campsite. We got the tent up just in time before the rain started.

Day 5
I was surprised that the tent lasted the night as the rain never stopped. We hung on and on in the morning before resigning to the fact that the rain wasn't going to stop and we'd have to take the tent down in the rain. That was fun.
We packed up and mooched around Palmerston North for a while before continuing south to Wellington. We were hanging around for the ferry and the cheapest ferry was at 8.45pm, arriving at the south island at midnight, well past our camping bedtimes! The ferry was daylight robbery so it felt fitting taking it at night.
It was an expensive way to scare yourself. The weather had been terrible and for a large ferry, it certainly rocked around an awful lot. Glasses were falling off shelves behind the bar and rolling up and down the floor in time with the swaying ship. A wave not far off a small tsunami was high enough to crash against the window in the upper deck where we sat. It was quiet and felt a little tense. I was terrified at times. No more boats please!!!!!
We pulled in at the side of the road at our first opportunity and slept in the car.

Day 6
Surprisingly, we both slept fairly well in the car. I fell to sleep quickly, it wasn't too cold, my back wasn't that sore and the two campervans also pulled in next to us didn't wake me up when they had moved early in the morning.
I got a text through off Dad to let us know that we'd beaten the bitters (woo!) and the sun was shining-it was hopefully going to be a good day!
We weaved along the coast around the mountains taking in some of the gorgeous views and headed to Nelson, just over 100km away. The South Island was already shaming the beauty of the North Island after only a couple of hours!
We found a cheap campsite and set up before heading into the town for some beer sampling. Not a bad way to spend a sunny afternoon in a beer garden!
We chilled out by the tent in the sun for the rest of the afternoon. We did go for a swim in the river by camp (a very brief one for me). It was icy cold.

Day 7
We left Nelson and headed to the Nelson Lakes. The two lakes are surrounded by mountains and are very picturesque. After setting up our chairs and getting out the stove to make a cup of tea, 30 seconds later we were packing away again as we were unable to cope with the swarms of sandflies surrounding us. We had quite a few sandflies at the campsite the previous day but that was nothing compared to this. They are tiny little black flies but they hurt when they bite. I had one halfway inside my leg yesterday it was that keen to get to my blood. We were considering camping by the lakes but we soon dismissed that idea.
Next on the list was a rope bridge (NZ's longest apparently) that was 110m long across a river. On the other side was a short walk to see where the ground had been raised 4.5m into a ridge from a devastating 7.8 earthquake in 1929. The bridge was pretty scary!
We pulled into a government run campsite (the cheapest kind at £3 each!) and stayed the night there. It was nice and peaceful apart from a cockerel that someone must have abandoned there crowing a good few times in the early morning (starting at 3am).

Day 8
We headed to Westport on the west coast to see a seal colony just outside of town. They were fur seals and some of the pups were tiny and must have been days old. They were gorgeous but the colony collectively were pretty noisy!
Our next stop was Punakaiki. Home of the pancake rocks and another blowhole! Unfortunately for the original blowhole that we saw in Oz, this one was a little more spectacular! The pancakes was columns of rocks poking out of the wild and massive waved sea and due to erosion they looked like pancakes one on top of the other. There was also a surge pool being really violent and a 'chimney pot', where it looked like smoke was coming out of a long hole when a big wave hit. The blowhole was shooting water up pretty high when waves rushed through the rock wall into it.
We had lunch on some grass just opposite and there was a funny looking bird wandering around. It was about as big as a chicken but a little fatter, flightless, speckley brown with big feet. He was sniffing around people already picnicking for scraps. Once we'd set up he wandered over to us for a look, then picked up one of Ben's flip flops that was lying around as we were sat on a blanket and legged it off into a bush! It was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time! Ben was hurtling after it into the bush but it got the flip flop stuck on something apparently and dropped it. I couldn't stop laughing and a couple of girls were all 'OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT!!!!' It was better than the seals, pancakes and blowhole put together!
We headed for a campsite in the guidebook which was closed but we really landed on our feet in a small town a little further along. This campsite had a pool, badminton court, was right on the beach and a few hundred metres from a pub! We had a swim, a game of badminton and treated ourselves to a couple of small beers in the fading sunshine.

Day 9
Our sunny bliss was over. It had rained from about 8pm the night before and hadn't stopped.
We packed up and headed to Greymouth to visit the Monteith Brewery, a lovely NZ beer. The brewery itself was actually being refurbished so we watched a short DVD instead of how the beer is made. I wasn't really fussed, it was the tasting I was looking forward to! After the DVD we sat around the bar in the alpine style pub and tried 7 beers and 1 cider. I only disliked the 2 ales, the rest was amazing. The cider was really something, even Ben who hates cider liked it. My favourite was the Redler, a beer at 5.2% yet it tasted like shandy, it was amazing! We were sad to leave!
We reached one of the cheap government sites for the night and endured more rain. We were woken in the night as the wind was so strong I was terrified the tent poles would snap under the force, it was absolutely ridiculous! We were kept awake for a long time and I think a few other tent casualties had occurred as there was some car door slamming. We were quite lucky that we were sheltered a little by a bush on one side and the car on the other.

Day 10
The rain wasn't letting off. We waited and waited until we were bored and packed up in the rain again.
After a quick stop in Ross for pie and chips (and some comedy photos of signs as one of Ben's brothers is called Ross) we continued south to glacier country, still in the pouring rain.
We reached Franz Josef town, named after the nearby glacier and pitched our tent at a hostel in ridiculous rain. We were soaked by the time we had finished.
We had a little wander around town and both bought woolly hats before spending the night playing 'Battle of the sexes' (an Australian tv show turned board game) with a few other people.

Day 11
We woke up to an actual break in the rain so rushed to see the glacier. It was a 45 minute walk each way to reach 200m from the bottom of the ice, the closest you could get without a guide. It was impressive but not quite what I expected. In Geography the pictures of glaciers were always rounded! This one was spikey and had what looked like waves on it. We spent a little bit of time there and decided that we should do a guided walk up it. I thought I was fine about not being able to afford to do anything on it but it was too interesting to resist. When will I be able to climb a glacier again? I was upset that we couldn't afford to skydive but you can do that anywhere and I'd much rather spend money on something like this. So we booked a half day trip which was quite reasonable and it included the hire of everything you'd need.
We lazed around for the rest of the day and watched the last 'Lord of the Rings' to spot where we'd been.

Day 12
Last night was so cold in the tent. The temperature had dropped to around 0oc and the cold was waking us up. Our sleeping bags have done us well so far and they tried their best but I could have done with another to wrap around me. It doesn't help that our joggers and other warm clothes we've relied on are soaking from a few days ago. Nothing dries because it's always raining so they just stay wet and the car stinks of damp.
Anyway, we woke up to a lot of rain and thought the trip might be cancelled but they're used to rain there so no chance!
We collected waterproof trousers, waterproof coats, hats, gloves, hiking boots, thick socks and crampons-the spikey things you clip onto your boots. Off we went!
It had gotten so cold the night before that we were treated to some snow at the top of the mountains surrounding the glacier. It looked even more impressive than the previous day.
To get onto the ice you needed up climb up the steep and rocky terminal mound, the massive pile of rocks dumped at the bottom of the glacier where the ice has moved them to (my Geography lessons all came flooding back!) On route we saw our first Kea's; non flying alpine parrots which also were up the glacier! It was a steep and rocky climb but at the top we had an even better view of the glacier and we were ready to put our crampons on and get onto the ice.
You didn't quite trust the crampons when going downhill, you had to keep your toes facing forwards instead of going side on. The guides had carved steps out of the ice with pick axes to make it easier but you had to stamp your feet down to make sure your crampons were gripping on.
We went through ice tunnels which were amazing and through ice like valleys on either side of you. We spent a couple of hours or so climbing up and then back down. The highest point we went to was a great view (see pic).
I didn't enjoy handing back all the gear we'd borrowed but on the plus it had finally stopped raining so we were able to take the tent down without getting soaked and de frost before driving off again.
We reached a holiday park and managed to get the tent up before the rain started again and kept warm in the tv room before bed.

Day 13
It was sunny! I was woken up as the tent gets so hot in the sun!
What a difference it makes.
We were treated to gorgeous views of Haast Pass, Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea in the sun. We stopped off to look at a couple of waterfalls too.
The Crown Range into Queenstown gave spectacular views of the town nestled by the lake and surrounded by mountains. It looked beautiful.
The hostels in Queenstown that had camping as well were booked up so we ended up in a dorm. It was lovely to have a bed and pillow after all this time!

Today is our last full day in Queenstown. The main thing we've done is have Fergburgers, the number 1 voted thing to do in NZ and we've heard about them so much when we've told people we were going to NZ. It didn't disappoint. I had a burger with blue cheese on it and it was amazing! Today I also had a chicken burger yum!
We also have been drinking some of the Monteith's beer that we discovered was amazing at the brewery and have made our tea by the lake in the sunshine with our camping stuff. Apart from that we've been updating our CV's and applying for jobs *yawn* but it's good to make a start.
Tomorrow we fly to Auckland and have a day festival on Friday. I'm so excited to see Kasabian! Then it's home time eek!
I'm really excited to see everyone, get a haircut and have a wardrobe but I know there'll be a tough few weeks/months for us if we don't get jobs straightaway and not doing amazing things or seeing amazing things (apart from your faces!) every day.