Hello!

Well as you can see from the picture, New Zealand is not too different from certain parts of Britain.....maybe that's why sooooooooooo many Ozzies rave on about it so much cause, thus far, it's not been everything we'd hoped for. Having said that, we've done 3 fantastic dives in the last 5 days. One on the HMS Canterbury, one in a sea cave and today we went out to the famous Poor Knights islands and saw a myriad of fish, coral and reef.

The weather here was very good yesterday and we finally got on a NZ beach, went swimming and snorkelling then drank beer all afternoon but today has been cloudy again for a lot of the day. At least it has been dry and warm though as we are realising not to take anything for granted with the weather.

We also went quad biking a few days ago up in Paihia which was great fun. They defy all laws of gravity and we got wet and a bit muddy but it was all great fun. (We're hoping to put the photos on shortly.)

As nice as NZ is, we're both starting to realise that having the choice of any number of shops, cafes and bars to visit when you want is another thing we take for granted in our country. Yesterday, realising we were getting a bit short of cash, asked where the closest ATM was. When we were told it was a 30 minute drive to the next town, we thought the lady was joking, but she wasn't! So off we went to just get some cash out! We were both a bit gobsmacked but in certain places here, that's what it's like.

We are aiming to drive south tomorrow towards Rotorua as there are supposed to be quite a few things to do there but as things stand, we are planning to leave NZ a little earlier than planned to go to Fiji simply because the weather is so unsettled here at the moment. We'll keep you posted on that though.

Ok, will try and get some photos on now so speak soon. Keep the messages coming, we love them.....even the ones from Gunners fans who are OUT of the cup now!!

Jo and Laura xx