Update 9 - Ice ice baby Onward with another long drive, this time very rugged countryside, very much like Scotland complete with mist and rain for the morning. ooooh and rent-a-dent managed 140km/ph! Also discovered fun bridges that share train tracks and road, slightly worrying... Arrived in Franz Joseph Glacier (village) only able to see the base of the glacier for the mist, checked into hotel and then hit pub for our first full on drinking sesh that we'...

Update 8 - Escape to South Island We hotfooted it to Wellington and the ferry terminal and set sail for Picton across Cook Strait (very pretty). Arriving in Picton at lunchtime, a gorgeous sunny day, birds tweeting and the rabbit curse a distant memory, So onwards we went to Blenheim in the main South Island wine region where hostel fatigue hit and we checked into a nice hotel and washed (just don't ask about the showers in Pukeville-on-sea, already traumat...

Update 7 - wet and soggy On to Waitomo, where on route we discovered that helicopter pilots make lousy navigators and also go green with car sickness, before having to request we stop and he drives...Stunning rolling green countryside with amazing rock formations, went for a walk and then to the pub where we discovered made up G & T in a bottle, fan-bloody-tastic. Had the most lush pizza on earth, v.yummy.The next morning up early and off to BLACK WATER ...

Update 6 - New ZealandWell we had imagined from nthe start that after finishing my job we would head off travelling around Australia. However, all the places we wanted to go (NT,Uluru...) were going to be hotter than hell, and the distances vast. That and the general apathy of Australians to anyone requiring a service (even when fully willing to pay) meant we were getting a bit sick of Australians in general. Oh and the slight matter of them whipping us in t...

Aussie Update 5 – Crimbo day! So it is Christmas day morning here and still Christmas eve for all of you. How bizarre. Christmas in the sunshine, bar-b-q going, bikini wearing and sunbathing seemed so ideal, if not very Christmasy. However, we woke up this morning to pouring rain, absolutely chucking it down, lovely, oh and not particularly warm (possibly even less than 20 degrees, so practically freezing). So we spent the morning having a lie in with b...