Hi folks, hope you enjoyed the 'guest blog spot' from Mr Edwards, I wish now we'd made it a regular feature - it would've saved us some brain power and a small fortune in internet cafes. But anyway, now that we have regained control of the blog again we thought we'd spend our last day and last few Kiwi dollars on some well needed internet time to give you our latest update.

Ok, so where have we been and what have we been up to in the last few weeks I hear you cry...

Well, we left Queenstown on an adrenalin high which was soon dashed when I copped a sight at our rented wheels, a white Nissan Sunny, hmmm not the shiny gorgeous Golf I had pictured! I shouldn't be too harsh though as it did us proud and we even managed to get this one back in one piece (so not taking out the extra insurance worked in our favour this time round, yey!).

So with a full tank and fire in our belly we headed off in search of some more outdoor activity at Milford Sound, in New Zealand's rugged Fjordland. Luckily the road had only just opened after an avalanche! The fact that it was raining so hard on our drive down made the landscape absolutely stunning. Never have we seen rivers rage as wildly. It was very beautiful and we were lucky enough book a couple of last minute places to do some sea kayaking out on the water, which was great stuff, even if Danny did find concurrent steering AND paddling a bit tricky to master at first (proves that men really can't do more than one thing at a time I think, as I found it a piece of cake! - Ed. It was because of my long legs!). We even found the honeymooners (read on) out on the water in a rival kayaking group.

Unintentionally we did seem to be stalking the newlyweds (Mr and Mrs Crumpton) as we bumped into them staying at the one and only lodge in Milford, and we had a hugely amusing evening playing Pictionary, made all the more tricky with a few beers inside us. But sharing those experiences made it all the more memorable for both parties I think.

From Milford we headed along the west coast to clock a look at the two glaciers, which to coin a phrase from my beloved, were "alright" - I just found it hard to get excited about a load of dirty ice. Though some people clearly loved it as we spotted a Chinese dude trotting off with his own chunk of dripping ice - not sure how far he thought he would get that back home! Afterwards we had a lovely stop off at 'The Crumpton Tearooms', when we pulled up at a scenic lookout along 'Arthur's Pass' only to find the familiar looking campervan next to us was yet again Rosie and Simon! So after a cuppa and some more cake with them, we finally said our third and final goodbye and drove on to Christchurch for a pitstop before heading on up to Kaikoura.

In keeping with the water-based activity portfolio we seem to be developing, Dan and I could hardly pass through Kaikoura, home to the Dusky Dolphin, without swimming with them. Donned in yet another sexy getup we made complete fools of ourselves swimming around in the choppy open seas making stupid noises to get their attention. It worked all the same and we got the chance to get up close and personal with the delightful things. And while I felt for the numerous people in our group throwing up on the way back, it did mean more hot chocolate and ginger snap biscuits for us, so all in all, a fantastic day!

Thankfully we didn't encounter any Dolphin predators i.e. Killer Whales, though we weren't entirely reassured when the crew said "the Orca's wouldn't be in the area...although they had been the last few days...but anyway they'd be able to tell from the Dolphins behaviour". Great.

In the last few days we've tried to cram as much in the North Island as possible and have sped through the lovely art-deco town of Napier, the geo-thermal area of Rotorua (of which our lasting memory will mainly be its smell of rotten eggs, pooey!) and the gorgeously sunny Coromandel.

The main purpose in getting to Auckland fairly speedily was to arrive in time for the weekend to meet some distant family, of the Thomson variety. And we've yet again been indulged in more generous Kiwi hospitality, and plently of booze. My third cousin (I think) and her lovely family put us up for a couple of nights and took us to see some of the sights of surrounding Auckland. We dropped in on a few wineries, pleasantly sandwiched around fish and chips on the black sands of Muriwai Beach.

Right now though we're trying valiantly to finish off the wine we bought on our tour and cram in a few key Spanish phrases before we hit Buenos Aires tomorrow. Hasta la vista New Zealand!