Hello from the coldest place on earth! Oh... Mike tells me that's not strictly true... but as I sit here with numb hands and a slightly blue frost-tinged nose, I feel pretty confident in saying that this is one seriously cold country! Having just spoken to my mum who tells me that it's 30 degrees at home (what?! why do these things always happen when Mike and I aren't there to enjoy them?!), let me reassure you all that our glamorous travels aren't always quite as glam as they appear. Firstly, we're both wearing just about everything from our backpacks, and it's still cold. Teeth-chatteringly so. And secondly, living in a campervan in sub-zero conditions has had a seriously detrimental effect on our health, as we're both recovering from chest infections - oh yes, the Cheetham campervan has been one big, snotty, germ-fest! Anyway, i'll do my best to ignore Mike coughing in my ear (it's man flu - he's got it bad), as I write a quick update on where we've been, what we've done, who we've met and what we've seen.

So, Mike's last entry left you in Napier and i'm sure you're all just dying to know how that went (hmmmm, I doubt a single person is even reading this as you all frolic in the sunshine. And quite frankly, if you are reading this - get thee outside and enjoy the rare spectacle of a stonkingly hot English summer!) So Napier was very lovely, if a little damp. It's the world's largest collection of art deco (I think), and the town is probably very lovely in the sunshine. Unfortunately for us it was piddling with rain, so in-between showers, we dashed from one art deco doorway to the next, then onto various tea-shops. We also encountered the largest waves either of us has ever seen, and very nearly got washed away when a freak wave came roaring up the beach and tried to snatch the rucksack we'd left on the pebbles. It's really a very fortunate thing that my camera is waterproof...

The next day we bombed down the country to Wellington, NZ's capital city. Our first impression of the place wasn't that hot, as we paid to stay in a prohibitively expensive campsite, only to discover that it was actually a carpark at the back of the hotel, and there wasn't even any hot water in the ladies showers. I was determined to have clean hair though, so whimpered my way through an icy blast. As I sit here recovering from the aforementioned chest infection, i'm now wondering whether that was such a bright idea... Ah well, cold shower aside, we actually enjoyed Wellington, even if it did appear a little tame by our standards. It's a nice city, but there's not a lot to get excited about. The harbour is quite pretty, as is the modern art bridge by the civic centre. And we happily whiled away several hours in Te Papa, a swanky museum with some pretty impressive technology and effects. I particularly liked the earthquake simulator and giant pickled octopus, though the Mauri section wasn't quite so inspiring in comparison. Mike was busy admiring the whizzy motorbike and drew the line at looking at the jewellery with me, though I personally think he missed a treat. After all that brain stimualtion, we then treated ourselves to a few beers by a roaring log fire, and a cheap 'n' cheerful Malaysian meal - deeeelicious!

The next day we bid a fond farewell to the North Island, and hopped on the car ferry to cross Cook Strait to the South Island. This took nearly 4 hours, so we enjoyed a few games of Scrabble (I lost - quelle surprise), a quick walk on the deck (I nearly got blown away), some chips (yum) and an outrageously naff movie starring The Rock (I can't help fancying the man - he's got such nice muscles - oooh). When we arrived in Picton, we headed straight for the local campsite where the on-site cat made it his personal mission to taunt me. Being violently allergic to the little buggar, you can only imagine how chuffed I was when he jumped on my knee as we were eating dinner, wrapped himself round my legs as I was drying off after having a shower, jumped in our van in the wee small hours of the morning after i'd been for a pee, then sank his claws through my pyjamas when I tried to remove him. My allergic reaction was something to behold. My thoughts are this - cats are evil, they're the scourge of the earth, and they're nasty, smelly, vicious critters.

Cat horrors behind us, Mike and I hopped in our van and headed to the Malborough wine region, in order to track down the vineyard that provided us with the wine we had at our wedding. We quickly found the Montana winery on the outskirts, and weren't disappointed with the lovely Tuscan-inspired building, roaring log fire and beautiful setting. We had a very enjoyable tour of the plantation and buildings - just the two of us with the guide - though we were sad to hear that everyone on-site had been made redundant that morning, as that particular site is being shut down next month. On an entriely selfish note, we were glad we'd seen it before it disappears, though maybe some very clever billionaire will see their potential and buy them out...

Onto Nelson, where my relatives welcomed us with a cup of tea and some tasty muffins. At the time I thought I was still having a wheeze on the back of my encounter with the devil cat, though big apologies are due to Pam (my second cousin - or something like that) and Peter if Mike and I inadvertently affected them with our chest infection - as within hours of leaving their house, we both came crashing down with the lurgy. Cue lots of whigeing and whimpering from the snotty Cheethams! Anyway, before the germs really hit in, we drove to Kaiteriteri on the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park, and booked ourselves onto a water taxi/walking tour the following day. It's probably not a bad thing, as when we woke the next morning, both feeling like death warmed up, the temptation to roll over and go back to sleep was overwhelming. However, being frugal types, we thought of the pennies we'd already spent on the day's planned activities, and decided that a 14km walk would do us good. Grumbling all the way, we dragged our sorry asses to the beach, but after being hurled around the water for 5 minutes, we were both wide awake. The scenery in the park, the seal spotting and the walk were all lovely, so despite feeling absolutely cruddy, we were both glad we'd made the effort to haul on our walking boots. The speed boat home was another matter though, and i'm embarrassed to say that I screamed like a little girl as our skipper took on terrifyingly large waves at high speed.... I fear I may have deafed the poor fella. Ah well, that'll teach him to scare an English girl with a bad case of the lurgy.

The last couple of days have been taken up with driving down the West Coast (we stopped in Westport and Greymouth - thankfully the scenery has been rather more spectacular than the towns), comparing just how pokey we feel (Mike always wins - he has a knack of coughing in a rather yucky manner), walking to the Franz Josef glacier (cold, cold, cold), talking to a couple of girls we originally met in Vietnam and again at the glacier (it's a small world) and hopping from one tea shop to the next. The main bonus of feeling sorry for yourselves, is that there's absolutely no guilt whatsoever in drinking copious amounts of tea and eating carrot cake. It's a hard life. Besides which, I think carrot cake may actually be healthy, as we're both on the mend, and are even feeling well enough to go ice-walking on the Fox glacier tomorrow - yay!

So there you have it - we're on the mend, and are having lots of fun. But no amount of fun can detract from three very important events that we've missed/ are missing this week. Firstly, Chloe and Sam - congratulations on getting engaged! We can't wait to get home and celebrate with you. Secondly, to my big sister - happy birthday gorgeous girl! Again, put the champers on ice honey and i'll be home to drink it with you in just over a month. And lastly, to Sarah and Phil who are getting married on Saturday - we're with you in spirit, and we're absolutely heartbroken that we're not there with you. Just imagine Mike doing some of his sexy Beyonce dancing at the reception, and me sliding under the table in a very dignified manner. We've planned a big night out on Saturday in your honour - we've even bought a bottle of bubbles that we'll be cracking open at midnight. But in all seriousness, we'll be thinking of you as you say your vows, and we both send you lots of love and happiness for the future (and love to the bump too).

Right, i'll leave it there, as my fingers are practically frozen to the keyboard, and there's some very annoying bird shrieking the internet cafe down. It appears her volume control is broken, so I think I may need another piece of carrot cake to calm my nerves.

Ta'ra for now, and huge love to all of you
Susie and Mike xxx