Brad and Tiff met us at Wellington Airport and took us to Gareth and Amanda's lovely apartment where we had a barbecue dinner. We also went cray fishing with Gareth. The next day we met Brad and were driven to his parents' house in preparation for the christening of baby Lily. The house felt more like a mansion and had its very own grass court tennis court. They all made us feel so welcome. Spent Christmas Day there in the sunshine and had a barbecue. Crayfish! ...

We were collected from Whangarei Airport by the lovely Jenny Waterhouse and taken for a trip up the coast (meeting John on the way), where we were taken up to Whangaroa Harbour and onto their boat to stay in the wilderness for the night along with some of their family members. After doing a scary climb in the morning (with stunning views over the Harbour), we were taken to their 'batch' which overlooked a stunning beach. We met up with Andrew and Ann Fraser (from...

Arrived in Aukland and were met by our old friends Keiko and Haruhisa. It was so lovely to catch up after 6 years. We were shown the sights of Aukland, did some incredible wine-tasting tours, ate great Japanese food and were treated to a trip to Waitomo Caves. The water levels were a little high for our tubing trip and we had to evacuate the caves early. The heavy rain didn't help!