It's fair to say that we were both slightly sad to leave Australia, but it was a short trip over the Tasman sea to stay firmly within the South Western Pacific. The destination - New Zealand and the city of Auckland to be specific. As with most things in Australasia, when it looks a short distance it usually isn't…this would be no exception. The 'short trip' was actually ~1600 miles from Melbourne and took ~3 ½ h, but we've done longer flights! As with the majority of the trip we arrived without delay and made good time, but with yet another time zone change (2h ahead). However, we had learnt to be prepared and pre-booked a hotel near the airport and when I say near, I mean very near! The Novotel at Auckland airport is a new construction merely a 2 minute walk from the arrival lounge. It's also a very nice hotel and quite reasonably priced for its location (maybe we would come back?!). After an emotional morning bidding farewell to friends in Melbourne and a time zone shift we collapsed in our rather plush king size bed and did what every weary traveller does…ordered some room service! The only negative to the place is that we could hear the rain pouring outside…hopefully this wouldn't be the regular weather?!

After a good night's sleep, we arranged to meet up with our friend John. We had left him back in San Francisco after a couple of crazy nights out! As a New Zealand native he coincidently happened to be back in Auckland for a wedding and after a quick phone call, he arrived to pick us up from the airport. He also offered to take us on a personal guided tour around the city (what a kind chap!), with the first stop…his mums house…no seriously, his mums house! It so turned out that Johns mum lives near the airport and she wasn't going to let us go without a good old cup of tea and a chin wag! After some posh tea and a catch-up, we were ready for Auckland and despite the inclement weather, we managed to do some sightseeing. This included a trip up 'One Tree Hill' or perhaps it should be re-named 'the hill that used to have a tree'. When Auckland was founded as a colonial town a tree stood near the summit which gave the hill its English name. In 1852, the first tree was cut down for firewood in an act of vandalism. Further trees were planted, but struggled to thrive on the hill. Two remained, until one was felled again in another act of violence! That left one tree standing again, until 1994 when Maori activists took offence and attacked it. However it survived…until 2000, when another nutter finally took it out with a chainsaw. Not content with a soulless act of vandalism, he then had the cheek to post the offending chainsaw on the New Zealand version of E-Bay (Trademe). After complaints it was removed from the site…only to be relisted on E-Bay…some people have nerve!! Due to its troubled past the summit lies empty, prompting its grammatically incorrect new name 'None Tree Hill'.

Right history lesson over, we had a great time with tour guide John and really got a good feeling for the 'city of sails'. The only other comedy incident, involved what should have been an uneventful coffee break. Not content with a cup of tea, Melissa's 'treat tracker' homed in on a rather appealing muffin placed on the counter. Seeing her enthusiasm, John promptly summoned the waiter to ask for one of the sweet snacks. However, herein lies a comedy moment that's hard to articulate. After asking for a 'muffin' the waiter gave us a 'are you stupid' stare and retorted sarcastically 'we don't have any muffins here'?! This promptly begged the follow up query of 'what are those on the counter then'?! The smugness dial went up a notch, as the waiter replied 'those are freons sir'! John looked completely puzzled and I think it was his genuine dumbfounded reaction that tickled me the most. 'What on earth is a Freon, it sounds like a scientific particle'?! Waiter -'I don't know sir, but I can tell you that that is a Freon'! John- 'Well its Freon's all-round then'! None of us had the heart to tell him it was indeed a standard muffin, but we savored the comedy moment for another rainy day! After this entertaining moment, we made our way to Mission Bay to meet up with a couple of John's friends (Mike and Pete). After a drink and a bite to eat, John completed his taxi services to return us back to our hotel. All in all a lovely day out, made even better by a great and generous host. That evening we ate in the restaurant and slept well again on our very comfy bed.

As the sun rose the next day, so did we… we had sights to see! We had pre-booked a hire car which I picked up from the airport and we hit the road, to be greeted by crazy New Zealand (Kiwi) divers. Our path was to head northwards to the 'Bay of Islands'. More on that in bit, but it turned out that we weren't the only ones heading that way. As we took a steep climb out of the city, we overtook a chap making hard work on his bike up the hill. The incline had no bearing on his difficulty; the primary reason for this was due to the fact that he was riding a penny farthing! You think I'm joking, but I'm not…I knew they were behind the times, but that was just ridiculous! After this it was quite a pleasant ride up through the hills and it will come as no surprise that there were a fair amount of sheep enjoying the landscape. New Zealand is made up of two main islands, aptly named 'North & South', but there are also lots of other broken islands around the coast. The Bay of Islands is one such example in the North corner of the Island. Captain Cook named the area (as he did most things over here), but some towns such as Pahia and Russell date back to the first Maori settlement (indigenous natives). Here's another random fact for you: in 2006 the Bay of Islands were found to have the second bluest sky in the world (after Rio de Janerio). Whilst a useless fact, I can believe it, it's an area of outstanding beauty and one of the trip highlights for me. Using our trusty friend 'TripAdvisor' we had pre-booked into a quaint B&B in Pahia with views over the Bay. The steep road up to 'Tarltons Lodge' tested the clutch on the hire car and after some parallel parking practice we arrived! We were greeted by the proprietor (Mike) who gave us a more than comprehensive introduction to our room. The B&B has seen a rise in traffic after it claimed acknowledgement in the 'Lonely Planet' guide, yet it still keeps an air of peace and tranquility. We got lucky with our room, with a nice comfy bed, a Jacuzzi on the balcony and 180 degree views of the bay. Given the beautiful weather, we decided to have a drive into town to explore.

Not wasting anytime, we did a quick reconnaissance on the local tourist attractions and booked a place on a boat trip the following day (more on that later). We also checked out the local eateries and booked a table for a Thai meal later in the evening….our favorite cuisine. Not content with all of this activity, we took a drive out of Pahia, passing 'Waitangi' and arguably New Zealand's most historic site. What now appears to look like basic farm land, is the actual spot where New Zealand's Declaration of Independence was signed in 1835. However, more prominent to the current day is the fact that it is where the 'Treaty of Waitangi' was signed five years later (6th Feb 1840). This treaty was signed between the first early European explorers and Maori chiefs to help suppress on-going conflict and land disputes in the region. However the treaty triggered a revoke of the Declaration of Independence, making New Zealand a British colony thereafter. As such, the treaty is generally considered the founding document of New Zealand as a nation and 'Waitangi Day' is celebrated annually to mark this event. Continuing on from this historic site, we followed the road through Waitangi National Park and a hotel golf course. We had some lovely views on the route at sunset, before finishing our off road drive past Haruru Falls. After this we returned back to the lodge for a quick change and then out for our Thai meal. We ate well and slept even better that night!

The next day we took an early breakfast to fuel us for the busy day ahead. Setting off in what appeared to be ample time to walk into town, we quickly turned the slow meander to a sprint finish to make the boat before departure! However we made it in time and set sail on the 'Dolphin Cruise - Hole in the Rock' tour. As the name suggests, we were hoping to see some Bottlenose dolphins in the sheltered waters within the Bay and 20 min's into the trip were not disappointed. A small group came to investigate the vessel creating a tourist frenzy onboard. I gave up on the photos after trying to stay upright on choppy waters, whilst being repetitively elbowed in the gut by over eager German tourists. After this excitement, we continued our journey through the bay to Cape Brett and the famous 'Hole in the Rock'. This is a cave through the rock, which has been carved out by wind and wave. Today a very narrow passage way is left, which is just about navigable in a small boat and by the very experienced captain. It was slightly troubling that we had a relatively large boat and a dopey French captain who fancied himself as a part time stand-up comedian. Neither stopped him taking a rather dicey navigation through the hole, not once but twice! Joking aside, it was actually quite impressive and worth the nervous anticipation. After this we made our way back and over to the town of 'Russell' on the other side of the bay.

Originally known as Kororāreka until 1840, it was the first permanent European settlement and sea port in New Zealand. In the 1830's Russell (Kororāreka) was a lawless trading center for whalers, merchants and escaped convicts from Australia which rightly earned its name as the 'Hell Hole of the Pacific'! However in the modern day, it's a very charming and peaceful little town which couldn't be further from its troubled past. We had a lovely time strolling around the local shops and enjoyed some lunch on the seafront at the Duke of Marlborough pub. After a few hours, we returned back to Pahia and took a walk back to our lodge. We had time for a quick dip in the communal swimming pool, followed by a glass of wine in the hot tub whilst watching the sun set. I remember thinking that life doesn't get much better and the area is definitely a place of natural beauty…we would go back! The next morning we checked out late and bid a slightly teary farewell to Pahia. We took a leisurely 4h drive back down to Auckland, arriving in good time to drop the car back. Once again we checked into the trusty Novotel and enjoyed some regular downtime to recover from the last few days.

The next morning we were up bright and early to catch a flight over to Christchurch on the South Island. After we landed we were transported to a nearby hire center where we had pre-arranged to pick up our next hire vehicle?! Sick and tired of driving small cars around, our mode of transport (and indeed home) for the next two weeks was a 24ft campervan! Originally we had chosen a smaller van, but it turned out that we had been 'upgraded' to a near monster truck instead. Plenty of space, a gas stove, shower and toilet…the only problem…how would I drive it?! However, after countless forms and less than average customer service, we were on the open road at a speed of no more than 50 km/hr. Whilst we had been 'upgraded' on the size, we had been short changed on the transmission with a manual gear box that crunched at every opportunity making me look like a true motorhome amateur. After much debate, we decided to head South round the Island and took a short ride to a campsite at Rakaia, no more than an hour out of town. This was enough to flex the muscles of the van and to get a rude awakening to the local's dislike of camper vans.

All was going relatively well until we made our entry into the campsite - after which point the engine died. After several false start attempts (including a jump start from the campsite owner) we concluded that we were going nowhere fast. This also meant we were stranded at the entrance to the campsite…we didn't even make it to our pitch…what a start! Following several calls to the hire center, a breakdown vehicle was dispatched. Therein followed an uncomfortable and slightly depressing few hours, as we seemed to be the laughing stock of entire camp site. When the rescue van did finally arrive, he confirmed there was indeed an issue with the van! However, he made light work of starting it and followed us down to the pitch, where he preceded to rev the hell out the engine to really annoy the neighbors. After he left, I realised that I had reversed the van the wrong way and we couldn't connect the power lead to the camp supply…silly boy! Not a problem, just a quick turnaround and we would be done for the night. However, after trying to turn the motor over it became quickly apparent that our poor van had given up again. As the breakdown truck had only just left, I sprinted up the campsite only to see him pulling off down the road deliberately ignoring my frantic waves. Following a despondent walk back to the van, we had a debrief and concluded that this was the world's worst start to a camping trip. On a slightly positive note, the gas stove worked and we cooked a stir fry dinner to try and cheer us up. Tired and frustrated, we hit the camp bed and decided to ring the recovery van again in the morning.

After a surprisingly good night's sleep, I woke early and decided to try to fire up the van a final time before admitting defeat. Maybe luring me in at a false sense of security, the van started first time and slightly taken aback by this small miracle, we decided not to tempt fate but rather pack things away quickly. After a quick call to the hire center, the conclusion was that we should switch our vehicles so our road trip went backwards as we returned back to the depot in Christchurch. After several hours wait and some even worse customer service, we hit the road again and would you have guessed it - we had been 'upgraded' again! The new vehicle had the luxury of an automatic transmission and this was a reasonable tradeoff for the slightly dodgy door that didn't quite lock properly! By midafternoon we were on the road again and we decided to head North instead, leaving the bad memories of our short lived southern trip behind. Opening the throttle, we made quick work of our 2 ½ h trip up the coast to Kaikoura and we had the luxury of choosing from a few campsites up there. We decided on the 'Lobster Inn Motor Lodge' with its on-site tavern and 20 ft Lobster overhanging the door. Despite its trailer park appearance, it was clean and had some really nice views out to the mountains behind. Sticking in our comfort zone we had another round of stir fry that night and treated ourselves to a few hours of 'WIFI' even if we had to pay for the privilege. With the aid of google maps we planned our next leg of the road trip.

The next few days involved some serious travelling and the chance to see some of the South Islands more rugged Northern coast. We continued our trip up to Blenheim in Marlborough on the North East coast. There might be a clue in the name, but Marlborough area is famous for several things, but of course most notably…good quality wine! The soil and climate, make ideal growing conditions for Sauvignon Blanc - a well renowned export of the area and none more famous than the 'Cloudy Bay' estate. Initially we made a quick stop at the 'Lawsons Dry Hills' estate on our way into the area. Having once sipped the sauvignon from this estate and saved the name in her phone, Melissa was most excited at the prospect of actually tasting the wine at the source. As designated driver, I could only watch with envy as she made light work of a glass or two. As it turns out, this would be the trend for the day, as I chauffeured Mrs Duckworth from vineyard to vineyard to gradually accumulate several bottles of wine for future consumption.

In fairness, it is pretty hard not to go into a vineyard and not buy a bottle, so you just have to be restrictive in the number of vineyards you visit or risk going broke! Loosely following the 'Marlborough Wine Trail', we stopped at several pretty places including Wither Hills, Villa Maria, Brancott Estate, Wairau River and Cloudy Bay. Ideally we would have had longer in the area, as there are so many to see but our quest to keep travelling pushed us on. We did have time for a quick bite to eat in the lovely garden at the Cloudy Bay estate and I would recommend this as a lazy days activity. From Blenheim, we made our way up to another town in the Marlborough Sounds - Picton. Named after Sir Thomas Picton (Welsh military associate of the Duke of Wellington), it is a main ferry port for the area and we enjoyed watching the boats come in from a hill top above, before pitching up in a campervan park for the evening.

The next day we packed in some serious miles by driving inland to Murchison via the Nelson, Havelock and the Abel Tasman National Park. We had time to sample a few vin yards in Nelson and take a slight dog-leg to the edge of the park. Whilst New Zealand's smallest national park, the Abel Tasman National Park still covers an ample area between the Tasman and Golden bays. It is also a tourist trap and amongst many things, parking was an issue. On the subject, it's slightly harder to find a sneaky space when you have a 24 ft vehicle to parallel park! Even though our visit was short, we did manage to take in some of the beautiful landscape before we made our way inland to Murchison for the evening. It seemed to be the place that time forgot and felt a little bit 'hill billy' if I'm brutally honest. Our concrete campsite reflected this, but we had running water and electricity so we couldn't complain too much. The only minor grumble, was that we had a leaky chemical toilet with spilled contents following the off road terrain through the national park. Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty in life (literally) and the clean-up operation would become an all too familiar event for the rest of the holiday.

The next day, we set off early as we had our longest drive to complete. Our aim was to get to the Franz Josef Glacier by sunset and this was over 5h away (without stops)! However, despite a mammoth drive, it was probably the most scenic part of the trip. One thing that amazed me is how quickly the landscape changed in the space of a few miles. There were also scenes straight out of a Lord of the Rings episode and I distinctly remember driving past one area that was identical to one of the battle scene sets. As we climbed the hills, my driving skills were put to the test and with a few overhanging cliff faces there was little margin for error, with the added difficulty that I needed to pull over every 10 mins to let the long queue of traffic past. As we climbed up the hills, we made our way up the rugged landscape of the Western coastal road exposed to the full force of the Tasman sea. We continued our long drive down the coast to Punakaiki on the edge of the Paparoa National Park. The area is famous for some quirky geological formations called 'pancake rocks' and 'blowholes'. After parking up, we stretched our legs through the thick mass of Chinese tourists to find the formations on the sea front. Pretty impressive stacks of rock and carved blow holes which spill water sky high during a high tide. Whilst a little rushed, it was nice to stop but we had to kick on as we still had a further 3h drive to go. In a true test of stamina, the last leg definitely felt the longest and I am sure that I saw our sat nav add time at one point. Nevertheless, we made it into Franz Josef by sunset and booked onto the campsite for the night. We even had time to find a local tourist shop and book onto a trip the next day…

No rest for the wicked we were up early to get down to the town in time for our scheduled expedition. After much debate, we had booked onto the 'Heli Hike', which involved a Helicopter ride to the top of the glacier and a few hours walking around. However, this was all dependent on the weather and when the first few trips were cancelled due to cloud cover, it looked increasingly likely that our trip would also be cancelled. Then a call came on the radio that there was a break in the cloud and we quickly made our way out to be supplied with steel crampons and lots of warm clothing. We boarded the small helicopter with nervous anticipation and then took off into the sky. This is the first time I have been in such a small helicopter and it's quite an experience. It also became even more impressive when we saw the glistening blue columns of ice as we approached the glacier. The pilot did a few haphazard maneuverers to scare us as we flew over the expanse of the glacier and it was pretty awe inspiring. After we landed, we were greeted by a guide and we all strapped our metal spikes on which were an absolute necessity on the ice face. It's hard to describe the feeling of being left alone on a glacier, but it certainly gives you perspective and every so often, a huge amount of rock and ice falls just to remind you that this is a very dangerous place. However, we had an expert guide who became incessant at pushing us through small ice tunnels and dangling us near bottomless holes. All in all it was an amazing experience, although it takes twice as much effort to walk on the ice and we were suitably exhausted afterwards. After we returned back, we hit the road again to get to our next destination for the evening.

Nowhere is 'close by' in New Zealand and we still had another 3h drive to get to Wanaka. However, it was worth the wait as we entered the town by the lake to be greeted by glorious sunshine. After parking up for the evening, we had a well-deserved shower and curry dinner to celebrate! There was also enough time for me to break the news to Melissa that I fancied doing a sky dive the next day! This was not a total shock, as I had toyed with the idea throughout the trip. I had also heard that this was the place to do it and when the weather forecast looked good for the next day I made a quick phone call to secure a place. After ten minutes I was booked on and there was little going back. Slightly nervous I bedded down for the night, looking forward to an adrenaline fueled day ahead.

The pick-up was early the next day and after some farewell hugs I waved goodbye to my slightly apprehensive wife in the campervan window. After a short drive out of Wanaka we arrived at the airport for a quick safety briefing. In fairness, you don't have to wait very long before you're in your jumpsuit and queuing for the next plane. This gave me chance to meet my tandem instructor who I would be attached to for the fall and a cameraman who would be filming the whole ordeal throughout. After this we were shuffled into a very small orange plane, which may as well have been constructed out of paper. I was placed near the front, but slightly more alarmingly right next to the door. This wouldn't have been a problem, but they refused to shut it! As such, there is little getting away from the fact that when you are in the sky you are soon to be heading back to terra firma via the exit directly in front of you. It took about 20 min to climb to a significant height and I was ready to go, only to be told that we were only half way up! I had decided to jump from 15,000 ft which is slightly higher than most skydives. This gives you a full minute of free fall and if you're going to do it once, then you might as well do it properly. After another 20 mins or so, the activity increased in the plane and my straps were being tightened ready for the decent. Fortunately or unfortunately I was not the first man out of the plane, but rather a Japanese counterpart who pulled off a frantic look of an overly worried tourist (a long way from home)! As he was shuffled towards the exit he was jumping out of the plane whether he liked it or not and with a 1-2-3 he was gone. I had a prime view of him falling out of the plane at several hundred feet a second below and I will always remember that view. It's pretty impressive to see someone accelerating out of sight, but I didn't have much time to reflect - I was up next. I was shuffled to the door and didn't feel too bad until the freezing air nearly blew the glasses off my face. I was encouraged to look upwards and shortly after this we were on our way out and down. I have been told that the feeling of free falling is rather like a rollercoaster. Well, I have been on many rollercoasters and I can safely say there is no comparison. Words cannot describe the uncontrollable feeling of falling until the pilot shoot opens and you hit terminal velocity. At that point you are flying with the rush of the wind and your endorphins skyrocket. The views I had that day, were out of this world and I had a bird's eye view (literally) of Mount Cook and several other snow tipped mountains poking out of the clouds. It's just an amazing feeling and I will remember that moment forever. I will also remember the complete lack of warning as my tandem pilot pulled the main shoot and we were launched skyward so I received some major chaffing of the undercarriage, but that's the price us adrenaline junkies pay. The slow fall back down to earth was equally impressive, although we came in to land at quite a pace. All fine though and after a few high fives, it was all over and my adrenaline was through the roof. I had just enough time to get my photos and video developed, which I have posted on the website - check them out. After a short drive back, I greeted a very excited Melissa in town who was more than relieved to see me back in one piece. To be honest, I was a little overwhelmed after the whole event and it was all over so quickly. Definitely one of my all-time highs (no pun intended) and we treated ourselves to a celebratory lunch, whilst I enjoyed a nice cool beer to toast the event. Life doesn't get much better!

I really liked Wanaka and would definitely go back there, but with limited time to get round the island we needed to continue our trip to Queensland the next day. Compared to the previous day, this was a much shorter journey and we found time to stop at Cromwell and also the Gibston Valley vineyard. On the way we passed the A.J.Hackett. extreme sports center. Alan John Hackett is a New Zealand entrepreneur who invented the bungee jump. He most famously demonstrated its use by throwing himself off the Eiffel Tower 1987 and opened his first commercial center the year after. The bridge over a gorge on the way into Queenstown attracts masses of crazy students, who fearlessly throw themselves off the bridge much to the public's amusement. We stayed a while to watch, but after the previous day's events we decided not to cheat death again. Arriving in good time at our campsite we had a relaxing meal of cheese, wine and soup…the dinner of champions!

Not content with having a day's relaxation, we were up early to get a coach trip to the Milford Sounds in the south west of the Island. Geologically, the area is actually a 'fiord' rather than a 'sound'. A sound is formed when a river formed valley is flooded by the sea, whereas the Milford area was formed by erosive glaciers resulting in long narrow inlets with steep cliffs technically making it a fiord. Either way the area is one of outstanding natural beauty and a national icon, so definitely worth a visit. Despite a long ride, it was actually a welcome respite to have someone else driving for the day. It also gave us chance to take in the scenery on the long winding road out to the town of Te Anau at the start of the Milford inlet. Our trip involved a boat ride out into the sounds (fiord!) and a chance to view the magnificent Mitre Peak at the south shore. A sheer rock face rising 1692 meters, it is quite a sight to behold and the trip reminded me of a scene out of Jurassic Park. The whole area is pretty magical and peaceful, with the only annoyance of being the occasional sand fly threatening to leave a nasty bite. After the boat ride, we took the bus back to Queenstown and crashed out after a long day.

Refusing to stay anywhere for more than two days we pushed on for the last few legs of our journey. To break the long drive from East to West we travelled to Alexandra, via the Bunnockburn Valley wine region and picked up a few more bottles of the good stuff on the way. The arid area provides a different growing environment for pinot noir and we visited the Mount Difficulty winery near Carrick to sample the delights. It was quite an impressive building and the wine wasn't bad either. We left with a bottle and after another hour on the road made it to the campsite in good time. That evening we managed to get caught up on some domestic duties - even the most adventurous need clean underwear! The next day we continued our trip back over to the East coast and made an impromptu detour to Naseby on the way, which housed a beautiful little tea shop, serving cheese scones as big as mountains and more than ample cake slices. We had a nice few hours stop on the sun terrace and met a few of the locals. Following this we continued to arrive in the destination of Oamarau. As we arrived in good time we took a look round the old town, with lots of old memorabilia and vehicles restored to their former glory. Apart from this the town didn't offer much other than a supermarket, so we stocked up for the final push.

Our penultimate journey was a long trip up the East coast to Akaroa, which is a sheltered harbour village in the Banks Peninsula. The volcanic hills of the peninsula lie south east of Christchurch and navigating this area required some concentration. Amongst many things, the village is famous for 'Hector Dolphins' which often frequent the bay. As we arrived in good time, we had walked down to the town and booked onto another tour the following day. An evening of fish fingers and mash reminded me of home, yet the views out of the van suggested otherwise. Our second day in Akaroa, just happened to be Valentine's Day and to celebrate the occasion we had booked a boat trip to swim with the dolphins. Despite the inclement weather we were in high spirits as we squeezed into our wetsuits ready for the excursion. However, with no more than 10 minutes into the journey it was clear that Melissa was not going to enjoy the experience. The bad weather brought about some choppy conditions and in turn the potential for sea sickness. It didn't help that the water was absolutely freezing, as we had to hit the open sea to find the dolphins. Now, when you mention 'swimming with dolphins' you automatically conjure up this image of pristine blue sea on a hot day, with cheeky dolphins swimming around your ankles. This experience was a distant cry from this image! After sitting on a rocking boat, we were launched out into the freezing ocean and the visibility in the water was practically zero. Now the Hector dolphins are the smallest of the dolphin family, but also the shyest! They are however quite inquisitive when tempted, once you get their attention. However, this involves making some noise underwater. Therefore picture this romantic valentines scene, as I sang 'it's raining men (hallelujah)' through my snorkel in a futile attempt to attract the timid animals, whilst my sea sick wife treaded water in the freezing ocean! However, whilst slightly depressing, the dolphins did eventually appear and made some close encounters with the group. A cup of hot chocolate back onboard did little to ease the our churning stomachs and we were all glad to be back on dry land and to have a well-earned hot shower. Slightly tired from the event, we returned back and had a well-earned rest. That evening we treated ourselves to a lovely Italian meal at Vagionis in town and we reminisced about our New Zealand adventure.

On our final day, we drove back to Christchurch and made time to look round the town. A series of powerful earthquakes have pretty much decimated the area and we had a walk around the 'red zone' to see the full effect of the damage. It's really quite saddening to see the streets and several old buildings in total ruin. Business's and livelihoods have been totally ruined by these frequent disasters, but there are some signs of resilience and a new shopping area built from metal cargo containers to hold up against future quakes. We stayed at a campsite near the airport and returned the van the next day, before flying back to Auckland. Upon arrival back in the North Island, we stayed for the next few days in Auckland's central business district and got lucky with a rather swanky apartment at a cheap price. After the last few weeks travelling, we enjoyed some proper downtime with a haircut and pedicure thrown in - I will let you decide who enjoyed what there! After a couple of days in the downtown area, we returned to our trusty Novotel at the airport, ready for our departure to Singapore almost 10 h away.

All in all our New Zealand travel was mixed with highs and lows, but nobody can dispute that it was most definitely an adventure to remember.