It is with sadness that our time in NZ has come to an end...

Past two weeks have been choc-a-block! We could do with another 2weeks at least to see more, there is SOOOO much to see and do and everywhere you look there's a picture postcard scene! Its so beautiful here, I swear, I love it! You all have to get to NZ in your lifetime! We left Rene and Franc (the car!) in Christchurch yesterday to fly back to Auckland as our flight to Sydney has to depart here.. It was a wee bit sad to leave him as we have spent last 19days all together really but also nice to get back to just the two of us too! :@)

We got to south Island on the 9th (seems so long ago now!) and headed straight to the Abel Tasman National Park which was about 3hrs from Picton ferry depot..We stayed there for 2nights in a really nice holiday park-had cabin to ourselves which was lush, weather was fantastic! Our 2nd day there we drove car to kaiteriteri beach and got water taxi from there to Bark Bay in national park-you can not drive in national park so they bring people along coast of park by boat.. Our bay was about a 45min ride by boat and along the way we stopped in on some lush beaches to let other people off and saw seals and it rivalled Fiji-the beaches were bloody gorgeous and water crystal clear! We got off on bark bay beach and wanted to hike to Torrent bay 6.5km away and we did it in 1hr40 with some amazing views from the cliffs along the way, loved it, we got to torrent bay , stripped off and sunbathed for an hour then got water taxi back to where we left car, we slept well that night-must have been the sea air!

Next day we drove all the way down to Franz Josef, about 5hours with stops as we wanted to do Glacier walk the day after, got there had nice dinner and glass vino and got tucked up in bed as our walk on Fox Glacier (20min drive) started at 8.30am next morning.

Next morning, we got to Fox Glacier and got kitted out with our very fashionable waterproof gear, it had rained the day before and a lot of the trails and ice steps on glacier had been washed away so were not sure if we would get onto Glacier at all but the guides had been up at crack of dawn making new steps with ice picks-hard work! So we set off anyway on 1 1/2hr hike through rainforest. Only 4 glaciers in the world have rainforest surrounding them, 2 in south america and 2 in NZ-Franz Josef and Fox that we walked on-very cool! So we got to edge of Glacier, and I mean its huge-think its 30 odd km downhill and the size of Christchurch city at top aswell so massive…before we climbed onto Glacier we had to fit our spikes to our boots and thank God we had those or I would have fallen on my arse 10times, you really had to stamp your feet so spike embedded on ice steps to get up side of glacier. Finally made it to the top of Glacier and then we could walk around on it and pose for photos-very enjoyable and so glad we did tour! We made our way back to base another route over rocks and streams-Adam called me Bear Grylls as I raced on ahead of him! Hahaha!

After tour we headed towards Wanaka-3hours drive-just so we could start the next day further south as we had a schedule for the time in south. Straight to bed once we got to Wanaka!

Next morning we were wanting to get to Te Anau, and stopped in Queenstown for lunch at a recommended burger bar-Ferg Burger..OMG! This was the biggest and the best burger I have had or seen in all my life-It was amazing and we were so full after but it was lush- we were planning on staying Queenstown later in the week so vowed to return here for seconds!! After couple hours in QT, we carried onto Te Anau and stayed there for the night as it was quite close to Milford Sound which we were cruising the following morning.

We made it to Milford sound-2hour drive again for our cruise and it was really beautiful, real Lord of the rings stuff with amazing waterfalls and mountains and sea, it was picture perfect! We also saw baby fur seals and they were adorable!! We headed back to Queenstown that afternoon and got dickied up and hit the town for drinks, visiting Fergs enroute home for chips-no burger that time! Lol

Next day it was boiling hot so wandered about city centre and lay at the lake sunbathing, we treated ourselves to a Ferg burger dinner and watched the sun set on Queenstown lake that evening, it was lush and QT is a lovely city, my fav for def!

Next day we made our way up north again along east coast to Oamaru, a small vistorian town famous for its little blue penguin colony! So we got there early and settled into hostel and then at 9pm made our way over to the Colony to see all the little penguins come back from their day at sea, and on cue we saw them all come in, in groups of 30/40 and waddle up the path to where their burrows were-they are the smallest in the world, max 1foot high and they are adorable the way they waddled up together so cautiously and then once they reached top of ramp they made a dash for their homes, some fell over in the rush and it was hilarious! Loved it!

Next morning we made it to our final destination, Christchurch and spent 2 more nights here, in a JAIL! It was a former jailhouse which closed in 1999 and had been renovated into a hostel-it was so cool and actual cells were made into bedrooms, genius! Again we were blessed with gorgeous weather in CC and the next morning we wandered into the city to see the sights. It is a lovely city with a lot of English influence, street names such as Oxford and Cambridge Street and the Avon River…

Its our last night now in Auckland and tomorrow we fly to Oz!! Sydney is our first stop, we are there from 21st-28th and are excited now to move onto somewhere new and its perfect beach weather there now, so we have been told… we can't wait to hit the beach and see all the iconic sights like the Sydney Opera House and Harbour!!

Roll on Oz 2010!!!