The weekly updates came to a halt over the Christmas period, our apologies, but we have pretty much been eating and drinking ourselves into a state of relaxation. We have been catching up with my family around Lake Taupo, in the middle of the North Island of New Zealand. We have been spoilt like king and queen that we are having a comfy bed, hot showers, and nothing to do but catch some rays and when things got too hot, we would take a refreshing dip in the Lake. Christmas was spent eating crayfish and playing some old fashion drinking games. It is not often that all the family is together, so we made up for lost time.

One of the "family activities" was to go white water rafting in Rotorua. Seeing as we did a grade 4 in Chile, Greg was insistent on a grade 5 this time. We made the mistake of going out on the town the night before, which we regretted all day. The rafting trip included going down a few waterfalls, one of which was 7 metres high!! It was at this point that my brother informed me that I had in fact turned a shade of white. Rowing towards a waterfall, which does not seem like a natural thing to do, did not help my shade of colour. As we teetered on the edge we took a deep breath and held on for dear life, as we were submerged. It was amazing though, and the scenery was spectacular. Greg made it all the way through the trip keeping his beer down, until we got off the raft, and then things got ugly…

Shortly after New Years we took a night away with Bryan, my brother and his girlfriend, Lani, to Hawke's Bay, on the east side of the North Island, which is well known for its wine. We spent the afternoon relaxing at the vineyards, buying lots of wine before being locked in a jail for the night. Yes that's right, a jail. It was still in use up until 1995, and now, for fun, people pay money to sleep in it. The rooms are fully equipped with a bed and a toilet in the corner. And the only working lock on the iron door, was on the outside! (Thanks for locking us in Bryan) Word of advice, do not watch a horror movie before sleeping in a jail, as we foolishly did (who knew Will Smith stars in scary movies now?). Not much sleep was had knowing that the hanging yard was just outside the rooms! After a final big feed we are off on our travels again. Tomorrow we fly to Christchurch, in the South Island, to pick up our sleepervan to road trip around for a few weeks. We hope everyone had a great Christmas. Happy new year!