Hey all we are now in new zealand, the land of the kiwis...and sheep (which out number the population). So we will once again do the honours of getting you up to speed!

We finished our time in melbourne. We really enjoyed it here our hostel was great (free brekkie, free pasta and rice, good bar, lots of tv rooms). We mainly did sight seeing here. We checked out some of the museums and soaked up the atmosphere of this cultural city. good for ed as its a sporting city and good for me as its really arty here too. We checked out an aussie rules football game which was at the melbourne cricket ground (MCG). it was really good fun for a nice lazy sunday afternoon and there were about 40,000 people there. We also took a trip out to cruise down the great ocean road, where we spotted wild koalas, kangaroos, parrots and seals. The coastal scenery was amazing and we saw the famous rock formations including the 12 apostles. And for any old school (our generation) TV fans we checked out the lighthouse where they filmed 'round the twist', remeber that? i sang the theme tuneon the bus much to the annoyance of the other passengers im sure. We travelled to the outer suburb of trendy st.kilda for a couple of days too and took the extremely long walk to brighton beach, but it had to be done, seen as though we live so close to the other brighton beach at home! the beach was lined with loads of brightly painted beach huts which was quite cool.

We flew into christchurch, new zealand on the 8th July and the view as we landed were absolutely breath taking as the view over the snow topped southern alps was beautiful. Christchurch was a lovely town, really traditional and quaint. Ed celebrated his 23rd birthday here (getting old! he he) and we went on a romantical punt along the river wrapped in blankets and armed with a large brolly as the weather is so changeable, the saying that you can experience 4 seasons in one day in this country is not wrong. It was really lovely and the punter wore the traditional jacket and straw hat and everyfink! After this we took a gondola ride up the hills and mountains. At the top we took 2 mountain bikes and checked out the amazing scenery up there. At some points we were riding through clouds. It took us two hours to reach the bottom and we went into a seaside town called sumner, which was sunny and pretty at this point. The ride back however took a turn for the worse and by the time we reached the gondola base we were drenched - still good fun though. We are loving this stunning country already and have so much to fit in including sky diving, caving to see glow worms, hiking on a glacier and white water rafting. phew!

We arrived in a place called Kaikoura today and on the way stopped off at a seal colony and saw the beasts up close. If you get too close they let out a huge growl, which certainly lets you know not to go any closer. They were amazing and the backdrop to this scene was the stunning town of Kaikoura lined with trees that look like christmas trees, the coastline and the rugged snow topped peaks. Honestly, we cant believe how lucky we are to experience all of this, its sometimes too crazy to take it all in! Thats where we are up to now but will keep you posted soon...hope you're enjoying our travel stories...more from the adventures of hayley and ed shortly...

love to all

byeeee x x x x