Tena koe (Maori for Hello) to you all,

After leaving Wanaka Early Wednesday morning we made our way up the west coast in the pouring rain, it was quite a big drive and took us around 5 hours to get to Franz Joseph, which is a small town with a big attraction. There is a glacier carving its way through a mountain. So after arriving in Franz Joseph we went to the booking centre and book a full day hiking on the Glacier for Thursday.

On Thursday 8th of May we were up early as we had to be at the booking centre for 8.15am. When we arrived at the booking centre we were kitted out with waterproof jackets and trousers, Woolie socks, gloves, hats and a pair of waterproof boots and Crampons. After we were all kitted out we hoped on the bus for the short trip to the Glacier, or as close as we could get. Because the Glacier is so big, over 1000M tall and 6Km long from where the bus parked it looked like a 10 minute walk to get on it, it ended up taking an hour and a half. By the time we both got there we were knacked, or at least i was, Jamie has been doing a bit more exercises that me!! When we arrived at the foot of the Glacier we were split into groups of 10 and introduced to our guide, ours was Donkey or Dale. He told us just before we were about to start that his name was Donkey and he had just recovered from a broken neck, Smert!!

Anyway Dale had a big pick axe which he used continuously throughout the day to carve steps for us. The first hour or two was just getting right up onto the glacier, one of the girls in our group was leaning over a 4M deep pool of freezing water to try and touch it and fell head first in. Not really the kind of start your wanting. After the first couple of hours it became alot harder we were in and out of tight crevasses which weren't even wide enough to put one foot in front of the other, you just had to shuffle along. We were also climbing up and down steep ice walls. Dale had rope which he would screw into the ice then we would climb up. We stopped for about 20 Min's for lunch then it was back to work. We walked up the left side of the glacier then after lunch walked across to the right side then walked down. The crossing and walking down was harder than walking up, the was more climbing and tighter spaces to walk through and we were more tired. After about six and a half hours on the ice we made it back to the bottom safe and well. The bad news was that we still had the hour and a half walk back to the bus. All in all it was an amazing experience, deffo worth doing but very strenuous. Needless to say that night we never got up to much mainly chilled out had a hot shower, then slept like babies.

On Saturday morning we were up early and the sun was shining so decided to go cross country quad biking. We set off with Hollie our guide and another couple from Holland. As we use quad bikes at work I was flying, and Jamie is a mental thrill seeker so she was just behind me, but the 2 Dutch were a little ropey to start with but soon got into the swing of things. We were on the bikes for two hours, There was a few different sections, the first was mud then through the river and gravel then into the rain forest. It was brilliant fun, the scenery was spectacular you could see the glacier which was pretty cool, because the sun was shining onto the glacier making it look really blue
After the Quad biking we hit the road again for Hanmer springs which was a 4 hour drive. When we got there we went out for dinner to ROBBIES BAR and had a few drinks, Hammer springs was a pit stop for the night on our way to Kaikoura, which is the best place for wildlife spotting in NZ, mainly whale watching. After our night in Hanmer springs we were up and in the thermal pools in the morning...Great thing about NewZealand has to be all of the Thermal Pool...DREAM! anyway we then headed off for Kaikoura in the afternoon. After a few hours drive and nearly running out of fuel we arrived in Kaikoura and went straight to the whale watching centre to book it for the next day, the only problem was that it had been cancelled the previous day and that day because of choppy seas, so it wasn't looking promising. We booked it anyway and waited till the morning only to be told it was cancelled because of rough seas. We weren't going to be hanging around another day as time was running out and there was so much still to see.

We set off and drove up to Picton to get the ferry over to Wellington. None of had even considered the distance from the South island to the North island as it just looks so close on the map. I expected to drive on the ferry and the crossing to take 10 mins and it to cost a few bucks, we drove up to book and Jamie put the window down and said to the lady we would like to go to Wellington on the next ferry with the camper, she said no problem it leaves at 1.30pm. Then she said it was one six eight i thought she meant $1.68 so threw Jamie a $2 coin only to be told it was $168 and the crossing was 3 hours, idiot. Never underestimate the power of the Picton to Wellington ferry. After a smooth crossing we arrived in the capital of NZ, WELLYWOOD! We had arranged to meet Jen who is from Brechin, old form class buddie, at Te papa museum in the city as it was east to find. So after leaving the ferry we drove to Te Papa which was nice and easy to find, well picked Jen. Jen hoped in the van then we headed into the Cuba quarter for a nice Malay meal for dinner, After dinner we drooped Jen off and went and met Tara and Tatsuki, Tara is from Brechin aswell and had a few drinks with them, then they invited us to stay at theres, which we said yes to, it was nice to get out the van for a few days.
On Tuesday 13th of May we went to the Te Papa museum which is all to do with New Zealand and the Moari history which was pretty interesting, there was also a Scottish section which made Jamie a tad homesick...."these streets have too many names for me..." she soon got over it though. At night Tatsuki cooked us a nice Japanese curry. MMMmmmmm was really fab, cheers mate! On Wednesday we went to oriental bay for a walk in the morning then up Mount Vic in the afternoon which gives you a cracking view of the city and the harbour. At night we headed out in Wellington with Jen, Tara and Tatsuki which was a good night.

On Thursday 15th of May we were supposed to set off early but both slightly hung over it took us a few hours to get motivated. When we finally did we went out to find the van with a parking ticket on it....BOO HOO :( We hit the road and were supposed to be headed to Napier about a 5 hour drive up the East coast but with a slightly hungover Jamie behind the wheel we only made it as far as Masterton which was about 2 hours from Welly. We stayed here for the night before heading up to Napier.

On Friday we reached Napier, the main reason for our visit to Napier was so that I could see a Golf Course, "Cape Kindnappers" which is meant to be one of the most spectacular courses in the world. After struggling to find it due to its remoteness and lack of sign posts, when we did find it the gates were locked and you had to speak through a microphone connected with the pro shop. we asked if we could get up as we were wanting a game, all I really wanted to do was walk round but they wouldn't let me. As I really wanted to play and see the course, Jamie offered to get me it for my Birthday, so we booked up for 8.45am the following morning, THANKYOU Jamie xx
That evening we wanted to see a bit of Napier so parked up and had a goosie gander, only to come back to yet ANOTHER parking ticket! Since we had paid the "park n display" we couldn't´t work it out, then we read the ticket. We had been charged for parking on the wrong side of the street, in other words you are not allowed to cross traffic to park in NZ and Jamie had. The ticket also said to be paid in person, this was going to cause a prob as we were only planning to be in Napier for a couple of nights so would not be there on Monday to pay. It was 4.55pm and the ticket office was due to close at 5pm....we both jumped in the camper and Jamie tanked it to the ticket office, as Jamie was pretty angry I offered to go in and explain about being tourists etc, also we just got a ticket so were reluctant to pay for another one. I came out like a Cheshire cat, the charm worked a treat, DONE!

So Saturday morning we were up early as we opted for a shower at the clubhouse as it was amazing inside, very grand and nice big showers, (that is a luxury for us just now) We got showered hit a few eggs then hit the first tee.
The course was amazing, one of the most spectacular Golf Courses ever and it was in amazing condition probably the best I have ever seen any course, apart from Edzell, Obviously!! Am not gonna bore you with my golf stories but considering I ain't played much sine I left home it went pretty well. It was deffo a good birthday present and well worth a game if you are ever near New Zea land or even if your no place near it.
After the golf we went for a pint and at night went to the cinema which we have enjoyed doing a few times in NZ, we watched "Untraceable", scary but very good.

On Sunday morning we headed for Lake Taupo which is the biggest lake in the North Island. It was a couple of hours drive from Napier. When we arrived in Taupo we had a walk round and ended up in the pub, where we stayed the rest of the night, I was on the red wine again, on no whats happening. (Jimmy and Moyra you will be proud, will now get on the vino with you when we return)....so we ended up blind, went back to the van to get the phone to call Ed but got lost and ended up crashing out in the van.
I defiantly woke up with a red wine hangover the next day, god my head was pounding. Jamie as usual on the vino was fine, we just chilled at the thermal pool for a few hours in the morning. I had been eager to do a bungy sine we were in Queenstown but never thought I had the balls, and Jamie felt the same. We had read there was one in Taupo and on the way to the swimming we passed it, so on the way back from the swimming we stopped to enquire and there was no one else there so the platform was free. In Taupo you can do a tandem bungy so i managed to talk Jamie who had initially said she would never do one into doing it tandem. The platform is 50M above the river and extends out 20m it was the first cantilever platform built in the world. We got harnessed in the asked how much of the water we wanted to be soaked in but as it was our first time we just opted for a little bit. It was an amazing feeling but over so quick, again if you were thinking of doing one just go for it, its lots of fun and a great adrenalin rush. As you can see from the video Jamie did a lot of screaming but agreed it was brilliant fun!! The rest of the day was spent wandering around Taupo until we found a hole in one golf challenge beside the lake, The mat was on dry land but the green was 111 M in the lake and the aim of the game was to get the ball on the green preferably in the hole to win prize, lots of fun but we never got a hole in one.

The next couple of days were spent in and around Lake Taupo, we visited Mount Tongariro which is a volcanic complex and is located 20 kilometres to the southwest of Lake Taupo. Tongairio is the northernmost of the three active volcanoes that dominate the landscape of the central North Island.The volcanic massif, has a height of 1,98 metres. It first erupted about 260,000 years ago. Its the most active in this region, having erupted more than 70 times since 1839, although the last eruption took place in 1974-1975. Tungariro is the ideal base for excursions into the Tongariro National Park, Kaimanawa Forest Park, Pureroa Forest Park. So we took advantage of this beautiful scenery and had a couple of walks around the area. I really wanted to do the whole day excursion, however lazy bones Marc was not keen so we stuck to the easier walks. As you can See from the pics there was a dusting of snow which in my opinion made it even more spectacular.
On Wednesday the 21st of May we headed up the volcanic thermal road to Rotorua. We were half way there when I went to take a pic of some geysers and notice that the battery for the camera was not there, yip I left it in Lake Taupo in an Internet cafe on charge...So it was back to Lake Taupo..DAM!

Anyway we finally reached Rotorua mid morning. Rotorua is well-known for geothermal activity. There are a number of geysers notably the Pohutu geyser at Whakarewarewa and hot mud pools located in the city. After a bit of exploring in the afternoon Marc and I decided to take a dip in the local hot pools before heading off for a real evening at "Mitai" which gives you an authentic introduction to Maori Culture. We arrived and were sitted at a table with some lovely Canadians, Australians and English people.
Then we were taken to see the warriors in traditional dress paddling a waka (ancient warrior war canoe). We then watched a cultural performance and learned about the past Maori culture, carvings and "to moko" tattoo art, it was brilliant fun joining in with the songs and seeing the poi dance and haka finale. We were then taken to see our traditional meal (Whole chicken, Lamb, tatties, pork) MMMmmmmm being lifted out from the ground, this is called Hangi. I have to say the food was delicious, Marc and I ate for Scotland!!
To walk off our dinner we were taken deep into the forest to enter the world of glow worms and even seen a few very shy Kiwi's and the most intelligent parrot in the world!

On Thursday the 22nd of May we headed up to Auckland to spend our last couple of days. We handed back Kevin (Kill Bill) the Camper in one piece. He was good to us having done over 3500 Kilometres in total. The remainder of our stay in NZ was spent at X Base hostel, Auckland was OK, probably not a highlight but it had an awful lot of competition. Oh we caught a film....the new Indiana Jones, very very good!
We waved good-bye to NZ on Saturday the 24th of May, and headed to the airport in Auckland. Only to be told that we had arrive one day late for our flight to Fiji......WHAT???
OH BOY!!!
thanks to all who really made our trip special in NZ,
Much love, until next time...
Jamie and Marc xx