At one with the boulders: After recovering from our wine tasting tour we got back on the road and decided to make our way across country via beautiful Arthurs Pass. We made a few detours along the way namely whale watching in Kaikoura (Jen, Mark decided that he would rather ramble around the countryside than see giant sperm whales, perhaps Neptune had a disagreement with them - who knows!), hot springs in Hamner Springs for some R&R, then to Christchurch f...

Le Tour de Marlborough. After the breathtakingly beautiful, but woefully wet Marlborough Sounds, we headed south to the town of Blenheim, home of the world famous Malborough Wine region. Obviously, being such connoisseurs of the plonk, Jen and I thought we should be doing our share of wine tasting- so we did, by bicycle! After various escapades throughout Asia with child-sized adult bikes, I (M) was pleased to be given a trusty stead that actually fitt...

The mussels that never were. Upon arrival to the South Island, we went off exploring the Marlborogh Sounds (huge river valleys that are now submerged by the sea and offer absolutely breathtaking views*) We parked up in a fairly basic campsite, in a picturesque* site, overlooking the sea. The camping sign said "only take what you can eat from the sea/beach", and showed a picture of a hand picking up a mussel (we're talking the shellfish kind). This, c...

Jen and Mark's adventures by ski.

5. Gorgeous Gilis What can we say about the Gilis other than sheer paradise (applicable to one of the 3 islands anyway!) . We spent a couple of days on Gili Meno (known as the honeymooners island) and were pleased to get off. Definitely an island for the loved up couples with masses of public displays of affection. We felt slightly sick by the couples lined up on the beach at sunset for their 'romantic' moment, we decided to spend the last night we had left on...