First two nights were spent in Wellington. Lovely city in beauçtiful bay setting. Days spent visiting sights, museums etc. Evenings spent going to cinema. Yes, we actually started to act like a normal couple for a change. Michelle managed to meet up with Megan- ex work collegue - great to sit chatting while J went and read the paper in peace elsewhere! After Wellington we drove north towards volcanoes & ski fields. Stopped on the way to go to a car museum. Great. Even M enjoyed it. Spent first night on the road at a small town south of main volcanoe area. Next day drove to Tongarara (spelt wrong, but M is not here to help type so tough luck!). We decided that we had been camping rough in bus for long enough so treated ourselves to a posh hotel, Chateau Tongarara (?) immediately down the vallery from the ski field. Wonderful place, felt v embarrassed going in dressed in walking kit with rucksacks etc. Sadly the next couple of nights we stayed at trailer park, sorry, camping ground, as we felt that one extravagance was enough. While at the Tong place we did two walks in the sno covered mountains (fantastic) and did a day of skiing in the volcano. Next day headed north to Lake Taupo and then onto Rotorua. Spent a night or two there. Swiming in a warm river (Kerosene Creek) out in nature was a special treat, we were the only ones enjoying a warm waterfall massage while being careful not to get our faces wet (you can get a strain of meningitis...so far so good). Our time in Rotorua included a day of mountainbiking in forest trails near the town. The bike-hire company was a family team who were outstanding. Amusing first meeting with Mr Bike Hire in his shed with his bucket. Not a story I will recount on these pages as children may be reading. Nothing sordid at all but a better story for down at the pub. The biking trails were outstanding and highly recommended. After Rotorua we headed west to another place who's name I have forgotten (Michelle has the guide books you see). It was about 2 hours west from Rotorua and is famous for its caving and Blackwater Rafting. We had booked onto a 6 hour tour with a company which turned out to be an extremely worthwhile effort. After getting kitted out at base with wetsuits, lifevests, climbing harnesses, hats etc. (see picute) we were introduced to our two guides and three companies (nelwlyweds from Holland and a v well travelled student from UK). Top bunch and indeed an excellent team to be stuck down a black hole with. After transit to cave entrance we had a safety briefing on how to abseil using clever modern equipment. IN my day you had to concentrate on an abseil. Today you can practically make a phonecall or send and e-mail while it is happening - well almost. In fact, it is so god that you do not need a safety rope. And I am serious. The trip started with a vertical abseil 200ft down into a black hole. As you could not see the bottom it was not to scary. Insufficiently so for me to volunteer to go first. Felt remarkably calm on the way down. The most scary bit was the landing so as to speak. On the way down you can see nada and it is eerily quiet. As it is pitch black other than the hole of the top through which you came, you cannot tell when you are at or reaching the bottom. So imagine my surprise when abseling down into a black oblivion when I thought I was 100ft or more from the bottom, that a voice right next to my ear says: 'Please remove your harness!' Where did he come from? Spooky that. On of our guides was already down there you see. When rest of team arrived we set off walking through coldish water (10'C) in underground cave network (effectively a river). Small headtorches were a bit of a help. After some hot tips from guides' flasks we were issued with tractor inner tubes and told to jump into the water below. Yes it was a bit cold but 100% worth it for the view. There were the 7 of us floating down a tranquil river underground with no lights and watching the glow-worms on the cave roof above us. No noise & no light other than that which nature intended. Wow. After this we said goodbye to our tubes and continued on foot through rivers, scrambling over rocks, under rocks, up waterfalls etc. Fantastic stuff. We eventually emerged into daylight for a photo op then tea, soup & bagels back at base. Great trip - well worth it. Finally, we set off in bus for Auckland, our final stop before South America. Journey was uneventful. Found an OK camping ground outside city centre. We spent first night there and the second one with more kind friends (another ex collegue) of M who put us up (despite being heavily pregnant!). Many thanks to Em and Stevo...Great to see you guys again. After sightseeing in Auckland and buying final supplies for Latinoamerica, we cleaned up the bus, said goodbye to our hosts and headed to airport to return our trusty bus. I do admit, that I had become quite fond of it after almost 6 weeks as our transport AND home. It will come as no surporise that they did spot the dent in the passenger's door. After explaining the incident in detail on a form and perfect drawings, we were set free with a cheery goodbye. Poor bus. It has had a good life though. It is almost at it's 200,000km birthday largely thanks to us. We went for the cheap one you see. So, that it the end of NZ. We caught the flight fine and slept a bit in between film watching and eating airline food which I am now becoming quiet used to. I don't know what the the fuss is about. Food's food isn't it! Adios NZ, hola Ecuador.............................................