The rain was hammering down but that did not stop us, we were in Rotorua and had an action packed day ahead of us. This started with the Skyline and luge which was absolutely hilarious. Because it was chucking it down with rain we were the only people mad enough to go luging! We got drenched, but had the course to ourselves which was brilliant and meant we didn't have to manoeuvre around anyone else. We warmed up with a hot chocolate in the café and then made ...

When we arrived in Taupo we checked in to a holiday park, visited the AC Baths (thermally heated swimming pools and hydro slides - with Mina and I the biggest kids using them) and then got an early night ready for my skydive in the morning. When we woke up the sun was shining and it looked like a perfect day to jump out of a plane. I was feeling a bit nervous as we drove to the airport for my skydive, but when we got there I actually started to relax. At the la...

In Ohakune we met up with Jess' friend Vince who is a ski instructor and had a tame night out in his company. Our intention was to hit the slopes in Ohakune early the next morning, but visibility was bad and snow poor, so we got some photos with the Big Carrot, and made our way to Taupo instead.

On the Sunday we spent a leisurely day wine tasting in the Marlborough Region throughout Blenheim and Renwick. We visited the more well known Cloudy Bay and Montana wineries as well as a couple of beautiful boutique vineyards, and stopped for a light lunch at one of these as well. A very important detour to the Botuique chocolate factory was also slotted in before we drove on to Picton to catch the ferry to Wellington the following day. There is not much going...

Having slept in a camping spot once again, we woke up to find some strange bird milling around outside the Jucy van and even once managed to hop in to the passenger footwell when the door was open. Obviously I was less than pleased about this. We made some breakfast and headed slightly back the way we came to check out Pancake Rocks and blowholes (which had been pointed out to us by the policeman from Oamaru - although I thought at the time due to the Kiwi acce...