Hello everyone!! I'm sorry its been so long!!

I'll continue from where i think we left off! We kayaked the Abel Tasman sea! It was really pretty and the kayaking was actually really good! Jon and me (mainly Jon) did a good job, and we were speeding along before we new it! ha!

The beaches that we stopped at were lovely, the water was a beautiful turquiose colour and there were hundreds of mussles on the rocks! We kayaked for ages stopping at a couple of desserted beaches and then over the the "split apple rock".

The next day we got back on the road and started heading north to Nelson. We didn't stay here, but did go the pictures to see "RIO" the animated film. It was brilliant, and as we walked out back into the rain we both longed to be back there!! ha ha!

We headed to Blenheim. Here we went wine tasting! Yes, wine tasting! It was amusing as neither of us know anything about wine, but we tried all of them and did none of that spitting it out nonsense! Feeling a little dizzy, we returned to the campsite for more pasta! our stable NZ diet.

Back to the North island we went, a rough ferry ride, left Jon a little green, but we arried back in to Wellington and drove up towards the National park, ready for the Toronaria crossing. We stayed in the camper car, but got to spend our time inside this gorgeous lodge, which had a real fire, and comfy chairs to slob on!! Here we stayed for Jon's 28th birthday!

The crossing, was 6 hours trekking, up over a mountain/volcano and down past the sulphur lakes, returning through the forest. It was really pretty. The views were amaing, (when the cloud past) and the lakes were amazing. The volcano, was Mount Doom in "Lord of the rings"!!

Next stop, glow worm caves!! This was really good. The caves were really spooky and and the boat ride to see the glow worms was very cool, they really did look like stars, shinning just above our heads! The thing that made it, was probably our guide, who was a real character. He should have been an actor in a kids film or something.

We also took a little trip to see a kiwi bird! They were cute, very fluffy but it cost us $17 each!

Off up to Auckland, we'd arranged to watch the rugby with a lovely couple we met in Blenhiem, Glenn and Zoe. We all met up to watch this game, not one of us knew or understood anything that was going on! The stadium was cool and they blew fire out for each "Try" they scored, which was nice as it warmed us up a bit! ha! The atmosphere wasn't the best, not quite like the footie!

So we are now in Sydney! Really cool city. The first day we arrived we went exploring, and as we walked past this big spooky church, a load of huge bats came flying over our heads!!

The Opera house and the harbour bridge were really cool! However, the rain is not so much fun!! Never mind.

Off to Byron bay tonight, 12 hour night bus, but looking forward to seeing this hippy town, and hoping the sun will put his hat on!

Hope your all ok and enjoying your heatwave! Oh and looking foward to the wedding! Ha its everywhere here!!

Lots of love

Jon and Kate xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx