Hello and welcome to our first blog for 2012!

Well, we had an amazing time in the rest of the South Island which I shall now update you on!

So after Christmas Day we made our way to Wanaka and then Queenstown. Both towns are really nice as they both sit on the edge of beautiful lakes. They are both touristy but Queenstown more so as it's the adrenalin capital of NZ! Our campsite near Queenstown was stunning with beautiful lake and mountain views. Whilst there we went Jet Boating which is basically a zooped up boat that can be driven across ankle deep water plus we were spun around 360 degrees at speed-awesome! Vicki also went River Boarding which is basically body boarding down white water! Mental but brilliant-she was even pulled along by a jet ski and jumped from an 8 metre high cliff into the river!

Next up was the Fiordland National Park where we actually spent New Years instead of in Queenstown. We camped in a beautiful spot with mountains looking right down on us, we bought a slab of steak and some wine and had a brill NY eve watching the stars rise in the sky whilst we layed on top of a bench! Perfect.

Next up was Milford Sound. The drive to Milford Sound has been named one of the most scenic/beautiful drives in the world and it's easy to see why. The majestic snow capped mountains, the views into deep valleys and the sweeping grasslands were just magnificent. The crazy unsealed tunnel that you have to drive through was a bit mental though- imagine driving down a mine shaft where the water is leaking through the rock and it's proper dark-horrid but memorable! Then we arrived at Milford Sound.The green sloped mountains jutting out of the water looked even better than all those pictures in books and calendars.

Did you know that Milford Sound has a layer of fresh water on top of a layer of saltwater? And that the water is so dark that creatures that are normally found in the darkest places in the ocean are found in the first 30-40 metres of the sound-which means it's an awesome diving spot! Milford Sound is also named incorrectly as it's not a sound-anyone know why-hmmm???

Anyway, the next day we got up close and personal to the water and mountains of the 'sound' when we hired some sea kayaks. We had a guide this time and the group of aussies we were with were hilarious! We had a great time and even had a seal come out of the water and crawl up onto the rocks right in front of us!A brill day!

The next best place that we went was the south and Catlins Forest Park. As we drove we stopped at some incredibly rugged bays where we saw hectors dolphins (worlds smallest), sealions (worlds rarest), a yellow eyed penguin (worlds rarest and one of my top 10 wildlife moments!), loads of seals and loads of great sea birds too. There was so much wildlife it was incredible. We even nearly tripped over a sleeping sea lion as we were running away screaming from an Oyster Catcher that was trying to peck our eyes out - I kid you not!!!We also witnessed a very pissed off sealion which saw off a crowd of people from the beach (quite scary as they are huge animals but again a great widlife moment!).

After this we made our way up the East Coast which isn't as stunning as it's quite flat but we ended up in Kaikora which has a mountain range right by the sea-again a beautiful spot full of seals!! We were meant to go swimming with seals but unfortunately it was cancelled as the water was murky. Massive dissapointment : (

So that's our time in NZ in a nut shell-we had the best time,saw some beautiful places and saw some amazing wildlife. NZ is our top recommended place to visit - so put it on your list of things to do!!

Now we are in Sydney and staying with Sara, Dan and their little one Sienna : )

We've seen the iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge, walked around the city, visited some out of town parks and have just been enjoying being in Sara, Dans and Siennas company. It's really nice to spend some quality time with them all.

Vicki actually climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge today-which she said was brilliant. Tomorrow we're off on a tour of the blue mountains which should be good : )

I shall update you again soon and also put some photos on soon.Until then I hope the New Year has started off well for you all.

Lots of love Katie and Vicki.xxx