Hey lovelies, yep, we know long time no hear, but, we're with you now for a long bloody update - hoorah. Right then, let's start at the very beginning it's a very good place to start.

• Kayaking around the Bay of Islands at the top of North Island - we hired two lovely kayaks and headed off into the deep blue water. We discovered an island (least that'swhat we'd like to believe) and we called it Peepee Island, so called becasue Kimbo had to have a peepee on it. Nice.
• Went to Thames to a rather lovely National Park - Kauaeranga. We embarked on a 7 hour walk around about 20kms up the Pinnacles mountains - bloody stunning I tell you. We met 2 other English girls on route (Doctors don't you know) and had a rather civilised lunch with them afterwards. Amazing views and several thousand steps - mmm, thigh burn.
• Next day we went to Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach, both on the east side of the coast. Cathedral Cove effectively is a rock formation that one can walk through that is, I s*** you not, the size of a cathedral. Bloody beautiful and possibly the nices beach we've ever been to. Then at Hot water beach, you hire a spade and dig a hole in the sand 2 hours before low tide and the hole fills up with , you got it, hot water. We dug the nicest dang hole you ever did see, only to be told that if you don't get hot water right away then you need to dig a different hole. Terrrific. Did any b***** tell us, did they heck as like. Managed to steal someone else's hole and boy was it nice and warm - good steal us.
• Next step, Rotorua - Good ol' Berneard Shaw said 'I wish I had never seen the place, it reminds me too vividly of the fate theologians have promised me' and boy was he right. However, the stench was well worth it there was more sulphur than you can swing a cat at and frankly I would swing a cat at it and then let go, but that's another story. The craters and lakes are weird to say the least, and you kind of feel like you're on another planet. Well good though; ooh we also got to watch a geyser go off, which is nice. Thoroughly recommend that one, yep. Then that night, we went to the International Stadium to see the Highlanders take on the Chiefs in the super 14 rugby tournament. Very nice to see some rugby over here and we hope to see some more. (Blooming gutted we're missing the 6Nations mind you).
• We then headed to Waitomo; now this place is awesome and possibly the weirdest place we've been to date. We went here so that we could go Black water rafting through the caves where they have the most incredible amount of glow worms, yes you heard me right, well, to be more accurate you read me right, but anyway, glow worms by the bucket load. We had a day to spend however before we could do that so we were advised by the tourist dudes to go the Rabbit Shearing Shop followed by the Billy Black Farm show. Now, I know all of you animal activists out there are saying 'what, rabbit shearing, what the hell?'. (Actually, I'm not sure we know any animal activists so this is mainly towards Snow, who both loves animals and has rabbit as a nickname - don't worry we haven't gone mad, it's all very safe!)Well, I've got be honest, it was the weirdest thing we've ever seen; they bring out these Angora rabbits which are super fluffly and huge. Now, if they didn't shear them they'd die, so they're being nice really. They strap the bunnies up, then attach them to what's basically a spit, stretch them so that there are no wrinkles then shear them using the same piece of equipment you use to shear sheep. The 60 year old lady gave a running commentary, but I don't think the 4 year olds in the front row apprecaited her calming words. Best thing we've ever seen. We'll tell you about the farm show when we get home adn then we can show you the footage of a pig doing a moonwalk at the same time.
• Next day, we went into the caves attached via our butts to black inner tubes from tractor tyres (our raft). We went about 60 metres undergound and floated through rivers in the dark looking up the gloworms above. It genuinley looks like the stars at night - Tesco you would love it and you'd probably see Pegasus. Right.
• Now for all you ring tossers out there, you'll be fascinated to hear that we went to Mount Doom and Mordor, otherwise known as the Tongariro Crossing, so that we could toss our rings into the firey depths of hell, well, something like that. Without doubt, this 19km walk is the best hike we've done to date, and the hardest. You just can't really describe how incredible it is, so if you get a chance google it and have a look.
• Get your rain macs ready, we've arrived in Wellington. Now, we were promised that you can camp for free in teh Te Papa Museum car park, not the nicest of settings, but free. On arrival we dicsovered thsi wasn't quite the case, but we stayed in the car park for 2 nights anyway. Oh, but we did pay for the privelege. We then got to wander to the 24 hour garage to use the loo in the night, and yes, we did feel like pykies. Awesome museum though and nice brewery.
• Next day, caught the ferry to Picton on the South Island, but don't panic we didn't pay the ferry man till we got to the other side, for all you Chris de Burgh fans out there. Beautiful ferry ride and they played Corrie episodes - odd.
• Now safely on South Island we drove to Abel Tasman National Park. We met a lady from Exeter adn lost the next day to a hangover. After that however, we caught an hour long water taxi to Bark Bay so that we could then do the 23km walk back along the coast. Very pretty, though not quite as spectacular as we'd hoped. Kept going though, we had no choice.
• Headed to Buller Gorge, where we walked across New Zealands longest swing bridge, all 105 metres of it over a river. Very nice and bouncy. Then, we sneaked a peak at the Pancake rocks at Punakaiki, lovely also. Next step, Franz Josef.
• Little bit disappointing on this one, I'm afraid to say. We saved up our pennies so that we could do a heli hike onto the glacier, but oh b*****, it was too damn cloudy. We waited for two days, but Mother Nature was not playing ball. Did a couple of small walks and then had to move on admitting defeat. Boo.
• Wanaka - no I have't mispelt it - littleish town in the most stunning location on the lake. We took a leaisurely walk to Rippon Winery and then tackled Puzzleworld, before driving further south to Queenstown.
• Queenstown, is the adrenaline centre of NZ, and it hasn't disappointed. We're staying with friends, Mandy and Sally, and they are lovely and in the know when it comes to booking things that are exciting. So far we have jumped out of a plane at 15,000ft, white water rafted down Shotover River and visited wineries. As I'm sure you can imagine the skydive was just incredible and we'd do it again in a flash. The rafting was a little more tame than we would have liked but cool nonetheless. I t really is an amazing country adn we're loving every minute. Kim's even getting to go running, though I'm afraid to say the dentist beckons - ouch. We'll let you know about that, if Kim survives. Well, we'll tell you if she doesn't survive as well obviously, but we have our fingers crosssed.

Thinking of you all lots and hope you're staying safe in the terrible weather. Looking forward to any baby news and sending lots of love, us xxxxxxxxxxxxxx