Kia Ora from New Zealand! We have had a brilliant 3 weeks back visiting this country, seeing some new places and some we already know. It's almost 5 years since we last visited.

We flew into Auckland from Fiji and what a drop in temperature, went from 30 degrees+ to 18! had to get our jumpers out. It has since warmed up a little though as it is springtime here and summer is just round the corner.

We hired a car to explore the far north above Auckland. We had heard this area was beautiful and it was. It was great having the car too so we could go where we wanted, had to get used to driving an automatic too! Made our way up the east coast stopping in cute coastal villages and visiting gorgoeus beaches and bays. Too cold to swim though!

Our main destination was the Bay of Islands and we spent a great 3 days there. Took a day boat tour around the many islands, on the look our for dolphins as we were hoping to swim with them. We missed out on this the last time we came travelling so really wanted to do it. It seemed as our luck was in this time as we found a pod of about 25 Bottlenose dolphins, who seemed very playful! They were jumping right out of the water and swimming right infront/under our boat. It was amazing to see them doing this in the wild. Unfortunately we couldn't get in for a swim as they had a baby dolphin feeding and we couldn't disturb this. It was still very exciting, although one woman got a bit carried away. She was talking to the dolphins as though they were her babies and could really hear her. Wierdo!

Had a lovely cruise around the islands and a stop on one for picnic lunch. They were really beautiful - very green with golden beaches and surrounded by clear blue seas. Went up to the Hole in the Rock at the top of the bay. It's a famous Bay of Islands sight and boats usually go through when the sea is calm enough. Was too choppy for our boat that day though. We got to go through the next day as we went back, this time on a really fast speedboat. It was a quick tour of the islands, jumping over the big waves and getting our faces soaked in spray. We'd been given 2 for 1 tickets in the pub the night before by a lovely Kiwi barmaid, so thought we may aswell go for it.

Also learnt a bit about the history of the area and New Zealand as a nation. It was in the Bay of Islands that the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the British and the Maori in 1840. This is the basis for modern New Zealand and binds the 2 peoples together legally and culturally. We visited the site at Waitangi which was really interesting - this holiday isn't all about boozing and jet boats!

That was all in the first week with our car and unfortunately I was so so stupid and somehow managed to delete all these pics off my memory card! As you can imagine I was (and still am) gutted! I'd got some brilliant ones in the Bay of Islands and of the dolphins! I won't do that again!

Heading further north we stayed in a place called Kaitaia and from here did a day trip right to the very northern tip of NZ. We had to do a trip as part of the day was driving along Ninety Mile Beach (actually 64 miles long!) and it's not too safe for us tourists to do it ourselves. Locals do though and there were loads of fishermen out. Did some more sandboarding down some huge sand dunes, fell off a few times! Learnt more about Maori culture and way of life as this area is heavily populated with Maori. We visited Cape Reigna, the northern tip, with it's lighthouse and gorgeous coastline. This is the place where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea and you could see the 2 seas converging.

From here we headed down the west northland coast where there are still forest full of huge Kauri trees, the 2nd largest spieces in the world! This whole area used to be covered in forest but has been cleared for farming over the years. We had a forest day doing walks and visiting big trees! Saw the oldest tree in NZ which is about 2000 years old, wow! The trunks were so thick they looked like climbing walls and we were tiny stood next to them. All very amazing.

On our way back down to Auckland we stayed in some lovely places including a farm high up the hill only accessible by a dirt track. Also stayed at a very nice homely B&B with a hot tub we could use for free, so we did. I love them! Saw some beautiful harbours, a couple of which were very big indeed and we had to get the little car ferry over one to continue our route.

We had been together for 10 years at this time, (I know as if!) so went our for a lovely meal. I had yummy huge NZ green lipped Mussels and snapper and Phil had NZ lamb. Got to try the local dishes! All delicious. Phil said it was the best lamb he'd ever had. The waitress was really friendly too, (as most people are here) and told us where the winery was for the wine we had with our meal. It wasn't far away so the next day we popped in and got a couple of bottles at discounted price. Brill.

Soon our 11 days in the car were over, we were back in Auckland and back to the city. Had 3 more days here. Phil did the Sky Jump off Aucklands Sky Tower. This is a 192m base jump on a wire and New Zealands highest jump of any kind. I was too much of a wimp to do it but Phil loved it and he ended up getting to do it 3 times for the price of one jump! They weren't that busy so just let him do it again and again! Got a good video of him falling off it, which will try to put on here asap. He was on a high after that so we went down to the harbour and had seafood (Oysters!) and wine in the afternoon sun. It's a hard life!

Auckland is the only city in the world to be built on an active volcanic field. There are 50 volcanos in Auckland, most of which are extinct. In the Hauraki Gulf there are many islands and we visited one for the day which is Aucklands youngest Volcano. Rangitoto island erupted out of the sea 600 years ago. It was amazing to visit as the whole island is made up of black volcanic rock but is now covered in many trees and shrubs. We did a walk to the summit and got wonderful views over the Gulf Islands and back to the city, had our picnic up here, wonderful.

Met up with an old uni friend of Phil's who now lives in a suburb of Auckland. Went over to her house, met her husband and daughter and had a yummy roast dinner. Was really nice to see her again after so many years. That was our last night in Auckland then we flew down to Christchurch.

Wanted to visit this city again as we liked it last time. It's so quaint and English styled. My dad's second cousins live here too. We stayed with them on our last visit over christmas and since then they have had children. Went round the other day for a get together and catch up which was great. The children are so cute and sound funny with their Kiwi accents!

Have met up with a couple here (Jade and Craig) who we got to know in Fiji. They flew into Auckland the day after we did so saw them there for a night out and now they are in Christchurch too. The 4 of us did a day trip yesterday to a pretty harbour town called Akaroa. Phil and I had been here before but this time we went to swim with dolphins. I've always wanted to do it and was disappointed not to have done so in the Bay of Islands. Surprise, surprise when we got there we discovered it had been cancelled due to rough seas. We were gutted, seems we'll never get to do it! We had fish and chips by the harbour and spent all afternoon at the pub.

Have had a leisurely week here. The clocks have gone forward onto NZ summer time and the blossom and daffodils are out. On our travels we saw loads of lambs and calfs out in the fields too. Shame we can't stay here for the summer but we fly to Australia tomorrow. Looking forward to going back there. We are visiting Darwin and area first which we missed last time and have 2 weeks of camping trips ahead of us, should be fun!

Off out tonight with Jade and Craig for our last night in Christchurch and NZ! Would love to visit this country again, there's something about it that we just love!

Love us 2 X