Waiting.... Well as we have discovered, new zealanders don't look at life as a race (like we do in England) so yep, you guessed it, the plane is delayed. No reason, just delayed. Go get a coffee....usually this would really grind my gears but a few more hours in new Zealand suits me! I can still see Arthur's pass from the airport, snow covered mountains glistening at me in the sun. Sarah (me) has been emotional all morning. Nearly cried at breakfast over my saus...

Christchurch in Catastrophe onto Christchurch at Christmas!! What an incredible day. Very emotional. Very humbling and yet very inspiring. A city not yet ready to move on. A city not ready to rebuild. A city where the people are full of pride and hope and ambitions.  We started early and decided to head into the city centre on the bus. We booked an afternoon tour around the city on a bus so wanted to tour on foot and boy what a decision that was. Without knowi...

A Kick in the Franz Josef's!!! Our mountain climb was not to be. The helicopters are still grounded and we were in the first instance very upset having changed our trip itinerary to come back this way but we have changed our outlook somewhat in the last few hours...... WE HAVE A REASON TO COME BACK AGAIN!!! We can't hang around waiting for the opportunity so we headed North to Shantytown (a mock replica of a gold mining village from around 1880) which also had ...

The REALLY Beautiful South West Wow..... WHAT A COUNTRY!!! For those who received the photo of our campsite this morning with the mirror reflection of the mountains in the water, you will know exactly what I mean. The view this morning was incredible and it has been a beautiful day. This is going to be brief because we have so much to go and do and explore. This evening we are going to head back North to Franz Josef to try our Heli Hike tomorrow morning again a...

Grounded..... Down but not Out!!! Evening..... Bit of a downer to start the day today. Our helicopter trip to the top of the Franz Josef Glacier was deemed unsafe to fly due to the ongoing rain and cloud. We were offered an alternative of a half or full day hike but considering the weather, we decided to cut our losses. We will be passing through that way again before we fly to Fiji and so may try again then.  Until then, the weather forecast says the bad weat...