We realised that the last update was far to detailed and lengthy, so we promise to keep this one brief.

New Zealand = Awesome.

I tried just to keep it as the above but could not help myself, so here is a little bit extra:

New Zealand is a country overflowing with natural beauty. Vast National Parks with snowcapped mountain ranges overlooking small towns nestled by beautiful lakes (with the bluest waters we have ever seen). Also its been wonderful to experience this country during the changing of seasons, initially arriving in Autum and then leaving in winter.

On arriving in Auckland we collected our new companion 'Maria' (Toyota Hiace) who would accompany us all the way to Christchurch. We had a good look around the North Island, although unfortunatley the weather was a bit wet. We got to learn about Maori culture, visit some of the biggest trees we have even seen. Kauri trees, over 51 metres tall and some with girths of over 16 metres.

When we arrived in the South Island the weather took a turn for the better. The temperature dropped a fair bit, but most days the sky was blue and the sun shining. We had a great day treking over glaciers at Franz Josef, definately want to get myself a pair of crampons (so simple yet so effective). We then decided to be real dare devils and jumped out of a plane 15,000ft high. We will both admit that when sat in the tiny plane gradually going higher and higher we both felt 'butterflies', but the rush of freefalling for 60 seconds, only enhanced by the amazing views of Lake Wanaka and Mt Cook made for one hell of an experience. Would definately do it again!

Our next venture was to try our hand at snowboarding at both Coronet Peak and Mt Hutt. The thing is when watching others snowboard it looks pretty simple and easy. Actually felt quietly confident I would be good at this, when in fact at the end of the day I felt I had gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. Neil had a very similar experience and even now it still hurts his coccyx when he sneezes! Dont think we have ever fallen over so much in our lives, however despite the soreness and the bruising we wanted more and really enjoyed ourselves.

Unfortunately our time in New Zealand is coming to an end and we head to Indonesia on wednesday. However must admit we are quite looking forward to the warmer climate. It was -8 degrees the other day on the mountain and on more than one ocassion we have had ice on the inside of Maria and our water has frozen. It got that cold that we had to swap our breakfast from All Bran to Porridge!

Finally the thing that we have found so wonderful about New Zealand is that its major attraction does not cost a penny. The picture perfect postcard scenery comes completely free. Well not completely true, some sights especially the panoramic views from the top of mountains can be quite demanding on the legs!

Our adventures continue............although we look forward to seeing everyone in a months time.

Tan and Neil