As soon as we arrived we were kitted out with socks, boots, gloves, hat, crampons, waterproof jacket and waterproof trousers. It seemed a bit like overkill, but hey - they were the experts. It turns out, they actually know what they are doing - it rained heavily on us for around 75% of the time we were on the ice, and as we were booked for a full day walk, that was quite a lot of rain. Oh, just out of interest - has anyone ever owned a waterproof that actually IS...

We arrived at the seal swim centre in Kaikora where we once again donned smelly wetsuits! Once briefed we journeyed out to find some seals and got in to swim with them, they seemed strangely unphased as they zip around below you and around you. The older ones just laze around on the surface as if they have seen it all before. It was an amazing experience that did have a few scary moments! At one point we were swimming along when 2 seals appeared swimming very fas...

On Christmas Eve we drove to Nelson and went for Carols on the Cathedral Steps, which was amazing. It was daylight when it started but gradually got dark and looked fabulous as everyone there held a candle while they sang. It was really stunning to be stood outside in the middle of hundreds of people all singing by candlelight - we had to keep looking around us to take it in as we had forgotten to bring the camera (you'll just have to imagine it!) The humorous/we...

So, here we are in the South Island. The ferry crossing was nauseating but we kept our breakfast where it belonged, which many didn't. We spent a few days staying with an old cricket friend of Richard's, which was great as we got a slice of family life around Christmas time. Even better, we had a bed, a bedside table, a lamp and carpet!! These small luxuries seem fabulous after camping for so long. They own a vineyard in the Marlborough region so we spent some ti...

After Taupo we tracked across to the West of the country to go into one of the Waitomo Caves. Waitomo is famous for it's caves and has over 850 of them with some 300 being large enough for a proper exploration. We decided to do some blackwater rafting (in a tube underground) and check out some of the glow worms. We had an excellent afternoon underground walking through the caves in wetsuits and floating along in our tubes, not to mention a few small spaces to squ...