Ki ora for the last time from NZ..

apologies that it has been a while since we last spoke but we have been very busy bees. Since our last journals, we are sure most of you are aware that we did a skydive in Wanaka from 12,000 ft. Amazing feeling and we have dvds to prove it.

We have been to another rugby match, this time in DUnedin, with the worlds steepest streets, a funky cadbury factory and another brewey tour, this time it was Speights.

We have also visited Mt Cook, which was ace, we (well adam) wanted to climb it, but it was just a tad too high and cold!

We are now in Christchurch. We took our last road trip out to Akaroa Harbour a few days ago, really nice little village with a cool hostel. It was a last goodbye to our beloved set of wheels. We are now car less and have to walk around a lot more...

So to highlight our awesome 8 or so weeks in NZ, heres a round up of the facts and figures:

We have travelled roughly 8000km over the trip (phew!) via these transport methods:

2 cars, 2 planes, 5 coaches, 1 helicopter, 2 parachutes, 2 ferries, 3 boats, 1 kayak, 1 punt, 2 luge (sledge on wheels) , 1 sand sledge, 2 cable cars, 2 sets of ice crampons, 1 sprint car and last but not least 1 Zorb filled with warm water!

 TO keep us warm at night we have stayed in, at, on top of:

2 car roof tents (see pics to belive it), 2 car seats (when the tents were too cold), 4 cabins, 15 backpackers, 14 campsites, 1 thermallly heated campsite, 2 beaches and 3 motels (these were our luxury nites and included good old sky tv wooo hooo!).

Some of the interesting kiwi slang that has become familiar to us include: 'sweet as', 'bro', 'eh', 'no worries', kumara chips (ruths favourite - they re actually sweet potatoes back home), cookie time - the best cookies, and also jandals (japanese sandals).

Last but not least, heres a final number cruncher of the fun times we have had here:

3 chocolate factories!, 3 brewerys, 2 rugby matches, 1 flat tyre, 2000 sheep running through a town, 4 spas, whilst drving we have been sandwiched between 1 herd of cows, 2 flocks of sheep.

argh the memories...

We have had an awesome time, it's going quicker than we like and we are looking forward to coming back to seeing more.

Next step on our adventure is asia... are we ready for the culture shock in store????

find out soon in our next installment of the adventures of R & A ( like batman and robin but better)

Ruth and ad

xx

Thanks for all the messages and keeping in touch, next time u see us we will have our tans back. yipeee!!!