Hey, We have left the North Island of NZ now and are in the south. We are also finished with our bus tour. The last few days on the tour were amazing despite the fact that quite alot of the things we were supposed to do were rained off! We were supposed to do something called the Tongariro crossing which is supposed to be a stunning walk across a volcano but it wasnt possible! But our time was still spent well! We went to see something called Craters of the moon which was a really volcanic area with loads of volcanoes with steam pouring out of them. It was really impressive - like a dragons lair in a film!! We also went to visit some waterfalls which were in Lord of the Rings - it was the place where Gollum was fishing when Frodo tricks him for any LOTR fans! We also saw Mount Doom from LOTR. We stayed in an amazing hostel on an active volcano too!! We then went to Wellington and spent three days there. It is another gorgeous city - though NZ cities are so small they hardly count as cities! We just relaxed there and wandered around. It has more cafes and restaurants per capita than New York so it was a pretty nice place to relax and eat!! We also had our hair done there so we dressed up properly and had a night out without looking like backpackers!! Our intention was to meet some kiwis at last as all we have met is fellow travellers, unfortunately the one kiwi we met was just a sleaze who told us he was a fighter pilot!! Unfortunatly for us him bus driver, Noddy, had already told us NZ has no airforce!! So after Wellington we flew to the South Island and picked up our little car and Loz (Nikkis boyfriend). Was weird to see someone from home but he came bearing gossip magaznes and mini eggs so he was more than welcome!! We are in a place called Kaikoura now which is on the coast and is absolutely stunning! it is surrounded by mountains and the sea is the clearest water i have ever seen! Loz seems to have brought the weather with him because it is scorchio today and there is not a cloud in the sky!! And to make things better our hostel has a pool and a hot tub - Hostels are amazing here!!!!! Today can only be described as wicked!! This morning we drove to see a seal colony. I parked the car and we got our and were all staring at the seals on the rocks about 10m away and were marvelling at how close they were. When we heard Loz say ' Caroline be careful' and she was literally standing right next to a seal who promptly barked at her!! i really dont know how i didnt run it over!! This afternoon we went on a trip to see whales. It was really exciting cos they kept stopping the boat when they thought they saw one and then powering off if we didnt. We saw two sperm whales and they were massive!! The best bit was when swam under again because then you just saw their massive fin!! We also saw hundreds of dusky dolphins swimming by the boat and jumping out!! We are going swimming with dolphins tomorow at 5.30 in the morning which will be ace. All in all NZ is amazing!!