Hey Everyone!

It's that time again where we're moving on to a new country and rounding up on the one we've just visited. New Zealand; wow. There are so many things we've loved about this country and so many things we've done that we would never be able to do back home. Not only is the country absolutely beautiful but the people are great too.

Australia was totally different to Asia and yet, despite only being across the water, New Zealand was totally different to Australia. We found the Australian's really friendly but they have nothing on the New Zealanders; not only is everyone really friendly but they go out of their way to help you and make your stay the best it can be. We had both been really looking forward to New Zealand, and Sophie in particular was most looking forward to this leg of the journey over all of the other countries we'd visited - it didn't let us down, it not only met expectations but totally blew them out of the water. There were only a few things we missed out on, the main one being our tour of Christchurch which was, of course, out of our hands. We opted to set off straight away when we got our campervan and do Christchurch upon our return three weeks later but unfortunately, a week after we set off, the earthquake hit and completely destroyed the city. Anything else we missed out on was due to lack of money. Luckily we got to do most of the things on our list with the exception of the Coromandel and the south of the North Island; Wellington which we weren't deeply upset about.

It would be quicker and easier to tell you what we didn't like about New Zealand but obviously certain places stick out in our minds more so than others as our favourites. On the South Island we absolutely loved having the campervan and being able to explore where we wanted in our own time, the drives were stunning and we'd never seen anything like it! There were panoramic views of mountains, forests, rivers, lakes and hills; spectacular. We got to explore so much of the South Island and took full advantage of having our own wheels. It turns out that we did actually overspend quite a bit in our campervan but that was through no fault of our own - petrol was more expensive than we'd anticipated and we were having to fill up more so than we had originally thought. Still, it was worth every penny.

The North Island is where we really began to struggle for money so we weren't lucky enough to explore it quite as much but we were very lucky to have great friends who were willing to help us out. We were given a full day tour of Auckland and its surrounding area by Pyke who really looked after us and went out of his way to make our day a good one. Lappin lent us Delilah for the duration of our stay which we took advantage of for a week. Talia lent us Little Blue Poo so we were able to go right up to Cape Reinga in two days before our funds came to an all time low and we had to return back to Auckland. Thankfully Matt and Tash put us up for an unspecified amount of time, and let us come and go as we wished which we are VERY grateful for - it saved us a lot of money and we really loved staying in New Lynn with them and the kids.

Our Highlights:

·Landscape

·Campervan

·Queenstown

·Bungy Jump (Kie)

·Skydiving

·Cape Reinga

·Auckland

·Kaikoura

·Whale Watching (Sophie)

·Meeting up with friends

·Rugby (Kie)

·Eden Park

It's hard to narrow down our highlights and our favourite places. Queenstown was beautiful and made even better for Kie with his 134m bungy jump. It's a great touristy place with great scenery and must look beautiful in winter when it's ski season. Kie would like to return on a skiing trip! We've managed to fulfil so many of our wishes during our six month holiday and New Zealand was a great place to do them. One thing in particular that really stands out about the country is the closeness of the families. It is very much family and friends orientated. We really enjoyed the gatherings; in Kaiteriteri with Lauren's family and Auckland with Matt and Tash's families. It is just like you'd expect; everyone owns a BBQ and everyone uses them well!

The exchange rate was already in our favour when we arrived but it got better during our stay and made things a lot better for us - despite us having to call on our parents for help! Well, we have almost completed six months without doing any work!

Our Top 5 Places:

·Kaiteriteri

·Kaikoura

·Queenstown

·Auckland

·Cape Reinga

It was such a shame that we missed out on seeing Christchurch and horrible to see the devastation left behind after the earthquake but it was still such an amazing experience to have felt aftershocks which we would never have felt otherwise. Our first aftershock was really quite scary and shook us up - literally! Despite the aftershock not being anywhere near as big as the quake itself, it put things into perspective for us and we were able to sympathise with the victims of the earthquake because we were nervous in a 4.9! Although we hadn't seen much of Christchurch before the quake and couldn't really relate to the pictures we'd seen, it was still a great shock to see what was once a building laying as a pile of rubble; houses with no fronts, churches falling apart, fencing with notes and flowers attached and piles of silt in the road and in the parks. It was, and is, really sad.

The only thing we'd probably do differently is save up more money to really explore the North Island but we don't feel like we've missed out too much. It's been so much fun and the weather has been great for us - luckily we arrived in summer and left just before winter set in! The South Island was cooler than the North but we were still pleased to have the majority of our days in sunshine! We've managed to skip winter back home in England too so we worked it all out rather well.

Although we have liked all the countries we've visited and vowed to return, New Zealand is the one place we REALLY loved. Everything about the place was great and we would love to return, if not for a year then at least on holiday for a few weeks. It was made better by having such good friends to help us out along the way. Now it's time for the last part of our holiday before we return to England. We'll be seeing you all next week; we can't believe it's that time already. Next stop: Fiji.

Lots of love, Sophie and Kie xx