Twitcher notes We have seen a penguin!! And it was Claire who spotted it! It was on a rock where we were looking for seals. It was very likely to be a Fiordland Crested penguin, a very rare penguin and by rights we shouldn't really have seen it as they are out to sea at this time of year so it was very lucky spot, no pics of it though as it was too far away even with my super duper 18-200mm lens. Bellbirds are absolutely everywhere, for me this is a very good t...

<!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> Developed world, hmmmm The majority of radio stations are fully cheese-tastic, packed with 'rock' and golden oldies. I think I've heard A-ha's classic 'Take on me' at least 3 times, another oft heard superb tune is Ace of Bases' 'All that she wants', I think the most recent 'modern' stuff I've heard is a single from Coldplay's latest album! To be fair to them Claire ha...

NZ random observations EVERYONE you chat to has there own top 10, 20, 30 things to go see/do/eat/walk up/drink and are more than happy to share them with you apart from... ...most people in hostels, who don't speak to you, even if you speak to them (mind you we've only stayed in two!) Most older Kiwi's are really friendly, most local 'youths' (can't believe I've just typed that!) have a tendency to look at you in the same way as you might look at a maggo...

Segue from 1st blog entry It's roughly 4 weeks since we departed for this partially tropical, fantastically green and pleasant (south is) land. Our time has been hugely biased towards doing things rather than spent on blogging, I'm sure you'll agree that this is the right way round but it's left us feeling we've neglected our audience a little so I rose early on Easter day (comparisons with Jesus purely coincidental) to do some writing. What this is not going ...