Hi everyone - heres an update of what we have been gettin up to in New Zealand!

After Christchurch we caught the Magic bus through the rugged coastline to town called Kaikoura. Stopping en route to see a fur seal colony upclose. we then got to our got to our hostel and dumped our things, had a quick walk through the town and headed out to do our whale watching. the sea was a little choppy and the boat used all the latest equipment to track the giant sperm whales down. we saw 3 giant sperm whales and watched them shoot up water out of their blow holes and dive down again out of the water. they only come up for a few minutes at a time so you have to track them and spot them coming up out of the water. The next day we spent walking along the kaikoura coastline and chacking out all the great scenery.

the following day we left on the bus to Nelson. where we went wine tasting to sample some of new zealands finest!

We then left for greymouth the next day, called the 'wild west coast; one of the more remote, rugged and most sparesely populated areas of the country. we stopped off at 'cape foulwind' where we saw another large group of fur seals. we then drove through one of the many national parks in the region and the scenery is just stunning! we then stopped to visit the Punakaiki Pancake rocks which were a pretty amazing sight. we got to our hostel late evening.

The next day was another 7.30 start on the bus to leave for Franz josef further down the west coast. we stopped off at a town called Hokitika where we watched them make the famous Greenstone and saw them glass blowing which was great. we also stopped off at a small town called Ross famous for its gold and we did a spot of panning for gold. we found a few traces and a greenstone in our pan. we arrived in Franz josef around 1pm and our half day glacier hike started at half 2 so we quickly gor our gear ready and went to check in and get our gear on for the hike. we set off with our guides and group at 3 and we had an hour or so hike through the bush and over rocks to even reach the bottom of the glacier. it was stunning view. we then carried on walking over the rocks a little further to reach the point where we started to climb. we attached our crampons to our boots so we could grip the ice and started to climb with our guides showing us the way. it was awesome. we climeb all through the glacier mountain for about 2 and half hours until it was around half 7 and we had to start making our way down again. the glacier can move up to 7 metres every day so its never in same place. we then had to hike back through the rocks and bush to get back around half 9. what a great experiance and amazing views from the ice! we both really enjoyed it.

the next day in Franz Josef we would go Kayaking on the scenic Lake Maporika. we were out on the lake for about 4 hours. we were in a double kayak and went through some great scenery and had great fun. we had to manouver down some really narrow places and one spot where the trees were the inspirtion for the 'tree beard' trees in lord of the rings. i was at the back of the kayak and had to steer using the pedels which controlled the rudder on the back. the lake was so still and the reflections in the lake were awesome. so clear!

another ealry start the next day for our bus down to Queenstown. first we passed through Fox another village nestled next to a glacier before we stopped off at lake matheson 9called the nirror lake for its famous reflections of the southern alps). however we tasted the famous west coast wether and it was sheeting it down so the lake did not have great views in it. as we set off again the scenry changed from the dense forrest to the vast plateaus, again so beautiful. the mountains and lakes are on everyside of you. we then stopped off at the home of the bungy jump where it was frist created by A J Hacket, the kawarau bridge. We didnt try one but we watched some others do the jump. we then reached Queenstown around half 6pm where we checked into our hostel and headed around town to check it out.

we have also just chaged our tickets to miss out Fiji and replace it for free with new york what with the recent cyclones and flooding they have had there. we now fly to LA on the 6th Feb. we then head around california, san fran and las vegas before flying onto New York on the 27th Feb for a few days to finish our trip before flying back to london.

hope everyone is ok back home

tom xxx