Volcano country. Oh yeah, and the odd earthquake. After sampling the chilled and excellent delights of Wellington's nightlife on the 31st, getting roped into drinking too much Havana Club (Abi's such a bad influence, absolutely nothing to do with me honest guv'nor), and then enduring a hang which could only be eased by a bout of retail action (you are gonna love the LRG zip-up Neighbs), we blurrily drove up the North Island to a village called National Park....

Evn'n, how we all doing? Wine tour yesterday by bike. Now, I fully realise that wine tasting should traditionally involve a certain degree of decorum, one thoughtfully cogitating on the merits of each wine before politely spitting it into some sort of spitoon thingy and muttering about legs and nose and "oo oo I'm getting apricots, I'm getting cotton, I'm getting Castrol GTX." Nah, not Abi and me. Visit as many vineyards as you can, ride back to base withou...

Arrived last night after a long drive from Methven, and woke up this morning to blue skies, warm air and snowy peaks descending into a shimmering sea. Knockout view. Something inside (so strong...song by Labi Siffre...anyway I digress) told me that Kaikoura would be chilled out and laid back, and that's exactly what this place is. Sleepy as anything and easy going. We thought we'd make like a donkey's fella and hit the road, but decided to do the touristy w...

On the hill in Mount Hutt today (28th) - bouncy day, Abi nailed the box boardslide-wise and me no landy landy on my turnip left knee. Stayed in Methven last night in the back of a motorhome, so far the bleakest place we've been to. Kind of a prefab town which has been largely forgotten about by the rest of the world, pretty much no redeeming features whatsoever. It's next to the mountains though so that'll do nicely ta muchly.

Stayed the nights of 25th and 26th in Fox, next to the glacier. Walked part of it the 26th, it's a huge 14km river of ice which winds down from the mountains into the rainforest. It's kinda weird hiking up through a damp and dense undergrowth, to then put a set of crampons (heavy flow) on your boots and tramp up over solid ice. The guide Pete was dead knowledgeable and made it fascinating - 4 hours well spent. 27th - jumped out of a perfectly normal and well...