Hi Everyone,

We've just arrived back on the North Island after a wonderful tour of the Southern Island. It was way less populated and busy and way more wild than the Northern island. We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary in the Abel Tasman area. We managed to shake the cyclones that had been following us and the weather there was flawless. We decided that a place as beautiful as this deserved a special activity so we rented Sea Kayaks for 2 days. It was such a treat to be able to paddle to any number of beautiful beaches with light green/blue water, have our daily picnic, lounge in the sun a bit, nap a bit. We even saw a lone penguin swimming closer out in the open water. We tried to stay close to him for a bit and take a pic but he was just too fast and elusive. We celebrated our anniversary on a beautiful beach with our boxed wine bladder and a tupperware we used as our wineglass. No expense spared here and we remain the very classy individuals that you all know. Our .5cm thick rented sleep mats made me yearn for the luxurious back hatch of our car. It's surprising what you can get used to.

Baebs was surprised and relieved to learn that my lack of intensity is consistent both throughout my attitude to work, but also in my leisure pursuits. Paddling is hard work and sometimes a guy just needs a nap!

Sights foregone:

International Antartic Centre - you can pay $25 to experience -18 Celsius (that includes windchill). We thought that was a no-brainer as we've spent a pant-load more than that to escape a lot colder than that.

Minus 5 - a bar that is kept at -5 Celsius. Uhhh, what? They even give you a parka to wear while you have your drink. I think a lot of folks that I know would embrace -5 right now.

Random thoughts:

How come global warming is killing the beautiful polar bear but hasn't made a dent into mosquitoes or flesh-eating black flies. Our ankles are covered in bites and those black fly bites just don't seem to get better!