Hi Everyone, we hope you are all well?

We arrived in New Zealand, to be hit by the bitter cold! We stayed for 2 nights in an old prison in Christchurch, it was so cool, we had our own cell on the 1st floor to sleep in! Everything had been kept minimalistic to keep it feeling like a prison,and they had left one of the cells in it's original state so we could see what it was like, it was quite an experience! We had one day in Christchurch to have a look around town, and it was like being back at home! Very strange!

We took the TranzAlpine train over to Greymouth on the West coast of the South Island, and the journey was amazing. It went through the Southern Alps and the views were fantastic! Although it was stupidly cold out on the viewing deck! We then got the bus to Franz Josef, where the next day we went on a glacier hike. We climbed for about 4 hours up really steep slopes, and through huge cracks in the ice, and then stopped for lunch where there were keas (Alpine Parrots, apparently the most intelligent birds in the world). The ice was an amazing blue colour, it was beautiful. We then got to climb through ice caves and ice tunnels which were unreal, it was brilliant!
We then went to Queenstown for a night, which is a big skiing town, however everyone was sulking as there was no snow! But we went for some dinner and the watched the embarassment of the rugby in a lovely alpine bar, with an open fire! Then it was over to Te Anau, which was a lovely little town on the edge of the Fiordlands set around a lake and surrounded by mountains. We were very lucky to have our own little log cabin while we were there. We did a trip to Milford Sound in the Fiordlands which was great. We stopped off to see the mirror lakes, which had some good reflections but unfortunately the ducks in the water were ruining them a bit! But the journey up through the mountains was brilliant. Once at Milford we went on a nature cruise through the Fiorland and saw Mitre Peak and some beautiful waterfalls, which the boat went right underneath, it was very cool. The water had a similar blue colour to the glacier as it had been created by a glacier carving away at the rock faces and then eventually melting. The following day we went on a trip to Te Anau caves, which were not as impressive as some caves I have been to, as it was a young cave and so no staligmites/tites, however it did have a very impressive glow worm collection. We had to sit in the pitch black on a little boat which was a bit unnerving but once your eyes had focused and you looked up it was like a starry sky, it was awesome! However one of the little beasts did poo on my leg and the stain won't come out of my trousers, the pest!

Our next destination was Kaikoura, where on our arrival we managed to get straight onto a whale watching cruise. We managed to see 3 Sperm whales, which was quite cool. However we only got to see their heads and then their tails as they dove down into the water, which made for some good pictures. On our way back to the marina we saw a school of about 200 dusky dolphins, the most acrobatic dolphin, and we saw some amazing flips and jumps!

Our next stop was Wellington, so we had to get the ferry from Picton, and the ride was beautiful all through the fiordlands. Our one day in Wellingotn was the most vile day ever, it was so windy and absolutely chucking it down! So we ended up going to the Te Papa Science museum! It was amazing fun, and all hands on exhibits, the CELS team would be proud!

Then we went to Turangi where we went snowboarding for the day. It didn't start out too well as the tourist info ladies had said we would be able to hire all clothing and gear etc up the mountain, however this was untrue! But we finally got going and had our free 2 hour lesson, which was pretty hard work, the hardest thing being getting upright! It was so difficult to stand! However after many many many falls we finally started getting the hang of it and by our last run of the day managed several consecutive turns before falling over again! It was awesome! What we were not prepared for was the pain the next day, we were both in agony with all our muscles, it was awful!

Then we went up to Auckland, where it was customary we went up the sky tower and took in the views! When it came to us leaving and having to catch our plane to LA, all the truck drivers in Auckland decided to go on strike and block all the roads in the city. Therefore we were advised to leave asap and typical we didn't even stop at a traffic light let alone get caught in traffic, and so arrived at the airport 6 hours early! And airports are not all the fun!

However overall we had a great time in New Zealand and it was absolutely beautiful. Next stop LA...