Funnily enough, an hour down the road, the weather is just as rubbish, so we head to the i-site once again, and ask how to amuse ourselves in the rain. Well prepared, they have a whole printed list, and the lady that talks to us is very friendly. We head to Te Puia, dropping Brent off at the campsite to amuse himself for a few hours. Highlights: saw our first kiwi (the bird - obviously). It was bigger than we expected, but actually still quite cute with it's lit...

The journey to Taupo was taken upon the aptly name Thermal Explorer Highway, which everyone had described to us as a very bad windy road. You North Islanders need to toughen up. It was nothing in comparison to some of the routes we took on the South Island. An hour after our arrival in Taupo, we were dangling above the river, beneath a platform, held on by a bit of elastic. Something I swore I would never do. Sorry Mum, it just kind of happened! Todders describe...

Arriving in Napier we thought we had been teleported to America, the palm tree lined streets could easily have been LA. We settle on a beach side carpark for our first night, which is quite uneventful. Probably needed after the carnage of the last few days, plus we need to prepare ourselves for tomorrow. 11am, we get ferried out with mountain bikes to Vineyard Central. Today was hilarious. Unison, our first stop. Here we were given free chocolate to accompany th...

The ferry journey from the South was calm, with scenery comparable to Milford Sound. Unfortunately, a new island does not equal new organisational skills, and useless as ever, all we had to entertain ourselves with for the four hour journey was food (wraps) and the Bible (NZ Lonely Planet). When we were done with this, we slept. Continuing our disorganised trend, we rang Brian and Lavinia who we met in Moeraki, when we were ten minutes from their house! They kin...

We rock up in Blenheim, looking slightly worse for wear given that our last shower was yesterday morning, and we have embarked on skydiving, kayaking and trekking since then! Kurt and Vaughan, hitch hiker #1's friends, have kindly taken us in again, for the bargain price of 1 case of Tui! Yes. The international currency - beer. They tell us we stink, order us into the shower and while we begin our getting ready party, they start on their own. The lounge fills up ...