Hi everyone

So much to report from New Zealand - it's been fantastic! Since the last log in Hokitika we've travelled south down the west coast of the South Island, stopping to take a trip on the Fox Glacier and try the mountain biking in Queentown (although the weather stopped us both times we tried). Then a wonderful drive to Milford and an overnight boat trip on the sound itself - while the views are amazing the water was freezing, I tried swimming in the 16 degree water and you can see the look of shock on the photos!

After that, further south to one of the unexpected highlights - Curio Bay and Porpoise Bay, just east of Invercargill. Curio Bay is the remains of the 16 million year old petrified forest that was once part of Gondwana and is now home to the yellow eyed penguin, one of the rarest breeds (and shyest) in the world - we were lucky enough to see some of them coming home after a day at sea. Then the next morning we saw Hector's dolphins swimming in the next bay, quickly hired wetsuits and went in to join them. The experience of just walking into the water and having the dolphins swimming up to you to investigate and surfing the waves around you is very hard to beat!

We travelled up the east coast and after a couple of long drive days made it back to Kaikoura. This time the weather was perfect and the whale watching trip got the go ahead - we saw two sperm whales and a pod of 200 dusky dolphins playing, flipping and generally showing off nearby. The day after was very well spent testing the wines of the Marlborough region.

Now, we're back in the North Island. Yesterday we walked the famous and fantastic Tongariro Alpine Crossing, across the saddle between two volcanoes, past craters, bright emerald lakes and otherworldly scenery (a lot of the Lord of the Rings was filmed here, one of the volcanoes here was Mordor). Today we are hobbling around - weeks of touring by campervan has done nothing for the leg muscles - and gradually making it north to Rotorua in the hope that the hot springs can do something for our weary legs!

More soon....Laura