When we have told people how long we were going to stay in Australia we were often met with looks of incredulity followed by a long monologue of places that we must visit. And having been here for the 3.5 days we allotted for this great country I am feeling that all thoise people where very right. Australia will be a long holiday by itself some time in the not too distant future as it has made a huge impression on me. We arrived on the 22nd and after finding s...

Our final blog from New Zealand....It has been a wonderful six weeks here. After the last update from Taupo, we drove to Rotorua, home to geysers, hot springs, 'the gates of hell' and lots of Maori culture accessible to tourists. We finally got to see actual, live kiwis (although we had to go to a special reserve to do it as they are so shy in the wild) and experience some of NZ's best mountain biking in the redwood forests just out of town.Then after a night in ...

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 ...

We have made it to New Zealand in one piece. We have been here for about a week now and we have squeezed in a lot. We landed in Auckland and after a lazy first day of wandering aimlessly around the town centre and buying some essentials we met up wit our friend Mel who has been very kind in letting us stay in her lovely house and borrow her very fast car. She took great care of us whilst we struggled to deal with heavy jet lag, in fact she took us to the beach fo...