Dear All, thanks ever so much for all your messages and emails. We've been in the wilderness for the last few days but here we are after a spectacular (sp??) drive in Kaikoura. I am in an internet cafe called Global Gossip. Cool, hippy and playing my favourite band Coldplay very loudly. Doesn't seem so long ago that I saw Coldplay in concert in Birmingham with James, Mike and Steve. Gosh that night was cold. And now I am hot hot hot! Well Kai means food and Koura means Crayfish. An old whaling station on east coast of the South Island, Kaikoura was sleepy uuntil it woke up to the potential to have thousands of travellers come here to see abundant wildlife: whales, dolphins, seals, birdlife... So now it's a cool little place with plenty of cafes, places to eat, bars and a whole lot of people. Today we are booked onto a tour to see sperm whales... A plane or chopper goes out to sea to spot from the air then the boats follow out. I am very excited about doing this. the sun is shining and the sky is blue and I am very lucky.

yesterday we were in Marlborough doing a day long wine tour (hic!). We went to 6 wineries: Cloudy Bay (our favourite NZ Sauv Blanc) amongst others. We toured aroundi n a mini bus. ooops, I have no credit. back in a minute...

Prior to the wine tour, we stayed at a B&B called Sounds of SIlence. Quite literally in the middle of nowhere. Sounds of SIlence - an apt name. From there, a twisty road to Picton where we boarded a boat that sped at 20 knots for 90 mins to the end of Queen Charlotte Sound where we were dropped off for a day long walk on the Queen Charlotte Sound (one of NZ's great walks). We were collected later in the day and shipped back to Picton and on the way saw about 30 dolphins. They joined the boat and were swimming alongside for ages jumping in and out of the water. So close! Wow. NZ delivers yet another amazing experience. Our little legs were quite tired out and pooped, we had an early night. We'd kayaked across another Sound the day before which was great. I was happy about the head wind and paddling against the tide - just like rowing on teh Thames. I did a bit of swimming later on but wow, quite fresh!

Tonight we are staying at an Irish pub so looking forward to a change of beverage and a decent pie and gravy. Then we're crossing the country and driving down the West Coast of the south island which Lonely PLanet readers have designated as one of the worlds top 10 drives. We're heading down to the glaciers before ionwards to Queenstown before flying to Sydney.

I've taken more photos and will upload them later on. Keep thinking about everyone and hoping you are all well. It's really nice to hear from you and I sincerely this isn't coming across as smug.

LOL to you and yours, more soon, Ju xxx