Day 18. After getting off the ferry, the South Island instantly was more appealing. Long windy roads covered the undulating fjordland. A misty haze covered this scenery, and it was at this point that New Zealand felt like the New Zealand that i had imagined. Like Auckland, the moment we left Jack took us the wrong direction ...muppet! After my thorough and slightly ruthless rinsing of Jack we headed off in the right direction towards Nelson, our first stop...

We got up at 6am (too early) to do the Tongariro Crossing, an 18.5km challenging mountain climb. The first 45 mins consisted of comfortable flat paths with sporadic rocky out crops, but after that some muppet put a mountain in the way! The first stage of the ascent is an hour long climb known as "the devil's staircase", which pretty much was a rocky ladder. Once you reach the top though, the view is fantastic and you can see the magnificent sulpher la...

After a long flight from Chile, crossing over the date line (consequently missing out Sunday!) we arrived in New Zealand early morning to be greeted by a tired and grumpy Mike Ryan (ex-Reigate Grammar gappy). After a quick power nap I spent the morning finding great amusement watching Jack worrying and calling the airport looking for his passport that he had misplaced, knowing full well that it was in my pocket! In the afternoon Mike gave us our first lesson in ...