Hello! There is so much to update everyone on since my last blog in Iguazu Falls!

After seeing Iguazu, we went to Buenos Aires and stayed for about 5 days there. It was an awesome city to party and stay in!! Met some interesting people and had a great time there! Managed to look around Recoleta Cemetary where Evita is buried, La Boca where Tango was invented (and where Maradona played for the Boca Juniors), and some of the awesome markets there. We went to see a live tango show, telling us the story of tango! Then on our last night in BA we went and had an amazing steak dinner at a restaurant called La Cabrera. This was probably the best steak I have ever tasted in my whole life!! You got four massive fillets of the best cut steak, then about 10 different dips/sauces to taste the steak with. All this an a bottle of champagne too! It was one of the best meals of my life thats for sure!

We got on the plane to Auckland, NZ which was a 14 hour journey, and involved crossing several time zones! Crossed the international date line as well, so a day was literally lost in time! Jet lag was going to be horrendous I could tell! Auckland was a really nice, beautiful city. Went up the Skytower which towers above the city and gave awesome views of the whole city. Then we got our campervan and headed up north to the Bay of Islands. The campervan is certainly interesting to drive! it is absolutely MASSIVE! And simply refuses to change gears sometimes as it's automatic! Its pretty cozy in there too! We did a boat tour of the Bay of Islands which was awesome, going through the famous Hole in the Rock and learning about how Captain Cook discovered New Zealand. We also saw pods of dolphins swimming and playing right next to the boat it was amazing! After the tour, we booked another trip to go up to Cape Reinga, the northern most tip of the North Island. That tour was great aswell, as we got to see an ancient Kauri Tree forest (sacred to the Maoris), and drive on the 90 Mile Beach which leads all the way up the west coast of the island! We reached the top and walked out to the lighthouse on the cliff edges, taking pictures of ourselves with the signpost which had all the different cities on it. The view down the coastline was stunning, with the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea crashing into each other. After that we headed south to Waitomo Caves, where we did 'black water rafting' through some glow worm caves! It was great fun! Involved getting a wet suit on and floating down waterfalls on a rubber ring, all underground! The glow worms looked amazing. We moved on to Rotorua, and had an evening show at a Maori village which was awesome! They cooked a 'hangi' for us, which is meats and potatoes all cooked underground. Then they did a cultural performance and performed the Haka for us. It was amazing to see in person! The next day we went to a geothermal park, and some hot springs. Saw bubbling mud pools and a massive geyser, aswell as the rare nocturnal Kiwi birds they have in NZ. They were just round balls of fuzz with beaks!

After Rotorua, we travelled south to Lake Taupo, where we saw the Huka Falls, went to a glassblowing workshop, and sampled some wild honey that they produce there! Lake Taupo was huge, with the mountains stretching off in the distance on the other side. Next stop was Napier, which was a nice art-deco style seaside town, and finally Wellington. On the drive between the two we went to the longest place name in the world, and took some pictures sitting on the massive sign!

We then got the ferry across to the South Island, and travelled to Abel Tasman National Park. We decided to go for a hike around the park, so we got a boat up the coast to one of the beautiful golden beached bays there, and walked back through the park. The park was really nice, with lots of golden sand bays (aswell as pesky sandflies!). We also managed to see Split Apple Rock, which is a round rock which has been split to look like an apple (believe it or not)! After Abel Tasman, we travelled south to Nelson Lakes national park, where we visited a couple of the lakes. Heading to the west coast next, we travelled down the coastal highway to the Franz Josef Glacier. The views there were amazing, and even more amazing once we got up on the glacier and walked around! Glacier walking was so much fun, using pick axes to pull ourselves through tight blue ice crevasses, and squeezing through a tiny ice cave in the glacier! It was amazing, and the glacier was huge!

After Franz Josef, we drove further south to Haast, then inland towards Haast Pass in between the massive mountain range that runs down the island. The scenery was stunning all around us! Eventually we made it to Queenstown, where we went skydiving from 12000ft! The skydive was AMAZING! one of the best experiences of my life. The freefall was incredible, from so high up it just felt like floating. Then gliding down once the parachute had opened, we got to take in the awesome views of all the mountain ranges around us. Even got photos and a DVD of my jump (it was pricey though)! You could see the curvature of the Earth up there! The next day we went up on the mountains and had snowboarding lessons for the day. It was awesome fun, and even though I fell over a couple of times, I managed to slalom down the slope in the end. It was so much fun, I would love to go again some time! We got a famous Queenstown Fergburger after boarding, which is an awesome looking beefburger the size of your face. Then we headed further south and did a boat cruise around Milford Sound (in the pic). So glad we managed to fit that in - it was stunning! We saw albatross and fur seals off the fiords, and stared at the stunning mountain coastal scenery for a good 2 hours. One of the most beautiful places I have been so far!

Currently in a city called Dunedin, on the south-east coast. Hopefully going to see some yellow eyed penguins, fur seals, albatross and blue penguins tomorrow on the Otago Peninsula. Then the plan is to head up north to Kaikoura then back down to fly out of Christchurch. New Zealand has flown by so quickly!

Paul