...are just three of the things we have not done in Queenstown. Instead, we went all high-class and honeymoony and took a sightseeing plane over the Milford Sound, went on a cruise up and down it, and flew back again. It was 100% fabulous. It was like our experience in Iguassu Falls - nature being massive and powerful again... and again, the scale of it won't show up in photos. Milford Sound is a huge fjord - this means where a glacier has cut through the land, ...

So after a LONG drive from Nelson (approx. 6.5 hrs), including many "Bridge Lane Ones"*, we arrived at the township near the Fox Glacier. Not exactly a 'kicking' township but I suppose most travelers that pass through only spend enough time there to climb the glacier and what not, before heading off to pastures new. After checking into our rather basic hostel (with no communal area and poor kitchen facilities - no doubt the worst place we've stayed in all of NZ)...

Whoa! New Zealand: home of EXTREME sports - let's go kayaking! Okay, so it's not THAT extreme, but we'd all agreed that we were up for anything that didn't involve throwing ourselves off or out of anything. That 'we all' refers to the usual honeymooners plus Helen and Pete, our chums who are currently on a two year holiday in New Zealand. Sorry, a two-year period of VERY hard work. It was great to see them, and jolly good fun was had - belated Christmas cracker...

We arrived at Picton via a wine tour of the Marlborough region, where we took in the delights of several wineries including Te Whare Ra and Auntsfield. The former being a boutique winery run by a husband and wife team. We met said husband who to took us through all their very lovely wines, so lovely in fact Andrew found a white wine that he liked (Reisling D) and Pinot Noir that we both loved, and hence we bought a bottle of each. At Auntsfield Andrew found a C**...

We saw whales!!! Three sperm whales in fact. Kaikoura is famed as a whale-watching location as they come very close to land so we just need to get on a jet boat for about 10 minutes to get to the area where we might spot them, above an underwater canyon. Apparently, spotting one is good, two is lucky and three is great. Seeing them is a great experience - we pulled alongside the majestic beasts (one at a time), and stayed there watching it blow air and swim along...