H: Ally and Paul carried on up the West Coast for another few days away. Steph, having delayed her flight 5 times/4 months was due to fly out the following day so Greg and I thought we should escort her home and make sure she did finally leave (we were starting to wonder if she was going to come to Asia with us). This time at Tekapo the fog had lifted but there was still a lot of cloud. And snow. So perfect for a snowball fight which I refereed, and as the pictures will prove, I think Steph won :o)

H: Today we drove out of Queenstown to Paradise (I’m not joking), although maybe funnier than the name is the fact that we couldn’t find it! But we did end up at the Dart River which is a really beautiful valley so we had a few hours walk up the valley and were entertained by Ally trying to play cricket with an apple core...

H: We put Ally and Paul’s driving abilities to the test on the luge in Queenstown. Steph had hurt her back on the North Island so she was given refereeing duties. Unfortunately due to the big signs saying ‘no group races’ we couldn’t have a proper race. Although Ally did run me off the track, and I got my revenge by running G off...

We also went to see Anika Moa play a bar in Queenstown which was brilliant. I’m not sure how much she’s made it in the UK yet but look out for her!

H: Ally and Paul had been to Doubtful Sound while we went to Alexandra and unfortunately didn’t get our message telling them not to drive back to Queenstown and that we would meet them in Te Anau.

We didn’t know they hadn’t got the message so set off towards Te Anau and soon got a text from them saying they were 45 mins from Queenstown. Uh oh! By chance we were just passing them when we phoned them so we managed to stop together while they decided what to do. Their car didn’t have enough petrol in it to turn back so we piled everyone/everything into our borrowed car, abandoned our little red one and set off with bags on our knees back to Te Anau.

It was a really overcast day but Fiordland had had quite a bit of rain so Milford Sound had a lot of waterfalls ? Now G had recovered but Ally and I are feeling pretty rubbish. Should have been more sympathetic to Greg when he was sick...

H: Uh oh. G has man flu. And it’s really serious because G, Steph and I went on a walk in Alexandra and he was behind us most of the way and when we asked him if he was ok, he said he needed to make sure he took it steady and not to push himself. So half way round he took the short cut home, gave Steph and I the ‘map’ and left us to it.

So we continue and soon find that there’s a choice of two paths but definitely only one is shown on the map. But we can’t turn round now because G would laugh and say we can’t read maps. So we carried on and soon found a bigger track that looked like it would lead round the hill and back down. So we took it and both felt pretty pleased with ourselves, especially as the path did start leading back down to the lake.

The smugness didn’t last. We eventually noticed that the path was familiar and that we had just done a loop and were now walking back the way we’d came. Oops. We continued and took Gs shortcut back hoping he wouldn’t notice but he did. But was too ill to give us too many can’t-read-map jokes!

H: We then went to Wanaka where the fog left us but the clouds followed. We had a lovely walk though up to Rock Peak (original name!) where we all lost feeling in our feet as the snow was pretty deep and none of our shoes were waterproof.

H: Hmm things aren’t going as planned. The blue skies I promised were there all morning as we drove to Tekapo, which is a really beautiful drive. And just as we got to about 20 minutes away from the lake (which is probably G and my favourite spot), we drove into dense fog.

We went up to the observatory where there was an amazing view of the mountains above the fog. Then we went to the church where there was a good view of the lake and the bottom of the mountains. So now all they have to do is stick their photos together and cut out the fog layer and we’re good...

H: The South Island had a bit of a shock this month when another Cole sister and her husband arrived for a South Island tour.

Ally has wanted to swim with dolphins for ages so the second day they were here, we drove to Kaikoura. The weather was perfect and the sea was calm so perfect swimming conditions (apart from the water is only 10 degrees). Only the trip was cancelled as a big whale or shark had swum through and scared the dolphins away :o( so we took them to Hanmer to the thermal hot pools to try and cheer them up.

They then tried the following day in Akaroa, where they were kitted out with dry suits, got on the boat and even got in the water but the dolphins swam away and that was the end of that.

So they tried again the next day back at Kaikoura and the boat searched for about 45 minutes and were just about to give up when they saw a pod of dolphins and Ally and Paul finally got to swim with dolphins!

H: We went to Mt Hutt in Chch for another afternoon of skiing, to see if we could manage it without any help (ie Hannah and Des). Steph came with us to watch us fall over, and we stopped on route and hired the equipment and snow chains. This is when we first needed help (ie Des) cos the car was filthy from the slushy dirt road and it took us ages to get the snow chains on (after finding that there was a vital link missing).

We managed the lift no problems, and had a couple of beginner runs down without trouble. Steph had bought a scenic lift pass which took her on the big lift right to the top of the mountain and back down again. There also happened to be a blue run going down from there. So we bravely went up with Steph to see the view which was pretty amazing. And we set off down the blue run.

Which was a bit of a mistake. We really needed Des and Hannah at this point. It was pretty steep and it took us ages to get down! Back to the green’s I think...

H: We thought it was time to put our 4 lessons at Tamworth Snowdome two years ago into practice so met up with some friends, Des and Hannah, in Queenstown for a weekend. We hired all the gear and a set of snow chains and set off in the sun into the mountains.

As we got higher and higher though it got snowier and snowier. So it was time for Des and Greg to get very very cold trying to get the chains over the wheels. This, it turns out, isn’t a straight forward job and involves lying under the car to attach them. Hannah and I half-heartedly offered to help from the warmth of the car.

It turned out G and I hadn’t forgotten too much of our lessons and so were encouraged from the beginner’s slopes onto the ski lifts by Des and Hannah (who fortunately could ski pretty well). We managed the lifts successfully, and didn’t end up in a pile at the top like I had imagined. This time.

Coming down was a bit harder. The visibility was awful and I’m still unsure if that made things easier or not – not knowing what was the other side of the cliffs was nice, but knowing there were cliffs and not knowing what was on the other side was not that nice!

The ski lift did eventually cause a tumble, Greg fell getting off the last one and caused a pile-up with people coming off the ones after him. And instead of stopping the lift as I thought they would do, the guy instead just yelled for everyone to get up and move away. Now something tells me he should know that once on the floor, it’s very hard to get back up when you’ve got 5 ft feet!

I discovered that my joints are already in their 50s as they ached and creaked a lot. As did my calves but we discovered afterwards that I’d got too many layers of leg warmers on…

H: To recover from the rain on the North Island we went to Wanaka. And it snowed instead. So we had to abort one walk, but not until after we had braved it through a field full of cows that were standing right by the stile and who moo’d menacingly as we walked through.

But it made the mountains so so pretty for the next day when the weather was back to it’s normal bright blue skies. We climbed Roy’s Peak which I had done with Ness last year while G was mountaineering. We walked most of it on snow which was fine apart from when it became ankle deep and so soaked our shoes… Coming down was good though – I wished I’d had a sledge…

H: Steph was very excited about going to the All Blacks V England match in Chch and got Mum to send over a giant England flag.

And I think with hindsight realised that was a wasted effort, she got to wave it twice in the whole match.

The All Blacks are fab.

H: What more can I say – I love the South Island. Clear blue skies and a heat wave…

H: After another day of rain we decided to give up on the sandy beaches and headed back to Auckland via the giant Kauri trees and Dargaville,a town that is meant to be the home of Kumara (sweet potato) but doesn’t seem to sell them anywhere.

For Steph’s birthday we took a ferry to Rangitoto, a volcanic island not far from Auckland, and had a lovely walk round the island. We even got some sun – finally! Then we went to the revolving restaurant in the sky tower for tea.

We didn’t do much other sightseeing; we’d seen most of it that first night trying to find the motorway…

H: Ok so I think I’m being punished for having too much holiday. There’s not even grey sky now, it’s black and it’s raining. What better day than to go to the very North of the North Island. So we drove in the rain to Cape Rienga to see the lighthouse and the place where the two oceans collide (the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea). We had to get pretty close to the lighthouse to see it through the fog…

We decided not to let the weather stop us having fun and went sandboarding. Most people do this through a company and pay $150. We rented a board each for $10 and set off. The weather wasn’t too bad when we started and being in the sand dunes was great – I’ve never been in such huge hills of sand. Perfect! So after what seemed like a 1000m climb vertically to the top of the dunes, we set off in search for a good hill down. I courageously had the first go down a small one, found it far too slow and declared it boring. So we found another hill that Steph went first down and this was much more fun. Apart from the bit when you hit the bottom and it jolts your spine. But a small price to pay for so much fun. So we had a few go’s at this, during which time the not-too-bad afternoon had turned into gale force winds throwing painful sand and rain into our faces.

It was time to go. But not before attempting a big one.

We stood at the top of the big one (the one that had felt like we were climbing Everest when we first got here) each wanting the other to go first. Steph decided she’d be brave and pushed herself over the edge. It looked fast and fun. But then something happened and she flew off the board, landing in the sand and the wind picked up her sandboard. And she lay there for a while. And here I wish I could say that I threw everything down and sprinted to her aid.

If I am honest however it took me a while to stop laughing. And then I started wondering if she was really hurt and that I didn’t want to be climbing back up this hill if I got to her and she was fine.

However she started moving and shouting at me but the winds were so strong I couldn’t hear a thing. So now I should definitely be running to her aid. But I still waited, just incase she was fine. And fortunately she was - through a bit of sign language and the odd word, it was clear she was laughing rather than crying, and she set off in search of her sandboard.

I stayed at the top planning my route down, and telling myself that having seen Steph fly off, that I really must hold on tight.

And I set off. And it was fast and really fun.

But then the powers-that-be decided to punish me for laughing at Steph. And I too flew off my board, head first into the sand, did a somersault (just to make sure that every part of me was covered in sand) and ended up on my back. I saw stars and my neck and chest were really painful and I started to imagine life in a wheelchair.

It was now Steph’s turn not to be able to move for laughing but eventually she did and went to retrieve my board which another big gust of wind had taken.

It was definitely time to go home. And we now realise that part of the $150 guided tour included expert knowledge of a) how to sandboard and b) which dunes to tackle!

H: We were a bit disappointed to wake up to grey skies today - there’s not the usual blue skies and golden sandy beaches that we signed up for.

We decided to go to Waitangi which is the place where the Maori’s signed the Treaty with the westerners. It looked like it was about to rain and the map looked like it was a long walk from where we were staying in Pahia to Waitangi. So we got in the car and drove. And two mintues later pulled up at the entrance to the Treaty House, after ducking in embarrassment under the wheel as we passed a couple from the youth hostel who had walked… Maybe we should have looked at the scale of the map…

There’s only one Maori tribe on the South Island and all the rest are on the North so I hadn’t seen much of the Maori culture. It was really interesting to learn a bit about it and see the Maree and the Waka Taua (war canoe).

Then we went to a pub to see the All Blacks v England rugby match with the couple we’d unsuccessfully tried to avoid when we drove to the Treaty House. They were from the UK so supported England with Steph. I have decided that my loyalties lie with the All Blacks and my reasoning is girly – I love New Zealand, and the players are a lot sexier than the UK ones. And they’re better than the UK.

H: After delaying her flight for a third time, my sister Steph is still in New Zealand. She decided to travel a bit round the North Island to prove to herself that it’s not a patch on the South Island (although still very pretty). I’d got some spare holiday from work so set off to join her for a week, leaving G in Christchurch with a to-do list…

Steph met me at Auckland airport armed with a bar of Cadburys so our holiday got off to a good start. We found our hire car and set off for the 90 min drive North to a youth hostel.

Almost as soon as we set off the motorway we needed (the first real motorway I’ve seen since last October) had been closed, the diversion signs were missing and we were stuck without a map. So instead of skirting Auckland city to head North, our only option was to head towards the Sky Tower which we knew was the centre of Auckland and hope that we could find signs from there.

60 minutes later, having seen a lot of Auckland and its suburbs we passed the Sky Tower, got on the motorway and drove North.

We made it to the youth hostel where a very big spider had fun playing hide and seek with Steph which nearly resulted in her sleeping in the car. However we made it through the night and set off to the Bay of Islands and I was beginning to think I had overdone it on the warm clothes…

H: Time is going way too fast again and we’re nearing the end of our time here (yep I know you’ve heard that one before) so we’re really trying to make the most of weekends. Today we went to Mt Somers and (you’ve definitely heard this before) it was stunning.

It’s in the foothills so on one side were the Canterbury plains and the Pacific Ocean, and on the other were huge snow capped mountains. It was a lovely warm day, the sun was out and there was Cadburys in our bag.

Also it was an unusual walk for us in that some of it was flat rather than a steep up or down. It was a really really lovely day. I wish we’d found it sooner.

H: Some friends I used to work with at EY (inc the wedding 1 of 6 couples from last summer) are on a tour of the south island of New Zealand so we arranged to meet them for a weekend in Queenstown. We’d arranged to leave work a bit early, and were really looking forward to going.

At about lunchtime, someone at Greg’s work suggested he check out the roads on the internet as snow was forecast. By just after lunch, we were panicking as people were now asking if we’d packed sleeping bags (in case we had to sleep in the car) and if we had snow chains. Our car is barely a car, and it certainly doesn’t have snow chains. Then people were giving us alternative routes to avoid the high passes, which were going to add another few hours onto an already 6-hour journey. And suggesting carrying a little gas stove too. Uh oh! Especially as there is definitely no phone signal for a few hours over the passes!

Steph was coming too and got on a bus back to Chch from the North of the South Island first thing that morning, arriving mid afternoon. She got off the bus, squished into our car and we set off, more nervous than excited and decided to go the high pass route, sleeping bags at the ready and see how far we got.

All was going good until we passed the road update signs which now said “snow” rather than its usual “open” and we kept on going, fully expecting to hit metres of snow, skid to a halt and sleep in sleeping bags, in freezing temperatures in our box of a car.

We were worried for nothing. There was a bit of snow in the air but luckily nothing on the pass and we arrived in Queenstown safely. And it rained. All weekend. We really haven’t had much rain over here but it certainly made up for it this weekend. And it was freezing. But was really lovely to see Tim, Emma, Brendon and Zoe.

H: We definitely haven’t made enough use of the mountains in Arthur’s Pass, which are only a couple of hours from us. So today we went for a ‘walk’ up Avalanche Peak, an 1800m mountain in the pass.

It was a really beautiful day with clear blue skies and a lovely warm sun. And we were both ready for a bit of a challenge. Which was just as well as we were met with 90 minutes of climbing, not walking, up the side of the mountain. But we were both feeling pretty good as we reached the top. The views after the bush line were stunning, with ranges of mountains all the way around, for as far as you could see.

Going down wasn’t so pleasant. The first bit was lovely, still lovely open views. We’d read that the route on the way down wasn’t as steep as the one on the way up. That was technically truthful but it was still very steep, and incredibly painful on the knees two hours later!

Today (a day later) we are both in quite a lot of pain. I certainly don’t think I’ve felt like this before. It hurts to stand still, let alone walk!

H: We drove home via the West coast to drop Isabel in Greymouth, and were lucky enough to experience the coast in sun (rather than it’s usual rain)… We were conned into paying to see the longest swing bridge in New Zealand which really wasn’t that exciting. Although jumping up and down to unnerve G and Isabel was quite fun…

H: Our legs still don’t hurt so we decided to go kayacking today. However there were only 3 of us and most companies seemed unwilling to let one of us go solo (although one of them did seem willing to lend us a speed boat without a guide)… but we did find one kayacking company, and we begged and explained I’d been surfing lots and had got wiped out lots and hadn’t yet had my salt intake for the year so wouldn’t mind falling in, and they agreed to hire us a double and a solo.

I regretted it within a few hours, I hadn’t fallen in but my arms were in a lot of pain. Although having said that, Greg and Isabel seemed to have trouble coordinating their rowing and steering and ended up paddling twice the distance so maybe I didn’t get the short straw!

H: Our legs didn’t hurt too much from yesterday so we asked Isabel if she fancied climbing a mountain. I think she started to wish she’d booked a holiday to a Bali instead but she said yes… We climbed Mount Robert in the Nelson Lakes.

Greg is still maintaining there are no sandflies outside of fiordland but both he and Isabel are proving quite tasty to the northern-south-islander-sandflies…

H: Isabel (a friend from Uni), came to visit so we had a few days along the top of the south island. It really did feel like we were in Fiji! We caught a water taxi along to Onetahuti via a really gorgeous seal nursery, a little cove off Tonga island where all the seal mums and their cubs go so they can teach them to swim. We were keen to join in but they wouldn’t let us jump in :o( Then we did a walk along to Torrent Bay and had to wade back out to the water taxi – which isn’t so nice for us shorty-s once the sun started going down…

H: Quail Island is a lovely island in Lyttleton Harbour, just by Chch. It used to be a quarantine and leprosy island (at different times!), but is now just very pretty and peaceful. Until the 4 of us got there…

H: Any excuse to go dolphin swimming again! Poor G had to go to work, but Dad, Steph and I went up to Kaikoura for the day. The dolphins were gorgeous again, although unfortunately not as playful as when we’d first been. We had to be dropped in about 5 times until they were interested in us, but still it’s so great to see these creatures so close up. Ally and Paul are here in a few months, it seems only fair that we go with them too. Although the guide said that the water will have dropped to a balmy 9° by then so maybe not…

H: Well they do say that for every person in NZ, there are 5 sheep, and today confirmed that fact. We were on a very pleasant drive up to Mt Cook when we met about 300 sheep having a Sunday stroll down the road…

Dad is a bit mopey having left the posh hotel, but we’ve promised him tonight’s is to match his behavior in Queenstown – it’s a YHA!

Greg’s been promising Dad for days that the sandflies are only in fiordland but they seem to be following us around still. Well I say us but actually I mean them, they seem to not like my skin :o)

H: Queenstown is brilliant. When I first heard about it I thought it would be too touristy and spoilt but it isn’t at all. It’s got an amazing back drop, a huge lake and is surrounded by mountains and rivers. Which means there’s a lot of crazy stuff you can do.

I knew Dad was pretty young at heart but this trip really proved it. He stood at the bungy bridge wondering whether he should have a go, he wanted a second ride on the shotover jet, he raced us all down the luge as if his life depended on it (well not his life but definitely his pride), and ate burgers the size of small footballs.

He also went sailing on an America’s Cup Yacht which I think is a pretty big thing for a keen sailor… Steph went rafting down the shotover river, while praying the grade 4 rapids were having a day off…

H: Now Dad is happy. We are in luxury accommodation courtesy of my bosses at work. It even has a washing machine which is good because we still are carrying a lot of Stewart Island mud on various pieces of clothing. Dad has even got his own room. I’m thinking it might be hard to get him to leave.

Oooh and there was another nice sunrise :)

H: We took Dad and Steph to Milford and Doubtful Sound and got some peace and quiet while they were on the cruises. Just incase any of you ever come to NZ and Te Anau, there is a little cinema with the most amazing half hour movie of NZ scenery. Definitely worth a visit… We stayed in a very basic holiday park, and then they were in a dorm room on the overnight boat on doubtful sound. Dad is now starting to think he didn’t make his accommodation requirements clear enough…

H: When planning the trip, Dad said he just wanted basic clean accommodation; it didn’t have to be posh but not too grotty. So we started off their trip of the south island by spending the first night in an unheated wooden shack in the middle of nowhere, with one tap outside, a pit loo and no electricity. Oh and also we shared this shack with 30 other walkers who hadn’t been near a shower for days.

I swore I would never go back to Stewart Island after the Feb 07 ordeal (see previous blog entry) but Dad and Steph were keen to go. So I took a deep breath and booked the plane tickets, after making sure we could definitely definitely get a water taxi after the first 3 hour walk, and therefore avoid the worst of the mud.

We had the usual pasta and sauce, but this time (due to special guests) we ventured out and took powdered milk and cereals, rather than having horrible cup-a-soups for breakfast. We still only had one bowl though so had to take it in turns…

Stewart Island is where most of the kiwi’s (the birds, not the people) are in NZ. We didn’t see any last time, and this time we did an extra long night walk to try and spot them. And failed. Again. But Steph and I were on one of our regular trips to the loo and saw two kiwi’s! The first bombed across the path, rudely treading on my toe. Steph ran back to wake Dad and G up, but unfortunately in their sleepy state they didn’t believe her, especially after she told them it had trodden on my foot…

The walk was still muddy, but not a patch on last time. Last time Greg had found a lovely fish and chip shop, and I think that got him and Dad through the mud. Unfortunately we got there and found it opened 15 mins after our flight left… He’s still grumbling about it.

H: It was so so so amazing to have my dad and sister here ? It’s really special being able to show family someone you love so much. Plus they replenished my English Cadburys stash. They both looked surprisingly awake after 24 hours flying and promised they would stay awake the whole day after they landed to get onto Kiwi time. What they didn’t make clear, was that they would stay awake if we were alert and kept waking them…

We took them to see the Canterbury crusaders play rugby at the AMI stadim which was made even better by the horses that go round the track before the match starts. And I even sort of enjoyed the rugby – maybe I’ve finally found a not-too-zzzz sport??

We also tried to go for a picnic in the hills at sunset. Except that we slightly mistimed it and it was pitch black and absolutely freezing by the time we got there… It’s all about effort not achievement eh?

H: Here are just a few pictures to remind you of the lovely sunsets we have in New Zealand :o) especially enhanced from our 7th floor to ceiling windows. Anyone else want to come and visit?

H: We went away for the weekend with Tash and Joris to Hanmer, a gorgeous little alpine village just north of Chch. Well it looks lovely, but is actually very painful. We attempted a really long bike ride, not reading the map well enough at the bottom, and finding that half of it was near vertical. And I fell off on the flat bit :o( but it definitely wasn’t my fault – my flip flop decided it wanted to see what it was like to be trapped in the spokes of the wheel… we also had a go at dirt-biking and got run off the track by a crazy tractor driver. Somehow none of us ended up in hospital…

Our friends very kindly treated us to tickets to this year’s winery concerts with Brooke Fraser, Anika Moa and Goldenhorse. Unfortunately my boss at work also offered Greg a free corporate box ticket to see an England v NZ cricket game for the same afternoon… Poor G! He managed to see the start of the cricket and then the concert - my boss was under strict instructions to kick him out with plenty of time to drive to the vineyard!

The concert was great, although we think Anika Moa and Goldenhorse had been drinking for at least 48 hours before they got on stage… The sunset (again) was fab…

G: And now for the long walk home… not many photos today… the eight hour walk out was long enough already!

G: A beautiful morning, and a very hot day. Time for another peak… not so successful this time. A much more technical mountain than peak 2222. Includes some pretty vertical ice to climb up… and to fall down… forunately only our pride was hurt.

G: More snow overnight… but another fine day… great weather for throwing yourself down glaciers (and learning to stop yourself) and climbing into crevasses (just for fun!)

G: A leisurely start once we realised we'd had 10 cm of snow overnight. Once again though the weather cleared in time for a long afternoon in the mountains. Time to summit Peak 2222 and get some amazings views from the top.

G: Woke up to some pretty bad weather… so plenty of time in the hut for tieing ourselves in knots (literally!). Forunately the weather cleared by the afternoon… time for some rock climbing and abseiling practice.

G: Once the crampons and ice axe had been added to the warm clothing and food, my bag weighed about 17 kilos… Just right for a 6 hour walk (3 hours flat, 3 hours up hill) to the hut which would be home for the next 5 nights.

H:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!




We had been looking forward to this for ages and it definitely lived up to our expectations. We managed to solve the leaking cool bag problem so packed it up and head into the city centre to start the queue. Apparently people get there before the sun comes up to get a good spot but we couldn’t quite face that.




We got there about lunchtime and queued for 2 hours to get into the gardens where the best view of the fireworks is. Well I say we queued but what I really mean is that Tu Anh and I sat at the front of the queue with all our bags and waited for the two Gregs to get to the front of the queue… They only let about 20,000 in so once you’re in that’s it (fortunately there’s also about 100 porterloo’s).




We found a tiny spot of grass free, put our bags down, and spent the next 8 hours inching our bags out until we had enough room. It was a great atmosphere and at 9, just before the children’s fireworks everyone abandons their bags and pile toward the front of the park to get the bets view.




It wasn’t quite so easy for the midnight fireworks – at about 11 everyone seemed to get up and start moving towards to the front again (I think Im going to suggest that they chop down a lot of trees in the gardens cos then people wouldn’t have to move to the front) for the hour wait before midnight. It was very civilised though which we didn’t expect – it seems English crowd/party behaviour have a lot to learn from other countries.




The fireworks at midnight were absolutely fab – the whole bridge seems to erupt, along with fireworks from barges right along the harbour, plus they’d also used the roofs of some of the sky scrapers so all around there were fireworks :o)

H: We went to the blue mountains for the day and ventured down to the bottom of Australia’s own Grand Canyon where fortunately the flies don’t go :o)

I did meet a very snotty tourist information person at the info centre at Echo point where the main view over the mountains is, and where lots and lots and lots of tourists where. And when I asked for a walk that’s a bit quieter than where we were, she said very scathingly that the whole park was that busy. I hope her new year’s resolution was to be nice and tell the truth because unsurprisingly, as soon as we drove 5 minutes from the visitors centre, the roads were quiet and we only saw a handful of people on our 3 hour walk. I wanted to go back to talk to her again but G wouldn’t let me ;o)

H: We made it to Sydney and met up with Greg and Tu Anh (friends from the UK). Syndey was fly free which helped, but it really is a nice city. We went out to Manly and Bondi Beach (which would make Brighton beach look quiet) and felt very overdressed.

H: We had another day driving East, stopping in some small towns and trying to dodge the flies. We reached the Namadgi national park, just on the outskirts of Canberra. Just as we were pulling into the campsite the heavens opened, and it continued to chuck it down until way past bedtime, when it was far too dark to think about cooking. The Cadburys Dairy milk came in very handy tonight!

I got a bit spooked though, the noises were louder and scarier than when we were in the Amazon.... But the occasional thump thump thump meant that if the Kangaroos weren’t scared then I shouldn’t be. And of course I have the well‘ard G to defend me should I need it. Although he was further down his sleeping bag than I was!

The next day we woke up to gorgeous blue skies and life was good again. Until we ventured out of the tent and found every fly in the state had also gone to Namadgi park for the day. Breakfast meant sitting in the tent with the fly net down, putting sun cream on was a nightmare and involved keeping moving and swatting with the spare hand. We then attempted a walk into what was such a beautiful valley, absolutely full of Roo’s, but also full of flies so not all that relaxing a walk. We then stopped in Canberra for a few hours before we finished the drive to Sydney.

H: Today we set off to drive along the Great Ocean Road. We saw lots more Roo’s but now I really want to see a Koala.

The Ocean Road is really pretty but we’re starting to realise that Australia has a bit of a fly problem. So bad that taking any photos were hard because you need both hand to swat the flies with. And we had to have our picnic lunch in the car (which was boiling)…

But the day got better because we passed a Koala bear road sign and saw a car stopped and the people looking up in the trees. I parked the car in a very neat and careful way (I just pulled it in the first place I could find) and we ran back to see what they were looking at and saw our first real life wild Koala bear :o) So I’m pretty happy. And it gets even better because on our way back to the car we spot loads more in the trees. And so it seems does everyone else that is passing through, and it didn’t matter how badly parked the car was because everyone else was doing the same…

But it was only fair that we have a horrible time soon and having driven way too far West, and needing to be in Sydeny in a couple of days we had a lot of ground to make up. So after we left the Ocean Road we drove for another 6 hours to a place that seems to still be in the 1800s. We found a nice campsite, complete with running water and showers (which we needed by this point). But by this time I had gone flying over a pole in the dark and lost a serious amount of blood. And G thinks he is dehydrated…

H: We really fancied Christmas in a tent in the sun in the middle of nowhere. So on Christmas Eve we set off with a friend’s tent, stopped on route to buy a couple of roll mats, a cool bag and some ice, and drove into the Grampians (the middle of nowhere and West of Melbourne when we really need to be going East).

I really wanted to see a kangaroo (Greg had already seen one last time he was in Oz) so we spent the drive through the national park to our luxury campsite (pit loo’s and no running water) looking out for anything jumping. G spotted some wild Emu’s but to be honest I just wanted to see a kangaroo. Just before our campsite G spotted two kangaroo’s so we (well definitely I) jumped out to get a closer look and get a picture or two.

We get back on our way and I’m feeling pretty chuffed that I’ve seen two real live wild kangaroos. Our campsite is lovely, there’s hardly anyone there, the sun is out and our cool bag is leaking big style. But our attention is soon diverted by a kangaroo in the campsite. So now I’m even more chuffed that I’ve camped on a campsite with a real live wild kangaroo.

Christmas morning, after sorting out the cool bag which is still leaking, we settled down for a delicious Christmas breakfast (cereals and not-so-cold-anymore milk) when a kangaroo hopped over and sat by our table. I know you definitely shouldn’t feed wild animals but it was looking so cute and it was Christmas day, so we fed it a bit of nourishing wholemeal bread. However a few minutes later it coughed and was a bit sick and I thought maybe it was going to die and I was going to have to explain to the park warden that it was our fault. But it was fine and continued to hop around our table. So now I’m reeeeeally chuffed that I’ve had breakfast with a Roo.

We did a lovely walk to the highest point in the northern part of the park and then back down for our delicious Christmas tea. And it was very nice actually, given that recipes are a bit limited as we only had one saucepan and gas burner with us… plus we had English Cadburys… Which was even more enjoyable because I wasn’t freezing which I normally am when we camp.

H: Ok so I know this isn’t totally fair but we weren’t too taken with Melbourne. Apart from a few hours of sweltering heat when we landed (and when we had to walk a long way with all our bags), it then started raining and got a bit cold (well at least Heather-cold) and the flies came out and so did every weird person in Melbourne.

We did find a Krispy Kreme shop however which made G very happy, and we also went to see Ramsay Street (called Pin Oak Court) – of course just to take pictures for mum ;o) . We were pretty relieved to see another couple there looking as embarrassed as us to be standing outside of real people’s homes taking photos just cos we’ve seen it on TV. Fortunately we weren’t in town for the weekly Neighbours night at the bar as we might have found ourselves there too… we were staying with friends who live about 5 minutes from the bar…

H: We decide to take the scenic route and drive home through a mountain range. We were very careful and checked we had fuel (there don’t seem to be many petrol stations when you get out of the towns) and set off. Really stunning scenery (think used in LOTR?) and vv hot so all pretty blissful. We became aware of a smell. G thinks it is burning wood, I think it might be rubber...

30kms on we start on the unpaved bit (there’s still lots of roads not paved here!) and about 15kms in we’re aware of a funny noise and still we can smell this smell. So we stop and get out just to prove it isn’t coming from us and find a totally ruined wheel (totally flat and rubber all cracked so can see inside the wheel - see picture).

Oops. Dread to think how long it had been bad but because we were on an unpaved road it was bumpy anyway. In the middle of absolutely nowhere, with no phone signal and no-one/nothing around for miles. We haven’t seen a car for about an hour. We contemplate walking back to whereever the last bit of civilisation was. Fortunately though just as we broke down and a car passed so we stopped him and asked him to wait while we check we had a spare wheel which we did so he went.

We got the spare wheel out and changed it (well done us, well G really). Put the spare one on to find it is missing a large amount of air. Oh no... But the guy had said there was a hotel 2kms on so we went, v slowly, on where we found this hotel (also in the middle of nowhere). Overactive imaginations and all that, but this hotel was miles from any civilisation and the lad who said he had a pump up in the shed up the hill asked if we wanted to go up for a drive with him in his truck. So we were brave and went with him and fortunately he was just being kind, not psycho. Plus he was very weedy so even G could have beat him up ;o) Then we continued on the next 60kms of gravel road without any major disaster.

Then onto the sealed road and half way home G shouts out and I look up to see the windscreen absolutely covered in splats! Apparently a big swarm of kamikaze somethings had just flown into the car.

So our poor VERY dusty and now insect-splatted car was treated to a wash and blow dry which is more than I get when I get my hair cut.

H: We don’t seem to have all that much success when going to Dunedin. Last year our farm stay host wasn’t home when we arrived so we had to go somewhere else, and we didn’t get to see penguins.

This time we booked into a cheap youth hostel, got there late having just spent 5 hours in the car, to find they had booked us in for the wrong night so had to find somewhere else again...

We did manage to see lots of penguins this time though. We went to a reserve where nesting boxes are put out and traps are laid for predators but other than that the penguins are wild. We saw one very cool penguin who waddled up from the beach and down a grassy path, and also a few chicks.

Then we went back to Sandfly Bay (so named not because of sandflies, but because the sand flies!) for dusk to hide in the hide to watch the penguins come in for the night. We spotted one halfway up a very steep slope (I didn’t realise they mountain climbed?) and then saw two more come in from the sea, dry out and then start up this slope.

So a very successful weekend in all. Until the journey home.... read the next post...

H: We thought we had seen most of the beautiful bits of the South Island last year but it turns out we were wrong. After a long day on the film set, G picked me up, fuelled himself with a pie and we drove 5 hours north to the Marlborough Sounds near the very top of the South Island.

We had a weekend of stunning weather and lots of walking up in the sounds. It felt like we were on a tropical island somewhere – the colour of the water and the bush is like that in Fiji or Thailand and we were really lucky with the weather again.

Unfortunately it proved to us that we are maybe just a tiny bit out of practice on the tramping front – my muscles were bad until Tuesday… The last couple of hours were on the road and that’s when we were very grateful that being offered a lift is a common thing here and hitched a ride back in a battered van with a couple of Uni students…

H: Well I know life is about new experiences but this was one I didn’t imagine doing! Very randomly we heard that there was a Dutch film company looking for extras – girls between 25 and 35... Now I can’t act at all, and have absolutely no aspirations to do so, but Tash, Melissa and I decided that a day off work in the sun would be pretty nice and we thought we’d cope with being able to walk down a street in the middle of a crowd.

But it turned out it was a 50s film and there weren’t any crowd scenes but I still managed to do 2 days of filming (I will prob only be in it for about 1 ½ seconds) without anyone realising my lack of acting qualifications. Most of the 2nd day’s 2 minute scene was filmed with us on a 60 year old bus that broke down every time they started shooting and really needed the bus to keep going. I now realise why a film takes so much money and so long to film.

It was really exciting to go through wardrobe and hair (even if they did make me look terrible) and be on set. Couldn’t understand a word they were saying so not totally sure what the film is about but am sure it will be great.

H: Well everyone else seemed to know it but we honestly didn’t expect to end up back here so soon! We’ve had an amazing summer seeing family and friends again and went to 6 very lovely weddings. I’m not sure what made our mind up in the end, other than we had such an amazing year here last year that we wanted to come back for more :o)

We’re back in the same jobs, same apartment block, renting the same car and enjoying a doubly hot summer to make up for the rain we had in England when we were there over “summer”. Our clothes are getting pretty well travelled too – they were shipped home from NZ to the UK and then back out here again… We’re going to have to try and be more sure what we’re going to do before we ship them anywhere again!

We’re making the most of some free weekends and have been over to the west coast, and to the observatory in Tekapo to look at some stars. 1million people on an island the size of England means there’s not much light to ruin the night sky. It was cold though…

I want to assure you that the boxes we shipped over contained about 15% English Cadburys so that should see me through until our first visitors from the UK (who will all be told that rent = Cadburys).