New Zealand: Rotorua

This was a maori night. We were looking forward to it, but to be honest it was a bit of a let down because it was so commercial and like a conveyor belt of coachloads in and out. It was interesting though.

We decided to go zorbing which entails getting tied into a massive ball and rolled down a hill. As usual it didn't go smoothly for me - firstly the man tying us in fell into the zorb with me and nearly out of the hole on the other side into a puddle. Then I wasn't tied in securely and bounced my head all the way down. Ah well adds to the fun!

New Zealand: Wellington

Arriving across Cook Straight from the South Island to Wellington. Prepare for the wind!!!

We met up with some friends we met in Queenstown and had a couple of mental days with them. It was a right laugh.






Bee is about half the size of Martin - but alcohol fuelled she managed to carry him a few metres!








Super size me! The fattest pigeon I have ever seen!






I couldn't get a decent picture of Wellington - damn it!







This was the Te Papa Museum in Wellington with a huge skeleton. That is just part of a beak behind Martin's head!





Natalie (a work colleague and good friend) and her gorgeous son Blake. Natalie, Mark and Blake live near to Wellington and let us use their bathroom and made us a lovely BBQ. Natalie's parents had also recently moved over. It was great to see Nat again and to meet her family.

Unfortunately it was too cloudy and windy this day to see how amazing the sky line is.

New Zealand: Nelson (continued)

Some more beautiful coastline of the northern part of the South Island.

A drunken night at an Irish pub with some Irish friends we had met swimming with dolphins.

Malborough Sounds were beautiful. We managed to park our Spaceship up

in a layby overlooking this and enjoyed a beautiful meal of 2 minute chicken noodles.

New Zealand: Blenheim and Nelson

We decided to go on a wine tour in Blenheim (as recommended by Zoe) courtesy of Mum and Dad (thank you). It was really interesting and I actually learnt a lot. It's a start to understanding a little of what Mum and Dad talk about.





We went to 4 different vinyards and a chocolate factory too. It was a very well planned day.





A lady joined us on it (Nerelle) and it was her 50th birthday. We had a really good laugh with her and it was lovely weather for a change.






We had a gourmet meal which included a main course of venison - it was beautiful. They matched each course with a wine and they were all lovely.







The waiter was from Leeds and took a liking to us, so he kept leaving the full bottles instead of only giving us a glass. We were all rather tipsy by the afternoon. He also gave Martin and I a bottle of bubbly as a wedding congatulations. Bless him!








And some visitors joined us at the Spaceship for dinner.... Some very inquisitive ducks.




We had to come back to reality after the lovely day. We got some fish and chips much later on, drank our bubbly in our little ceramic South American cups and settled down in our Spaceship for the night! I attempted to do some washing and when I went to get it out - it was warm and smelt nice, but in no way clean. I'd put it in the dryer accidentally! Oops!






This was one of the only bits of architecture that we saw in New Zealand. It makes you realise how much you have in the UK. This was the cathedrel in Nelson.







This was a lovely view of the very Northern part of the South Island. It reminds me of the Lord of the Rings scenery.

New Zealand: Kaikoura

We went swimming with dusky dolphins. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever done. I expected to see them from a far, but the duskies are really playful and there was 1 2cm from my face when I put my mask under the water.




They swim in pods of 50-60 and so there were dolphins everywhere. You have to entertain them by swimming in circles, diving down etc. They wear you out and really test your snorkelling skills. But if you don't entertain them they swim off bored.






At one point both Martin and me had about 4-5 dolphins swimming with us. They are beautiful. The water was only 12 degrees again and the weather was pretty bad, but that worked for the best for the dolphins.




An alatross. They are huge! It's almost an impossibility to get a decent picture of a bird with our camara. This was the best of about 15 attempts!





There were also seals in Kaikoura. We went swimming with them too. It was a little scary because they can be aggressive. They are usually o.k if you are in the water though and if you leave a path for them to get through. The current was really strong though, so we couldn't play with them or anything. We just got cold! I don't think anything could top the dolphins though. It was nice to be so close up to the seals.

When on land - you have to be careful as they are very protective of their area. So again we couldn't get very good pics!

We finished the day off by getting half a cray fish from a lady that had an outdoor BBQ! It was half the price of what it would cost in a restaurant. Bit chilly sitting outside though!

New Zealand: Wanaka

Wanaka was stunning like Queenstown.

The puzzling museum entertained us for a fair old while!

I got a little mad when I couldn't find my way out of the maze. Martin beat me too!

Wierd goings on at the Puzzling museum!

Even more....

You look lovely Martin! This was for our river sledging experience! The water was only 12 degrees and so it actually hurt your head when you went under. We also jumped off really high rocks - which was actually pretty damn scary!

I thought my hands were big?!!

This was an amazing cinema! It had sofas and armchairs to sit in and also a real beetle car! They made cookies for the interval and sold home-made ice-cream. You could also order a 3 course meal to be served to you at the interval! What an amazing idea!

New Zealand: The Glaciers

This was the river that the Fox Glacier melted into. It's such a beautiful colour because of the rock flour from the glacier.




It's really deceiving how big the glaciers are. This glacier is about a 500m away I think, but it looks really close.




This was the mirrored lake close to the Fox Glacier. Martin and I went on a romantic march around it.




We drove for miles to get to this area. I'm glad the colour is picked up.




How did we live like this? Martin getting something from the frontroom in the space ship.



A field of deer.



Glacier - take 2! The Franz Josef Glacier.




These signs made me feel very safe.

A hike on the Franz Joseph Glacier. Rather cold, but amazing. It was a shock to realise how big the glacier and the crevasses are when you actually get to it.

New Zealand: Milford Sound

Of course - we had fabulous weather for Milford Sound!!




The waterfalls were pretty outstanding though! It rains for about 320 days a year at Milford Sound - but it means that there are way more waterfalls to see!




As the weather was so crap - we chose to sit at the worst part of the boat and have fun. It was so rough - it was like a rollercoaster! Ha ha!

The mist actually made it more stunning - even though it was difficult to keep the camara dry!

I read that in NZ sometimes you feel inferior if you do not have a camper van. The drive back from Milford Sound was quite funny!

The lake at Te Anau - I can't remember the name. I took it upon myself to try and be a photographer.

The clouds looked amazing in this picture, so Martin actually grabbed the camara!! He also managed to get the field full of deer. It's quite strange seeing deer in the way that we do with sheep and cows in the UK. They love their venison in NZ and you can get it fairly cheap.

Shortly after taking this picture, we stopped and made 2 minute noodles. I left the lights on for that time and so the battery went dead (for the second time) and we had to get the AA out again! Oops!