We arrived and found a great cheap backpackers/motel called Chateau Franz. Then were holed up in our room for the rest of the day watching videos because it was chucking it down. Which apparently it does 260 days of the year, on average. We went out for dinner to a place that had a Halloween party on. Only to find that it didn't start till 10pm. The girls were a little disappointed that they didn't get to go trick or treating. Whilst sitting in the restaurant we say a place opposite that did flights over the glacier. After much discussion and [View Full Entry]

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We left the warm bubble of Blenheim travelling west to Punakaiki, the pancake rocks. Driving out of Blenheim on the 63 toward St. Arnaud you drive past the Richmond range and copious vineyards. Chloe wanted to drive, as she hasn’t done a lot in the 3000 or so km’s that we have driven so far. My luck was in because it was a day of the best scenery I have been lucky enough to witness in my entire life. Slartyblartfast would be very proud of it, heathens who don’t know who he is should read some Douglas Adams. There are parts [View Full Entry]

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Hello All! We are now in the South Island. We spent a night in Picton after the ferry crossing, which was very bumpy as we crossed the Cook Straight. But once into the Islands it was incredible. The mountains are what can only described as majestic and the sea was almost turquoise. Picton is a lovely quiet little town, not what you would expect for a main port. The girls had a play at the playground and we tried not to get blown away. The next day we went to Blenheim. Which is the heart of wine country. Apparently it is [View Full Entry]

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Well we left Waikanae with bad heads from a very entertaining two nights with friends of friends. Far too much mead was consumed but we had a very entertaing time on MSN messenger with contributions from Seattle and the UK.Our hosts seem to enjoy the sillyness. We did immensely and we very glad of the homely atmosphere as a break from motel rooms.We got on the road after watching the English rugby team get beaten by the Springboks. I'm not a rugby fan but thought it a good game. Oh well at least we got to the final.We spent the Next [View Full Entry]

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We went to the Zorb centre with arguments in the car from Ellie about who was going to do what in what Zorb ball etc. We went in to the reception area to find out what the damage would be and what was on offer. We were told that they were only doing water ones and that the kids ball had been wrecked by some kids recently and they couldn’t afford to fix it. Not that Aisha wanted to have a go. We watched a couple come down and I was still not entirely convinced. It then very kindly started to [View Full Entry]

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Hello again, We are now in Rotorua, hoping to go Zorbing and see some mud pools...... Yesterday Ellie and I had a surf lesson with Beaver from Salt Spray Surf School (www.ohopebeach.com ) and it was fantastic... well worth the $100.00 it was meant to be a 2 hour lesson but we were out in the surf for a good hour and a half (after 1 hour on the beach going through safety stuff and getting kitted up), both me and Ellie managed to get up on the boards!!!! And fall in lots!!!!! We got certificates at the end to allow [View Full Entry]

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Hello Ellie here but daddy is doing the typing. Aisha didn't want to go in the cave but she loved the glow worm caves and wanted to go in again. did you know that there are four stages of the glow worm. don't remember the first stage, the next is the lava then the pupa and lastly the fly. The cycle is 12 months and the are lava for 9 month. This is the bit when the hang threads from the roof of the cave to catch flys and stuff like spiders. The use the waste from what they eat to [View Full Entry]

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We had a mini money crisis then realised that we were using the wrong exchange rate. All ok now. We arrived in Russell via the ferry, which Ellie loved, and tried a couple of places which were all rubbish or too expensive. We stopped at the commodores lodge as a last resort before going to stay somewhere else. Fantastic place and cheap for $135 a night in a one bedroom unit. We liked it so much we have stayed an extra night. Our first night we had fish (Hoki) and chips and no puddings. Had to put that bit in for [View Full Entry]

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We drove up from Aukland the day after our arrival and stayed in a place called Kaitia. W stayed at the Wayfarer motel. Our host, Dave, was very helpful. We left in the morning to go up to Cape Reinga. We were told it was 112km's away and would take a couple of hours. The last 21km's are gravel and that we should take it slowly. We have a 2 litre focus. We want our Chrysler back as the focus feels so small and underpowered. The trip up as we were told took 2 hours. A couple of times we stopped [View Full Entry]

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Hello again, We have arrived in New Zealand after a very long bumpy flight from LA. We met some great people waiting for the flight, 2 of which gave us a guide book, the other gave us loads of advice on routes and places to stay... Thank you whoever you were.... It makes a huge difference to be in an English speaking country where they actually speak English..... In America we were continously having to correct ourselves as the Americans would look at us as if were speaking another language... I know it drove Russ up the wall, WATER is has [View Full Entry]

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