With our time in NZ coming to an end we headed further up north towards Auckland. We had given ourselves enough time to make sure that we were able to visit the bay of islands far in the north. We arrived into Auckland, NZ biggest city with a third of the population living there. The city was huge, very built up, woth lots of skyscrapers, shiny leather shoes and real big boats in the harbour. As we would be spending two stints in Auckland, either side of the Bay of Islands, we did not rush around. Instead shopping down the vast Victoria St and ending up in the harbour to watch the sunset. We were slightly outpriced of the bars in the harbour, but with the nice array of boats, good architecture (some well lit) and ... read more

After a night back in Christchurch we had a other stop off in Kaikoura on our way north. We travelled up to Wellington the capital of NZ- although everything was all closed for Easter so we didn't actually see much of it. Most of the day was spent on the coach and a long ferry crossing where Mark listened to harry potter Audio books being very antisocial. We arrived at about 5 at Base hostel, not looking forward to its lively reputation and immediately had our beer confiscated. tuts. This was a boring day and we went to bed early. The next day however (Good Friday) we got up early and headed straight out to the National Museum of New Zealand 'Te Papa' where we looked at Dinosaurs and the country's natural history of volcanoes and ... read more

We left Nelson on the 20th, after managing to squeeze on to the bus. We were forwarded up the waiting list, so were very pleased! New driver and a new bus load of people who are really friendly. Stop off in Nelson's Lakes National Park and take photos of each other jumping off the jetty. the water was freezing!! good fun though. Only managing 4 jumps into the cold water, Suz returned to get dressed, finding that a duck had left a nice little present on her jeans! cheeky. It came off in the water though. Later on we decided to do a bit of Quad Biking. Mark's idea. On arrival at the adventure Park near Westport, we were given helmets, glasses and overalls to protect our clothes from the dust. It took some getting used ... read more

BULA! We arrived in Nadi International on the mainland Fiji, 6th March at 6:00am. We had a short transfer to the Hostel, which was more like a hotel than a hostel with two pools and two restaurants, a movie room and games room. We quickly felt at home! As we started early we lazed around in the sunshine by the pool. After recovering from some jet lag, we lost the 5th of march, it never happened, we had dinner in the restaurant which was really good food and cheap. We re-packed leaving some heavier thicker clothing at the hostel on the mainland. Our island hopping adventure started at 6:30am; after breakfast we jumped aboard the window less bus to take us to the marina. Denarau port was very pleasant with a golf course winding between the ... read more

Hello from Mark's backroom. It seems that the closer we are getting to our travelling excursion, the more things still need to be done. However, as promised, after much fighting with the computer and the inter web we have eventually got our Blog up-and-running. As we prepare to embark on our trip into the unknown the task of successfully jetting ourselves around the world, taking in the sights an sounds of all the wonderful places we plan to visit and then returning home again safely in one piece, seems more and more unachievable. However, through thick and thin, we vow that you at home; sitting comfortably in your armchairs, sipping tea and feeling dry and warm, shall be provided as close to first hand as we can supply, the ins and outs of our great adventure. ... read more