Day 67 - Sale - Lakes Entrance We made the short journey from Sale to Lakes Entrance fairly early so that we could have the whole day in Lakes. The first point of call was the internet cafe (the first we had seen since Melbourne) before treating ourselves to our first Aussie fish and chips. I persuaded Rob to go for the "healthy" recipe batter, but as with everything, it is never as good as the full on lard version. However, the Gummy Shark was delicious and it was much nicer than the standard fish in New Zealand. After enjoying our lunch sitting outside on our portable chairs we decided to walk the track to the entrance of the lakes. We did a bit of a loop, walking along the lake front on the way out ... read more

Day 51 - Franz Josef We had a leisurely start as we were off glacier walking for the day but conveniently the meeting point was about 2 minutes walk from our hostel. We got to the office and got fitted up with boots, crampons and any other gear we needed. We then drove up to the car park at the bottom of the glacier and started the 3km walk to the “terminal face” i.e. the start of the actual glacier. Once we got there we headed up some rather handy steps that had been cut into the ice that morning and then headed over the rocks which make up the bulk of the first section. In the first section of the glacier the ice is white (unsurprisingly) and the crevasses run parallel to the valley so ... read more

Day 41 - Rotorua - Waitomo We got up nice and early and headed for the Zorbing place in Rotorua. Zorbing is the thing where you roll down a hill in a plastic ball but as this is the place that invented it, they charge a small fortune and it only lasts about 6 seconds. A few of our travelling buddies were keen to get involved so we took photos and videos as they rolled down the hill. Then we went to a rather odd little “Theme Park” called Agro-ventures and had some BBQ breakfast. After all this we finally got on the road to Waitomo a town with very little apart from caves with glow-worms and a rather strange bunny farm. Our driver had told us we were going to see some “Bunny Bondage” and ... read more

Day 32 - Wellington - Taupo We set off to Taupo today. It was a long drive but we seem pretty immune to long journeys now. Once we arrived and had dumped our bags in our dorm a group of us set off on a walk to the natural hot springs and the Huka Falls. It was a really sunny day so on the way to the falls some of us had a dip in the springs, which turned out to be too hot to be refreshing. The waterfalls were the most amazing blue and were definitely worth the walk. On the way back it was to the springs for another dip. This time we didn't have them to ourselves though with a number of Mouri families taking up the prime spots. It was not the ... read more

Day 21 - Ko Phi Phi We got up really early (about 6.30 if I remember) because we thought we were going to Kayak to Phi Phi Leh which is a few kilometers away. However, we got a text message to say that Katie was not quite well enough so we had to pospone those plans for another time. We sat on the beach for the first few hours of the day and played some more bat and ball. Sarah and I had a wander around the shops; I bought a new t-shirt and Sarah bought a necklace for her sister. After the sun had cooled off in the afternoon we headed up to the viewpoint (which was a much easier walk than previous viewpoints) and looked down over the centre of the island. The view ... read more