Wow it doesn't seem fifty days since we started our travels! Thank you everybody for your messages and comments, they've helped us, made us laugh and kept us informed (even on the footie scores - Cheers Dave! They've even made us wish we were at home briefly to see the three new babies! Keep them coming (messages not babies)! Today we saw friends we made in Fiji Nick, Sarah & Isabella for a barbeque at their place! We up met with them at Victoria Market after breakfast at the Coffea Cafe. What a cool place the market is with a dozen or so deli's, the same amount of butchers and half a dozen fishmongers. Heaven! We finally decided upon some Barrimundi & Lamb cutlets to go with a Greek Salad and bagette. It was great relaxing ... read more

This morning we woke at six to ensure we were ready for our day trip pickup at just gone seven! We decided that we would see the Blue Dandenongs, Puffing Billy (narrow gauge steam train), a winery and Healesville Sanctuary. We stopped off briefly for Billy Tea (tea sweetened with eucalypts leaves) with Lammingtons and to hand feed Crimson Rosellas and Cockatoos. It was at this point that my shirt became tea stained when unexpectedly a huge cockatoo decided to land on Charlie's arm causing tea to fly! The Puffing Billy trip was quaint and a blast of the past. We almost didn't make the nine mile trip as old Puffing Billy lived up to it's name and only just made it over the last rise! The next stop was Fergusson's Winery where we had Roast ... read more

Charlie went on her final run in New Zealand around the impressive Hagley Park! Having checked out of the really good Stonehurst hostel we were off getting our underwater dolphin pictures developed (wow, four came out with a subject in focus and without a wetsuited finger in sight), and posting back a few goodies to home! We then lost an hour walking around the botanical gardens before getting our shuttle to the airport. On reflection we have enjoyed NZ, though we really loved the South Island, personally I would probably recommend people to miss out the North completely. Though that's not to say we regret our time there, it's just that the South is more scenic! In all we managed to cover 3650km (2268 miles) in the campervan. The flight to Melbourne was pretty uneventful (thankfully) ... read more

This morning we headed for Christchurch to drop off the campervan after Charlie ran along the waterfront of Akaroa via the many steps leading down from our site. Though before we did we visited the "Antartic Centre" where we were exposed to temperatures as low as -18C! The room is set at -8C and they crank up the wind to 30kph which give a windchill temperature at -18C. The displays included a mock up of the kit an adventurer takes for an expedition in 1992 and the wildlife around the antartic! After the walk around displays we viewed Blue Penguin feeding. Though the highlight of the visit had to be a trip on the Haggland tracked vehicle used in Antartic. A fantastic trip around an off road course which included a 40 degree 7 meter hill ... read more

Today marks the midway point of our travels! We left Queenstown early and headed for Oamaru on the east coast to see two different species of Penguins (the Yellow Eyed & the Blue Penguins). On route we stopped and viewed the worlds first commercial Bungee. AJ Hackett's is based at Kawarau bridge and is only 42 meters high. After a few umms and ahhs Charlie decided that her money would be better served doing a Hot Air Balloon possibly in Australia! So back on the road we headed east over Lindis Pass (leaving Arthers Pass for another holiday). We stopped at a beautiful lake and shared lunch at the waters edge with a pair of ducks before heading off yet again! Oamaru is an odd place, you enter through the residential sections and then hit the ... read more