Better blog this time we promise

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Hey everyone,

We took a couple of days to chill after our mammoth mountain climb, we both had huge blisters and were slightly sunburnt. It was amazing though as you can see from the pictures and it was totally worth it. Jezza and I have discovered we are both excellent at 3 things, 1) losing things, 2) missing our road exits and 3) arriving an hour early for our day trips and still managing to miss the bus!! This is what happened the morning off the crossing but we still managed to get there, dont ask us how it was 5am in the morning!!

We went south from Taupo to Palmaston North which was made famous because John Cleese said, "if you're thinking about killing yourself then go to Palmaston North and that will tip you over the edge" we had to say that we pretty much agreed with him and we didnt hang around long! We stayed in an amazing campsite that night, surrounded by mountains and grassland, we also had a resident cockril who joined us for a game of rugby... oh yes jez has brought a rugby ball and I am often called to play although I am not very good!

If we don't stay at campsites (which are normally free and beautiful) we stay in holiday homes which have showers and flushing toilets. Flushing toilets and any sort of showering facility is a luxury to us now, I can't tell you how bad the toilets are at campsites... they are composting ones so the smell and sight puts you off ... well pretty much anything!

We worked our way down south to Wellington and pulled in at a holiday home campsite and left the van there throughout the day and went to do some sightseeing. On this particular day it pissed down more heavily then you can imagine and it was time to get the waterproofs out. What we saw of Wellington was lovely but it was such al down pour that we couldnt see much and our tour of the capital was rained off! Jez had me in stiches that day, Jezza's waterproof jacket is a long blue rain mac, which is now known as "the blue dress". Despite my mocking of how funny jezza looked in his dress, alot of men seemed to be wearing the same thing. One man who was dressed in red rain mac (red dress) walked passed jezza and gave him a suggestive wink. The dress hasnt been seen in a while after that day!

The journey over the north to south was amazing, I was a little sea sick but did not chunder. The pictures of the crossing we have are beautiful and again as most of the things we have seen in NZ really do not do it justice. We arrived in Picton after 3hrs on the boat which was great, it was basically a teany, tiny cornwall. We drove towards the north of the island as we headed to Abel Tasman to do our sea kayacking but on the way we stayed at some lovely places.

On our way to Abel Tasman we stopped off at a town called Motueaka and we went to the local info office, we met the most funniest guy called Hayden who was equally as entertained by us as we were by him. We think he was glad to talk to someone who wasnt over the age of 50 and who could speak english. We asked him about Fairwell Spit which a sand bar right at the top of the south island, he said the only way to get there is to take a "tua"... I looked at Jezza and asked what the hell is a Tua thinking it was a mode of transport, Jezza looked at me and said no Mel not Tua you silly girl, A TOUR!!! how we laughed!

Our Abel Tasman adventure was wicked, we basically got a water taxi to a place called Tonga Island where the native NZ fur seals live and other amazing birdlife. We kayacked our way back and saw so many amazing things, again totally knackering but totally worth it. Unfortunately our camera died and so the pictures arent plentiful I'm afraid. The seals came up to our Kayack and it was amazing to see them so close, not to close though as they do bite!!

We've seen lots of lord or the rings sites and have taken many pictures, still no hobbits or wizards yet but we're still hoping. Being in Lord of the rings country Jezza has taken it upon himself to talk like they did in middle earth, for example... Jeremy son of John of the Blenheim Avenue Realm and so on and so on. We've got to keep ourselves entertained somehow!

We're now in Hokitika whick is on the west coast, making our way down to the Glaciers. We've just been to the local Kiwi centre and seen some live Kiwi birds which was ammmmaaazzzziiinnnggg!! They are the most amazing creatures, huge, flightless birds which are protected in NZ so there are many captive breeding programmes so they can be released into the wild.

Our campervan has broken down once which was my fault, I left the lights on during the day and so the battery went flat DOH!! We called the local kiwi fixer car man who comes free with our campervan package, he was what you'd expect , few words, even fewer teeth!!

I am over my cold now and Jezza is all happy and healthy too. We're into such a routine which suits us both fine, I sort the van out making the bed etc and basically general tidy uper person, and jezza is my awesome chef. We've seriously had some tasty dishes, although we must confess we did have a dominos the other day WHOOPS!!! it was delicious and nutrious 😊

Anyway hope you're all well and as beautiful as ever.

Lots of kisses and cuddles

Mel and Jez

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