Well, given the political situation (see the FCO travel advice), the visa delay may have been a blessing in disguise!

Anyways, it's raining here now, big heavy monsoony type rain, so I thought I'd let you know what we've been up to. Well, yesterday, we borrowed some bikes and cycled to Waitangi, where the treaty of Waitangi was signed - it basically created New Zealand as a country and thanks to some hasty interpretation, has been a source of dispute between Maori and Pakeha ever since. Fascinating subject and one of the few incidences where the UK decided to intervene to ensure that indigenous people got a fair deal.

Too stingy to pay the $12 entry fee for the treaty house, we walked to Haruru Falls instead - not a particularly spectacular set of falls, but a really varied and interesting walk. It's about 5km from Waitangi to Haruru, the walk starts in native bushland, complete with kiwis and huge ferns. Then it drops down and hits one of the few patches of mangrove in New Zealand, we timed it just right and reached the mangrove at low tide, so we could hear snapping shrimp - it was incredible, a constant popping noise throughout the forest. Then it heads back up and we passed two trees full of nesting cormorants - fascinating seabirds that nest on land (they're actually the symbol of the Joint Services Command and Staff College as they encapsulate the natural environment of all 3 armed services).

Then on the way back, as we left the mangrove and crossed a footbridge, there were hundreds of baby fish in the water (not sure what species though) - as we stood watching them leap out of the water and float in and out of view, a jellyfish came blobbing along gracefully through the water and right under our feet - it was amazing!

So that was that - so this morning, I've knitted myself a little case for my MP3 player and baked some bread.

It's been a while since the last update, but we had a lovely few days in Raglan, staying with Nicky (and an enormously fat but lovable cat). We ended up staying longer than planned, but it was just what we needed - time to stop and relax and enjoy life. Nicky was housesitting at a lovely place overlooking Whale Bay - apparently a top surfing spot.

Recharged, we headed south to Waitomo to visit the famous glowworm caves. On Ronnie's recommendation (ta Ronster!) we went with a small company called Rap, Raft n Rock. Simon, the owner, was our guide and we rappelled into the cave (about 27m!), then went blackwater rafting (on a rubber tubes) through all the glowworms before rock climbing our way out.

{mosimage} So now, we've headed north again and after a brief stop in Auckland, have landed in the Bay of Islands. Had a beautiful sailing trip around with Mike and the Gungha II (the boat that Peter Blake circumnavigated the globe with!) and now we're waiting for the US Government to decide whether or not we're terrorists, which could be anytime between now and December.

Unfortunately that means that our trip to Fiji isn't happening anymore, which is a bit of bummer. But, mustn't grumble - we're at The Moustrap (how ironic), a lovely hostel run by Jake and Nikki and seemingly overrun with Germans! It's a really homely place (must get some photos up) as is evident by the amount of long-stayers here. Paihia is the main town in the Bay of Islands and is very tranquil, with beautiful scenery all around. And here we'll wait.

{mosimage} Ah, the stench of sulphur - now that's the New Zealand I remember! We're just a few miles away from Tokoroa where Dad worked for a while and we all came out to visit.

On the drive up from Taupo, we stopped off at Butcher's Pool, a tiny little locals geothermal spa pool that's just south of Reparoa. It was brilliant, really quiet and no tourists for a change! Enjoyed a long soak and chatting to a few locals, and what's best is that it was totally free!

{mosimage}Went off to Wai-O-Tapu thermal park yesterday and nearly passed out at the stench! Pretty spectacular though - I'd been to another volcanic area when we were here, but I don't remember it being as colourful as Wai-O-Tapu. We're in a cosy holiday park with natural geothermal pools and a hangi - basically a steam cooker powered by natual steam. So I bought us some lamb and popped it in the hangi with potatoes, garlic and veg - about 5 hours later, it was ready and the meat just fell off the bone - yum! Gonna try something else tonight methinks.

Next stop is Raglan to see Nicky - we've landed on our feet there, cos her friend's place needs housesitting for a couple of nights - it's only a $1,000,000 property!! All we have to do is look after the dogs. Result!

Don't ask why I'm in the kitchen at well past midnight, I just am! Anyways, we've been in North Island for a few days now and have had some mixed experiences.

The Interisland ferry was nice, the crossing was real calm and the ferry was well equipped, even if we nearly ended up getting trapped on board - as we came into Wellington, the car in front of us still had no driver! But a bit of crafty maneouvering and we were away.

We didn't get on with Wellington - aside from staying in a manky hostel that had pubic hair in the bed (!), it was just big, dirty and noisy. I guess if we'd stayed for longer we'd have gotten to appreciate it more, but we wanted to head off as soon as possible and get out to the country.

{mosimage}Next up was Hawke's Bay originally to see Nicky, but she's staying in Raglan for a bit longer, so instead we stayed at her uncle Tim's farm near Waipawa. It was absolutely lovely and Tim has very welcoming to both of us - we had a great time, Tim's a really interesting guy and good fun (thanks again Tim!).

In the morning, we had a bit of a wander around the farm - Jen got scared by some cows that mooed at her in what she deemed to be an aggressive manner! Then we headed to Havelock North for a spot of wine tasting - after the delights of Blenheim, we had high expectations, but were sadly disappointed by the wines on offer - the Chardonnays were nice, but the rest were mediocre. Nevertheless, we made up for it by finding a great cheese tasting place and a honey tasting place!

{mosimage} So now we're in Lake Taupo (well, obviously not in it - electricity and water are not good friends), we went for a walk to Huka Falls today - there's a great little hot water spring that you can sit in on and it's totally free - although I couldn't convince Jen to try it! We'll have a bit more of a look around tomorrow, then we're stopping at Rotorua for a bit before heading to Raglan to see Nicky - joyful days!

Felt compelled to blog this. So we stayed at a lovely hostel in Picton called Sequoia, camping in their car park for a mere $14. Anyway, the next morning, we were packing up to go and a guy comes over and asks when I'm selling Doris. So we had a chat and swapped numbers so I can call him when we're in Auckland.

Being the inquisitive type, I asked about what he did and what he's up to - turns out he has cancer and only a matter of a few months to live. He's just finished doing up a BMW for his mate's 9 year old daughter and is just buzzing around New Zealand doing a few things he hadn't got round to. So we hung out in the sun and chatted for a bit, he even offered us the use of his boat in the Bay of Islands.

Jay was inspiring, saddening, generous and funny and I'm sure there's some profound meaning and message in all of this, but I'll leave that to you - all I know is that I'm glad I met him.

I've been really slack at blogging, but I'll get round to filling in the blanks later! Anyways, we've been buzzing all over the South Island in the past few weeks - ice climbing on Franz Josef Glacier, driving through Arthur's Pass, stopping in Christchurch, whale watching, rain watching and cleaning (!?) in Kaikoura and sea kayaking in Abel Tasman. Phew! Told you there was lot to fill in! (PS It's all filled in now! Check out the new entries)

{mosimage} We've spent the last four nights in Abel Tasman (one of which was in a rather wet campsite in Anchorage), sea kayaking with Southern Exposure. Yet again, the first day was gloriously sunny and then it started to rain (again). So our 2 day trip was cut short as we were rescued by water taxi like drowned rats and taken home by a nice man called Al. Got some great video of Jen looking as green as the water as we were thrown about in 3-4m waves.

{mosimage} But the hostel we stayed at was lovely so we stayed on and persuaded Kathy (co-owner) to let us go on a 1 day trip for a mere $50. Fortunately the sun came out for us and we had a top day paddling with seals.

We're in Picton now, which is where we get the ferry to North Island from. We're in a lovely hostel with a free bubbly spa and lots of hammocks!

{mosimage} So, this is the end of the South Island for us, we're off to Wellington tomorrow and then northwards until the 18th November.

{mosimage} Well, the good weather stayed long enough for us to go cycling round Renwick sampling the delights of the local wineries (a word I never knew existed, I always thought they were vineyards, but there you go).

We rented wobbly bikes from Wine Tours By Bike and a lovely bloke called Nigel (rented bikes from him that is, not rented him.) So off we wobbled and after a whole day's riding (and several near misses from large trucks - I'm still trying to get rid of her Terry!), we made it to a grand total of 7 wineries:

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• Matua (lovely lady who told us about tannins and botrytis)
• Highfield (beautiful views, crap wine)
• Serasin (organic rather dry wines and yummy olive oil)
• Framingham (cold and impersonal, not that impressed really)
• Forrest Estate (warm an friendly, mad dog and odd cat - slightly spoilt by large busload of tourists. Also had a terrible Merlot that honestly tasted like Worcester Sauce.)
• Cellier Le Brun ('sparkling wine' specialists - my arse)
• Fromm (lovely yummy yummy Riesling Spatlese, which we bought)

Matua was by far and away our favourite, so rather than visit the last two wineries, we stopped by there and had some cheese, biccies and of course a glass of wine! Ended up buying a lovely fruity and light Pinot Noir

{mosimage}By way of addendum, we were supposed to be leaving early in the morning (after a lovely visit to Julie vineyard - thanks!) to head off to Marahau (in the Abel Tasman National Park), but thought we'd just pop into Villa Maria as they are quite famous and do have lovely wines. 5 wineries later we left (don't worry, I spat the whole time).

• Villa Maria (nice guy from Oregon, fab wines, ended up buying two - a exclusive R&D Sauvignon that tasted buttery and creamy, real surprise; and a dessert wine, a botrytised Riesling - apparently botrytis is a fungus that grows on grapes, looks yuk but strengthens the flavours of the wine)
• Kathy Lynskey's (nutty woman who we're sure was sampling her own produce, but a Chardonnay to die for!)
• Te Whare Ra (middling wines, but friendly chatty woman who owns/operates the place with her husband)
• Wairau River (very busy, rubbish vinegar wines)
• Nautilus (very snooty lady and posh decor, but rubbish wines)

So, in summary we learnt a few things:

1. We like sweeter wines
2. Tannins are chewy (Jen says a 'bitter aftertaste'
3. Fungus tastes yummy
4. Jen can't ride a bike very fast
5. Wine tasting is fun!

{mosimage} Today is our last day in Kaikoura and the sun has come out. This may not seem a big thing for you folk, but the rain has been the bane of our travels so far! We arrived in a gloriously sunny Kaikoura and filled with excitement (but a singular lack of funds for that week), we eagerly signed up to a week of cleaning in exchange for accommodation at what we thought was the luxurious Dusky Lodge.

Oh how wrong we were.

{mosimage} So, pleased with ourselves and having soaked in the hot tub, we awoke the next day to head off whale watching - possibly the only saving grace of our experience in Kaikoura. Saw 2 sperm whales, dolphins and stuff, but that's not the point of this entry.

We returned to the delights of bed making and bog cleaning, using little more than old rags and what can only be described as milky water (or multipurpose cleaner as they seemed to call it...).

Anyway, it rained for 5 days. When I say it rained, imagine someone pouring bucket after bucket of water over you. And then switching on the hosepipe and a wind machine.

We made the most of it though and joked with our cleaning compadres about how we kept on bringing the bad weather with us and when we left it would clear up, ho ho bloody ho.

So, I hope you can understand our somewhat mixed emotions at the sight of blue sky and oh, were those mountains always there?

PS We went to Hanmer Springs and Christchurch too.

{mosimage} In a random London bus with internet access in Franz Josef on the west coast, having spent 5 very wet nights here!

Our plan was to arrive, helihike the glacier and buzz on through, but I guess arriving on Friday 13th was never going to be a good sign! Torrential rain, even for the notoriously wet West Coast, flooded the glacier and stopped us from doing anything (again!). It proved to be a blessing in disguise though, cos we decided to stay and sort ourselves out a bit. Found a great hostel (Glowworm Cottages) that was just what we needed to take stock and relax a bit.

Anyways, eventually the rain cleared and Jen and I went ice-climbing on the glacier - absolutely brilliant fun, but tough work! Jen's got some great photos of us stuck to sheer ice walls! Dead impressed with it all really, me being scared witless of heights and Jen never having done anything like it!

{mosimage} Milford Sound is 121km from Te Anau down the Milford Road - a spectacular alpine road running through undulating farmland, towering mountains and heavy forest. Quite possibly, the most beautiful road I've ever been down. It takes about 2 hours to drive, but with all the stops along the way, it took us nearly 3.

First stop was Te Anau downs, the launch point for the Milford Track. Next up were Mirror Lakes, perfectly still oxbow lakes that looked like something from Lord of the Rings.

We stopped for lunch just before the Homer Tunnel looking out over two valleys and miles from anywhere. Two keas (mountain parrots - reknowned for their cheekiness) joined us and hopped around curious at our presence - trying to get at our lunch!

The Homer Tunnel was quite and experience, it's preceded by the most amazing avalanche carved landscape, really steep mountains with avalanche debris scattered around. The tunnel itself is 1.2km of steep downhill, narrow, unlit road under the mountains. A near brush with a rather large coach led us to safety on the other side and a sight to which adjectives simply don't do justice - we were in a massive valley with hundreds of tiny waterfalls gushing down to the floor like veins. The snow that had prevented our kayak trip provided us with a pretty unique spectacle. A steep descent led us to Milford Sound itself.

{mosimage} I have to say that in the end, the Sound was a little disappointing - I preferred the drive down!. We decided not to go for the package coach and cruise, because it felt too processed and like a sausage factory - the thought of cramming onto a coach full of camera wielding tourists, piling off every half and hour, before piling back on, was just a bit too much. We'd opted for the sea kayak trip to do it differently and to get a real experience. Unfortunately, that meant we didn't get out into the heart of Milford Sound, which I'm sure is very rewarding, but we'll keep that for another day.

The drive back involved a stop at the imaginatively titled Chasm, a huge chasm (unsurprisingly) carved out by water and rocks. It was probably more spectacular than the Sound and one of the most amazing natural features I've ever soon - the sheer volume of water passing through, the noise and the scale of it... words and photos can't describe it!