Just a quick note to let you all know that we're back in the country...safe and sound, tired and poor. We took about 900 photos while we were away so it might be a few weeks before our trip is up!

Hope to catch up with everyone before Christmas...

love Andrew and Jess

Awwww, so sad...Our trip is now over. Andrew and I have spent the day in Christchurch today (recovering!) and we fly home tomorrow afternoon. This morning we farewelled the majority of our tour group who left to go home or continue their trips. We've made some good friends and hopefully we will be able to catch up with them when they visit Sydney. Or even better, we'll have a place to stay when we go overseas!

On our last day in Queenstown, Andrew and I went river boarding. This involved donning a wetsuit, booties, a helmet, flippers and a lifejacket and surfing down the river on a boogie board. During the journey we had to negotiate 4 rapids, avoiding eddies and whirlpools (that could potentially suck you under). I found it quite difficult and swallowed a lot of water! However, Andrew found it "tame". I think he wanted it to be more difficult. Because the river was quite high, the rocks in the rapids were covered and this made it less dangerous. After bungy jumping Andrew has turned into an adrenaline junkie :D.

The rest of our journey was a little less exciting, basically we travelled from Queenstown to Christchurch with a stopover at Lake Ohau.

Andrew and I both recommend seeing New Zealand. We've both had a wonderful time. *sigh* I guess it's time to come home.

Love Andrew and Jessica

Woah! Andrew and I are both on a buzz at the moment because we just went bungy jumping! Very scary! But more about that later :D

Highlights from the past few days:

* Hiking in Abel Tasman National Park - Abel Tasman is definitely worth a visit. The scenery was amazing. Beautiful white sandy beaches, clear aqua water and lush green forests. We caught a boat to the National Park stopping at a number of beaches on the way through to drop people off on hikes. We also stopped at a seal colony where there were a few seals basking in the sun. However, it was breeding season so there were limited numbers. Steve (a Canadian from our tour group), Andrew and I had opted for a easy 2.5 hour hike from Bark Bar to Torrent Bay. We managed to complete our hike in 2 hours including a stop for lunch on South Head (an amazing view). There were a couple of steep hills at the top of which I was almost hyperventilating (I think Steve hardly raised a sweat) and we also crossed a swaying suspension bridge (just like in Indianna Jones). When we had completed our hike we lazed on the beach and waded in the water. Unfortunately we had not brought our swimmers otherwise we would have definitely gone for a dip.

* Fox Glacier - At Fox Glacier we did a 4 hour Heli hike. A helicopter dropped us halfway up the glacier. We then strapped crampons to the bottom of our boots and walked on the ice over waves and around crevasses. We saw amazing blue ice, ice arches and crawled through an ice tunnel. In the beginning I was quite nervous about walking on the ice (on tiny ledges past deep crevasses) but by the end it was as easy as pie. The helicopter picked us up and dropped us back at base camp. My first time in a helicopter! It was so much fun! (of course Andrew has been lots of times and even flown one!)

* Bungy Jumping - Andrew and I weren't going to bungy jump but we decided that you can't come to the birthplace of Bungy and not jump. Andrew opted to do the Thrillogy which was 3 jumps - the 43m Kawarau, the 47m Ledge and the 134m Nevis Highwire. In the beginning I just decided to do the Kawarau (start slow) and afterwards I decided to do the Ledge as well. We were both a little nervous on our first jump but by the end of it we were pros! The Nevis Highwire was the scariest. I was scared just going out to the gondola to watch. With the Nevis you get 8 seconds of freefall. We got photos and videos of our jumps so we'll have to show you all when we get back to Oz!

We've been so lucky with our weather so far. The only time we've had rain is when we've been on the bus. Other than that it's been beautiful, warm, sunny days. I wish I'd packed for warmer weather.

Only 4 days left of our holiday :(

love Jess and Andrew

Greetings from Wellington! Since we last wrote Andrew and I have travelled from Auckland to Wellington via Waitomo, Rotorua and Taupo.

Waitomo is the home of Black Water rafting and glow worm caves. We did the Tumu Tumu Toobing caving adventure. For 2 hours we walked (and sometimes crawled on our hands and knees) through a cave which was about 1000m long and 10m underground. It was quite a strenuous experience, we had to clamber over jagged rocks, squeeze through tiny holes and swim in freezing water. The water was frigid even through the wetsuits we were wearing! At one stage they turned off the lights on our helmets and we had to walk for 100m with only the glow worms lighting our way. Two sections of our journey involved floating along the underground river on rubber inner tubes. Once again our helmet lights were extinguished and we drifted in total darkness. The tunnel ceiling was covered with glow worms. It was like floating beneath the night sky. It was a great experience - highly recommended.

We spent yesterday in Rotorua. It has a population of about 60,000 and is famous for its geothermal activity. Steam rises from the gratings in the street and there is a distinctive rotten egg odour permanently in the air. People who live in areas high in geothermal activity sometimes are forced to relocate because the ground beneath their homes becomes unstable. Their house is then demolished and the block of land left empty. We stayed at the Kiwi Pakka, a youth hostel with its own thermal pool. In the morning we visited a Maori Village, Whakarewarewatanga o te Ope Taua a Wahiao (more commonly known as Whaka). The village uses the thermals for cooking, bathing and heating. Some of the thermal pools reach temperatures of 150 degrees. To bathe they divert water from a thermal pool to large concrete baths that are out in the open. After a few hours the water has cooled sufficiently for the villagers to have a nice hot bath. The village also has 3 geysers which have been quite active recently. While we were there one geyser, Pohutu, was playing, shooting jets of hot water 10m into the air. The villagers also gave a traditional Maori concert. They demonstrated the short and long Poi, the short and long sticks and they also did the Haka. The Haka was quite intimidating. We were sitting only a few feet away from a large Maori guy pulling faces at us. During the audience participation section we learnt the Maori for arm, leg, stomach, bottom, head and body. We then did the PokiPoki (Hokey Pokey) using our new knowledge. After the concert we had a buffet lunch of chicken, corned beef, corn and potato which had been cooked in a thermal oven (a Hangi).

In the evening we went for a soak in Rotorua's Polynesian spas. They have a number of thermal pools ranging in temperature from 30 degrees to 43 degrees. After dipping our toes in a few of the cooler pools we settled on the 38 degree pool. The water was delightfully warm, although it was very smelly (sulphur dioxide, yummy!). At one stage we ventured into the 41 degree pool although this was a little too warm for my liking. Andrew bravely moved onto the 43 degree pool even though his sunburn was stinging. We moved back to the 38 degree pool where we spent a little while cooling down. After an hour at the spa we decided it was time to head home. The night air was decidedly chilly. The rotten egg smell lingered in our swimmers even after a few rinses. We left them in the bathroom overnight with the window open.

We left Rotorua this morning and headed to Taupo where 3 people in our tour group decided to Bungy. From there it was a 6 hour journey to Wellington. The majority of our trip was occupied watching Lord of the Rings. Very appropriate :D.

Next we head across Cook Strait to the South Island and on to Nelson.

love Jess and Andrew

Hello from New Zealand! (baaaa!) Andrew and I are currently in Auckland. We just spent the last two days travelling around the top of the North Island, spending the majority of our time in the Bay of Islands.

Yesterday we took a Bus tour up to the most northern point of New Zealand, Cape Reinga. At the Cape on blustery day you can see where the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea meet. Unfortunately it was a very calm day and all we could see was lots of water! We ate our lunch on a beach at the Cape and we both got very burnt (we're Aussies, we should know better). After lunch we went to Ninety Mile Beach where most of our tour group chose to surf down the tall sand dunes. Andrew tried it and said it was heaps of fun. Although the climb to the top of the 85m dune was a killer. I was too much of a wuss and didn't have a go. The success rate wasn't high enough and I didn't want to hurt myself falling off.

We're heading to Waitamo Caves tomorrow where we have the chance to go abseiling or caving. After that it's off to Rotarua!

Hope everyone is well back in the land of Oz. Good to see we're beating the poms in the Ashes!!

Love Andrew and Jess