We had a good trip and have plenty of photos (I'm serious, Mum and I each took around 800) and postcards and souvenirs to remember our trip by.

Now its back to work and school and uni for everyone but despite all that, it really is a good feeling to be back home

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From their we checked into the motel and unloaded all our stuff, delighted to have a night in real bed. We drove to the airport and visited the Anartic Centre. This is where NZ, USA and Italy base their expeditions for Antartica and there is a lot of information and some cool exhibits. Everyone but me (still sick) experienced an Antartic Storm where the temperature in a large room (with snow) is dropped to -20 degrees and the winds are increased. It certainly made a change from mountains and lakes which we have seen enough of to last us for a while.

While we were in there Dad left for a while and took the campervan back and when we were done looking at everything and watching the cute penguin videos we walked back to the motel, though it was further than we thought.

We tried to have an early night since we had to get up early but couldn't resist a bit of tv.

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When we got there everyone but me decided to have a swim in the hot thermal pools, it was a bit crowded being NZ school holidays, so mum decided to pay the little bit extra to get a private pool.

It was raining when everyone got out and there wasn't much else in Hamner to do so we headed back in the direction of Christchurch.

We stopped at a cool rocky beach that was made up from 'river' stones and pulled over for the night in a rest area 40kms north of Christchurch.

Oh, and the alpaca (not llama, sorry) bear received the name Geraldine, or Al for short.

Springs in Winter remains copyright of the author ashtara, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Stopping in a cute little town (and I mean little, the hardware store was also the video store and it sold toys and stationary...) called Twizel we had what is likely to be our last encouter with snow.

Heading north we stopped at both Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo which amazingly look better in real life than they do on the postcards I bought, and the weather wasn't even at its best. Each of the lakes can display a variety of colours (from deep blues to clear aquamarines) and is set with a backdrop of snow covered mountains. Even in Summer you are likely to see snow on these mountains as behind Lake Tekapo is Mount Cook, NZ's highest mountain.

Leaving the lakes behind we drove through more little towns, choosing to stop in Geraldine for a break and some retail therapy. Managed to convince Mum to buy an adorable teddy bear made from Llama fur - despite its slightly hefty price tag - well its not my fault, she kept raving about it after we first left the store...

We arrived early evening in Christchurch and got settled in a different caravan park to last time. Because of its expensive internet charges, and because it was (is) still early over here, Dad, Tiff, Court and I caught a bus into the city centre to have a bit of a wander.

And so our holiday is rapidly coming to a close. We were faster than we thought we would be on the South Island and have arrived back in Christchurch earlier than we though. Tomorrow we might go up to Hamner Springs (which we missed the first time) or might just spend the day around the city. Saturday we have a motel booked and plan on visiting the Antartic Centre here before our very early flight out on Sunday morning (6am NZ time).

Its been a good holiday though

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Mum and I wandered the town which is famous for its heritage buildings (we liked the train station) and went to an old fashioned fudge shop.

On leaving Dunedin we drove around to find Baldwin Street to take photos of it. Its famous because it is the steepest street in the world (for those of you interested in transport eng, you know who you are, it has a 38% gradient - http://www.ourshop.co.nz/baldwinstreet.htm).

We hit the coast and saw the Moeraki Boulders which can't really be described but I will try. They are massive spherical rocks which look like they have washed up on the shore but are actually prehistoric and have been left behind by the eroded shoreline. Some have broken apart to reveal almost turtleshell type patterns...I will have to show you photos...

From there we headed north to Oamaru where Mum held hopes of seeing the rare Yellow Eyed Penguin. We considered booking a dusk spot to view the NZ Blue Penguin before realising they were AUS Fairy Penguins (and we saw them at Philip Island in 2003). Turns out in winter you can see the Yellow-Eyed ones for free since there aren't many around. We headed around to Bushey Beach to the designated viewing spot and waited. After a while we were rewarded with a fur seal sighting as it played in the shallows and waves. Almost giving up hope of seeing a penguin, a couple with binoculars nearby pointed out the first one of the evening waddling up the beach. Tiff missed it because she had gone back to the campervan to get the video camera to tape the seal...

After almost giving up on a second sighting (Tiff and Dad had given up) we headed back to the campervan, but Mum spotted another one heading up the shore. That was enough for her, she had seen her Yellow-Eyed Penguin and we could get out of the cold. Not that you will see much from our photos, they are a bit distant...Lucky I bought a postcard...

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After checking out Information we headed to the specially design local cinema where a movie about Fiordland (the region we were in - including Milford and Doubtful Sounds) is played. The movie was good, the guy who filmed it (its has no dialogue) flies his own helicopters and caught some awesome footage. I ended up buying the dvd believing it to be a good investment.

Since the weather hadn't cleared and showed no signs of getting any better we abandoned the idea of visiting Milford Sound (Mum deciding that she will just come back in Summer) and had lunch on the side of Lake Manapouri.

The afternoon was then spent once again crossing the island as we returned to the eastern coast and spent the night outside Dunedin.

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Dad, Tiff, Court and I took a trip up to Bob's Peak via the Gondolas. An awesome view of both Queenstown and The Remarkables. At the top, Courtney (the adrenaline junkie we have realised she is) had 2 luge rides which she seemed to love.

We then headed out of Queenstown towards Coronet Peak to visit the famous Shotover Canyon and take a trip on the Shotover Jet. Initally only Mum, Ebony and Courtney were going (Dad and Tiff would be sick and I hurt my back last week) but I decided I had come a long way and should brave it. It was a lot of fun and Mum thinks its the best thing she has done in NZ.

From the Queenstown region we headed south towards Te Anau with the hope that the weather might be clear enough to venture to Milford Sound and stayed the night just outside Te Anau.

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A big thanks to Nanna, who we really have to thank for the oppurtunity to ski, we really enjoyed ourselves - and we will call soon, promise.

We have decided to leave the skiing at one day and will head away from Queenstown now. We hope to see more around Christchurch (in particular Hamner Springs) which we missed due to bad weather on our way though the first time.

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From there we ventured to Queenstown with a stop to watch the bungy jumping over the Kawarau River.

Queenstown is a very cute little town, we did some shopping and booked skiing stuff at Cardrona for the next day before heading up to the nearest caravan park for the night.

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We wandered around the town comparing heli-flight prices and eventually decided on a company that would give us a discount if more than one of us flew. Dad, Tiff, Court and I decided to fly, Mum and Eb thinking they couldn't handle the height.

Just before we paid though, Mum changed her mind and decided to join us. So the 5 of us flew up and over the Franz Joseph Glacier over a mountain range to the adjoining Fox Glacier and landed on the top. Then down Fox and back around to Franz Joseph. The experience was unbelievable and is almost impossible to describe. The glaciers are unlike anything I had ever seen before and the concept behind them is also incredible. You really have to see it to believe it...luckily for everyone else, we videotaped the whole thing...no commentary though cause the helicopter is too loud.

The rest of the day was spent driving down the coast to Haast and then inland to Lake Wanaka where we spent the night. We saw some cool ice formations on the side of the road too, where it was obviously cold enough to freeze runoff from the mountains.

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We saw snow not long after reaching the mountain ranges and pulled over on the side of the road near Lake Pearson for a quick snowball fight.

Mum spent most of the trip through Arthur's Pass with her eyes shut, but the rest of us enjoyed the view of enough mountains to make us sick of them.

Finally we reached the other side. We stopped in a cute little town called 'Hokitka' for a bit of retail therapy and a look at the Jade Factory there. Also had some good old fashioned chips (wrapped in newspaper).

We decided to head as far south as we could before nightfall as we were unsure of the next days weather and ended up stopping alongside Lake Ianthe/Matahi for the night.

East to West remains copyright of the author ashtara, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Most of today's drive was along the eastern coast of the south island. I never knew before but they have black sand. I mean seriously black. I can't imagine swimming of the coast, everything would come out dirty.

As we drove, we were often able to see both snow-capped mountains and the ocean. Made for quite an interesting sight.

Passed a few seal colonies on our trip too, they are so cute. I think I like them more than dolphins.

Another interesting point, the towns on the south island have (for the most part) more English sounding names than the Maori ones on the north island.

As we passed through Rakautara (all 3 buildings of it) we bought a fresh (yet cooked) crayfish from a hut on the side of the road that was later eaten for lunch. Well by dad at least.

In Kaikoura (famous for its whale watching) we stopped at the chemist for a new supply of motion sickness tablets and a bit of souvenir shopping (and a bit of brekky). Its was the largest town we had seen for a while and is well-known because it is the part of NZ where the mountains are closest to the sea. Hard to explain, but the backdrop is awesome. The mountains had a dusting of snow (which apparently isn't too common) and the sun came out on occasion.

Lunch was eaten just near the "Hurunui River" crossing. Not much to say about the river but it was flowing very fast and looked very very cold.

Final stop of the day was in Christchurch. Which is where I am now. We have found a caravan park with an email kiosk (which is exactly where I am) and the NZ pay tv "sky". Which means, we should be able to watch the state of origin. We will be able to watch it live too (9:30 kickoff over here) which is a bonus.

So what's our plan now? If the weather clears up tomorrow we will head inland over Arthurs Pass to Greymouth on the west coast then head from there south to the glaciers and then Queenstown. If the weather remains nasty, we well head south from here to Dunedin and then over to Queenstown, possibly missing the glaciers all together, maybe driving up from Queenstown to see them.

Either way, we will be getting to Queenstown at some point over the next few days and from there I should be able to blog again. As far as specific plans go, everything depends on the weather but worst case, we will just ski instead. Which is a pretty good worst case

Hope all is well back in Australia and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Nanna who turns 70 tomorrow. Sorry we can't be there but we wich you all the best.

GO THE MAROONS!!!

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Our only aim of the day was to make it to Wellington in time to catch the "cheap ferry" as we had seen everything mum's lonely planet guide told us was worth while.

The ferry we wanted to catch, leaves only two times a day, 1pm and 3am...obviously we were after the afternoon trip...

We made it to Wellington around 11am so we even had some time to spare. After purchasing our bording passes we had lunch in the car park while we waited to board.

The boat was huge. There were semi-trailers that turned aroud whilst inside the boat.

After driving on ourselves, we headed upstairs to prepare for the 3 hour trip. I took the chance to explore the boat (few loung areas, big screen for movies, cafes and dining area, bar) even venturing outside to the various observation decks. It was really cold out there. Wellington is famous for its winds and now I know why, I had to hang on to everything I was wearing so it didn't blow off.

The trip was interesting. The weather as we crossed Cook Strait was so bad it took 4 hours instead of 3. The waves were huge and despite the size of the boat there was a fair amount of movement. Luckily, Tiff and Dad had their sea sickness tablets before boarding and even put band aids behind their ears (thanks nan) which seemed to work. We watched a couple of movies to fill in the time.

Then aroun 5pm we docked in Picton and started our travels on the south island.

We had heard that the weather was really bad so we decided to change our plans. The initial plan was to travel south of Picton to Christchurch then across the island (via Arthurs Pass) to Greymouth then down to Queenstown. We decided instead to head to Greymouth via the top of the island...however...in our search for a rest area to spend the night, we headed south (knowing we had to head into town (Blenheim) the next day either way) instead of west...and passed around some very high mountains and very steep tracks (Black Birch Range) which mum decided she didn't want to have to venture across again...so we stuck to the original plan and decided that we would head south to Christchurch...we stayed the night near "Blind River"

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First activity of the day was the ZORB. Tiffany, Courtney and I all had a go at the "wet" "zig-zag" Zorb. Basically a big plastic ball with a smaller plastic ball inside it, they put water (warm thankfully) inside the little one and you jump inside and roll down the hill. Courtney also had a go and the "dry" zorb, where you get strapped in and head straight down the hill. We ended up buying the photo CD from there so there are plently of photos to show when we get back home.

We then left Rotorua, driving out through the town we could see steam rising from various pools and ponds around the place.

Our first stop outside of Rotorua were the Blue and Green Lakes (officially called Lake Tikitapu and Rotokakahi) which are two almost adjoining lakes with distinctly different water colours. Big explanation as to why which I won't bore you with.

The next stop was the Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland, stepping out at this place I knew it smelt familiar, it took me a moment but I worked it out...it smells exactly like a wastewater treatment plant. It was gross. You walk around and look at all the sulphur and stuff thats bubbling in pools. Some interesting colours, but we hurried through due to the smell. The whole place would make and interesting backdrop for a film about the end of the world...lots of steam.

Just outside the thermal wonderland (which we had to pay for) was a large geothermal pool (bubbling hot mud). Mum loved this place and could have stayed all day. Tiff though some of the mud was cute...

Next stop was much closer to Taupo - the Huka Falls. Not really much to say about them, but they were big for falls and are slowly eroding and moving further upstream. Oh and the water was crystal blue.

At this point we began to hurry. We had heard that there was a storm blowing over from the south island and was looking to be rather nasty, and mum wanted to see these mountains (Mt Ruapehu, Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe). We had the option of staying in Taupo for the night but the weather may have closed the road the next day...so we hurried...

And we made it. It was a race against the sun on Desert Road but we manages to see the mountains before the sun set completely.

Beyond the hilly sections of road we pulled over near a little town called Bulls for the night.

abZORBing Rotorua remains copyright of the author ashtara, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Breakfast was in Hamilton, in particular, Hamilton Gardens, before beginning our drive further south to the Waitomo Caves.

We reached the caves not long after lunch, visiting first the Waitomo Glowworm Cave which included a boat ride through the cave in the pitch black to see the glowworms, of course we learnt lots of facts about glowworms too :P

The other cave we visited was the Aranui Cave, this cave had a lot more stalactites and stalagmites (from the roof and floor respectively) and we were allowed to take photos there so we can show everyone when we get back.

After leaving the caves, we travelled through 'Hobbit land' basically more rolling green hills with the occasionally rocky outcrop until arriving at Rotorua.

Which is where I am now...

This evening we bathed in Thermal Mineral Pools before heading out to dinner at the "Fat Dog" a funky cafe that wouldn't have been out of place in the heart of West End.

Soon we will head back to the campervan for a night with TV (this is our first night with power), though we have missed any shows we might normally watch. And sadly will probably miss the state of origin too...

Hope to post again soon.

Oh and the weather is still rather perfect over here, a bit cold for us warm blooded Queenslanders, but we're surviving.

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Then it was back to the campervan for the long trip south. We stopped every now and then to take photographs, even running out to Uretiti beach to take photos of the 'Hen and Chicken Islands'.

Despite hearing so much about NZ sheep, all we seemed to see were cows. Lots of cows. And rolling green hills of course.

We managed to end up south of Auckland by the evening and pulled over to sleep at Te Kauwhata.

On the Water... remains copyright of the author ashtara, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Finally in NZ... remains copyright of the author ashtara, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Upon our arrival at the airport we discovered our flight had been delayed by two hours (it was going to be slow leaving Fiji) so we really didn't need to rush. So it's 7:20pm now and we have been here since 4pm. It appears our flight may be leaving earlier than thought (around 8:45) and may board in 55 minutes. Then we will be on our way. We should now get to Auckland around 2am their time. Suddenly the motel we booked doesn't seem as good an idea...

Hope to post again soon with happier tales

The Waiting Game... remains copyright of the author ashtara, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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