So here we go for the next installment of our blog. Queenstown did not quite go according to plan. After a great xmas day we had planned two action packed days of jet boating, skydiving etc but were hampered by some crap weather. Still we managed to go jet boating and had a huge amount of fun on the downhill luge track (Bec says she is not competitive but look at the concentration on that face!!!)







Unfortunately my sky dive was cancelled the day after - very dissappointing. At least it meant Uli could come out of the bathroom (where she had locked herself up to prevent her from having to go through with the jump) and so Bec and her watched DVD's in the afternoon (well actually they didn't - as it took them three hours to work the DVD machine!!!) whilst I escaped into town.

Then it was onto Mount Cook for some walking - with incredible weather and surprisingly not a lot of moaning from the girls on our 5 hour walk. Bec is now hassling me in the internet cafe to swap so she can write a more balanced story - sod that........



We manged to get a round of white water rafting in before new year (though Bec spent most of the trip sitting in the middle of the raft doing nothing and Uli with her head up....well take a look at the picture for yourself!).



New Year in Christchurch - lets just say the fireworks didn't quite compare to Sydney (think the council budget must be $5 not $5million) but we still managed to stuff our faces at a really nice restaurant and then go on drinking into the night. Having said that we did end up in the most expensive bar ever - bring on London prices again.

Our last few days have been spent in Kaikoura and Marlborough - probably the best couple of days of the trip so far. Went Dolphin swimming and seal swimming in Kaikoura. Quite amazing to swim for 30 mins with a pod of wild dolphins in the middle of the ocean - they seemed to be highly amused when Iain dived down under the water (though he tells me that that was only to be able to watch the rest of the girls on the trip snorkel above!) Not that we looked that attractive in full thickness wetsuits - and my goggles leaked which was meant a lot of time spent looking at the sky trying to clear them.......



Yesterday we got pissed in the Marlborough wine region - managed to avert disaster when arriving at the vineyard homestay at 6.30pm to find nobody home and the owner on holiday! Thankfully we managed to get the last two bedroom motel unit in town so at least we had a bed for the night. Think we managed to hit 10 vineyards, including my favourite Cloudy Bay and by the end of it all we were truely exhausted.

Sitting in an internet cafe in Wellington, after travelling to the North Island by ferry - Iain did his usual and read for the entire journey whilst Uli and I stuffed ginger biscuits down our throat trying not to vomit as the boat rolled up and down. Uli left us this morning so it's now just the two of us....

Hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve and looking fwd to seeing you in a few months.

Love - Bec and Iain.

P.S. To avoid all the hassle of planning a wedding we decided to get married in NZ - last Tuesday. The bride looked stunning.......


(only joking parents!)