Well we have been travelling on our own now for just over a week, after Uli returned to Sydney from Wellington - it's not been the same without you Uli -we can get ready in 20 mins.....peace and quiet.....no laptop......only joking!!!!!

North Island is certainly not as exciting as the South Island - so for any of you planning a trip in the near future do the North Island first. After a weekend in Wellington we headed to Martinborough for a couple of days of relaxation and wine tasting which was all really good...except for the fact that during one of our tastings Iain decided to tip half his wine into the water jug instead of into the spitoon barrell - thinks he's well educated speaking in a rahh voice during the tastings....I was so embarassed!



From there we headed to Lake Taupo where Iain got his own back saying we had to fit in some training for the Inca trail. He made me do the Tongariro Crossing which is voted one of the best one day walks in the world. I did start to wonder when we had to get up at 5.30am to do a 7 hours walk which was is rated as challenging.....what had he got me into.

The engagement was off after the first two hours as I struggled to stop me heart and lungs exploding after walking up a near vertical incline for about 2 hours...better not be like this on the Inca Trail however after that it was stunning and thankfully the weather was great for the whole day. Shame about the 300 other people walking it at the same time.



Rotorua was smelly and very touristy, especially when we visited a thermal park waiting for a gieser to erupt at 10.15am on the dot with 1,000 other tourist. Half of them had not worked out how it errupted at the same time every day....mirraculous....except for the handful of soap stuffed down the hole by the park ranger. We bolted round the rest of the park - pausing occassionally for photos. The Polynesian spa was great though and helped me ease my aches and pains from the walking the day before......



The final stop before Auckland was the glow worm caves in Waitomo. I was totally focussed on stopping Iain from getting us to Abseil into the caves that I had not really thought about what a 4 hour caving trip might entail. I should have realised when the guides made us smear mud on our faces at the entrance to the caves and this was followed by 2 hours underground....squeezing through the smallest of holes, swimming in freezing cold water, crawling through mud passageways on my stomach....all to see some bloody glow worms - I was not amused! It was quite good fun really - but never again.

We are writing this from Auckland with two days before we head off to South America. Hope everyone is well back home and not working too hard. Loads of love - Bec and Iain.