Skylarks Countrystay Nelson

... is gonna mean driving on little sleep..so we will have to see how we go. I guess I could always inject Richard with caffeine every half hour? Failing that , I could get the kids to ask 'Are we there yet , at 4 second intervals?? LOL!
we will make it back to the plane... However ,someone will have to remind me to stay away from the otters. ( more than once!) I swear it wasn't me trying to smuggle one out of the Zoo last time I went ...

... ancient trees and a whole host of orchids.

What I heard: The very sweet and distinctive call of the Bell bird – oh lordy I am becoming a twitcher…

Best footwear related incident. My very expensive Salomon boots proved to be worth every cent (not penny – these were bought in Dunedin on the last trip over). We had to ford a very small river and unlacing these boots is a shag and then there is the washing sand off feet and all ...

... from the other guys and stuck 15 km from the nearest town. So we started walking.

We decided we would try to hitch, but since so few cars came down the road we were on we would also keep walking so that if we didn't catch a ride we would at least be able to find somewhere to stay by making it to a town. We walked probably about 5 km before deciding to wait for a while to see if more cars would pass since we had passed other roads ...

... being dragged along by the 9m kite through the water! The force of it took you right out of the water and pelted you along pretty fast! Walking back with it was harder, as everytime you made progress, the damn thing would whip you off your feet and you'd be hurtling through the water again!! Abel Tasman National Park was one of the highlights. You can only access it via boat or walking, so we kayaked for one day, stayed overnight on a 'houseboat ...

... everywhere in the town, where one of the best jumps is 134metres over a canyon! We bought a pass on the Kiwi Experience 'hop on, hop off' bus, where we stop by Queenstown again after doing the west coast, so Laurence plans to do the largest Bungy there, whilst I aim to throw myself out of a plane from 15,000ft further up north on Lake Taupo. Before we left for Christchurch, we decided to kayak on ...

... the blokes name was ian he's 39 and out travelling round for 9 months doing oz, new zealand the cook islands the us and canada after jacking his job in - he's also a man city supporter so we discussed football a bit and I said some rude words about craig bellamy the turncoat @#$% anyway thats about it for the day apart from the pictures which i'll upload in a minute

... hours, without nicks or bruises, so I am impressed. Also, it was about the most beautiful drive I have ever done winding through the South Alps. We are in Nelson, which is the hippy beach town Mer and I have been searching for. White sand, lots of shops and markets and situated convienently 20 minutes away from the heart of New Zealand's ...

... where we got on our kayaks - we're experts now- and decided to go see some seals! Seals can abundantly be seen from a nearby island. As we approached the island not only could we see some lazing out on the rocks, but we could also smell them! Not pleasant. Apparently we caught them at mating season so the musk that the males give out actually attracts females. Moreover, we found out that some male seals live what many men describe the ...

... Anyway everyone went to bed quite early so we did too and enjoyed luxuriating in all the space we had! The next morning was a little bit rainy but it wasn't cold. We were walking 17km this day and the kayakers were paddling for half the day and then walking the rest with us. We saw lots of trees and ferns and Cheryl grumbled about the hills and rocks as we went ... We met the kayakers at a beach for lunch so they could join us to walk and their guide Garrick ...

... well to see a movie in the hope the weather would clear but it stayed ****. I drove on then to Haverlock a small village which is famous for muscle's and seafood.. Hence why i was stopping here for dinner and got myself a Muscle chowder at the muscle pot restaurant which was well impressed with. With it still ******* down i headed on for Picton.