Four Seasons Motel Wanganui

... rest. Anyway we got passed them and then it all started to go wrong for me. We hit the shale and it was like going one step up and two steps back and at some points you were slipping 3 maybe 4 feet and when your up a mountain there is not a lot of places to go apart from DOWN!!! I told Simmo I was going to go back down as we had both said the day before if at anytime it gets too much we will turn back. Bless him he said" You have done the ...

... with a 2 year old!), they're thinking of emigrating to New Zealand to provide a better life for the family, and their 6 months here is pretty much a reckie for somewhere they might like to settle. We got along very well and were delighted the next morning when Robin bounced over with a trademark huge grin and passed us a piece of paper with their email address, and a message of encouragement for our (as yet undetermined) future plans. The ...

... to get some great Kiwi hospitality, Jackie even dropped us off at the bus stop so we didn't have to walk with our bags (think mine ways about a third of my weight at the moment!). We arrived in Wanganui at about 5pm, after driving through some amazing countryside with lots of green valleys, rolling hills, river and sheep, love it! The walk to our hostel was the furthest we've had to walk yet and it was hard work! But it worked ...

... how a long challenging trek normally looks like a stroll in the park!



Katie and I both love walking at the front of a group, so we practically sprinted off first and built up a good distance to the couples behind us.

We dislike being surrounded by other ...

... and cooked dinner. We then spent the evening chatting to another couple who were staying there, watching tv and taking it in turns to keep the cat happy depending on who's lap it decided to sit on! The next morning we had to get up bright and early to get the ferry across to Wellington. The journey out of the Queen Charlotte Sound was very nice but once we got into the Cook Strait it got a bit rocky so we decided to ...

So we move onto Easter Saturday. Both Pauline and I woke up with hangovers but now it is time to move on Taupo and I might actaully get to sky dive! I didn't ever dare get excited about it unless it got cancelled again. The nearer we got the more histerical I got although I wasn't sure it that was due to too much vodka redbulls the night before or my terror. So we arrived in Taupo and the weather was fine for skydiving. So it was time. Upto ...

... As we came over the summit we looked down the valley and were completely awestruck by the Emerald Lakes below us. The colour of them was simply unreal. We made the descent and passed right by them before heading across another valley to the final climb of the day which took us up to the Blue Lake which is the crater of an extinct volcano. After this the long descent began to the other side of the crossing where we were meeting the shuttle. On the way ...

... down south we stopped to do a one day hike between a couple of the volcanoes on New Years Eve. We added a hike up a volcanoe, well why not! It was Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings - horrid scree covered sides made it a very frustrating climb - but worth it when you see the bubbling crater, and the view out across Mt Taranaki and Mt Ruapehu (both also volcanoes). By the end of our very full days hike we were quite tired - so we ...

Today was a lazy day, we didn't do much at all to be honest. We potted around just relaxing, had a lie in, walked into town and treated ourselves to brunch at a lakeside pub while reading the Sunday papers. I even treated myself to the International Mail and a copy of a gossip magazine. I wanted to know what was going on in the world again. We then treated ourselves even more - to a trip to the Warehouse ...

Valerie here. I'm updating the blog while Steve is getting the 'what to do when you are about to drown' speech from the river rafting crew. He is about to go on a class 5 rafting trip while I sit and relax in the lodge. My horse trek was canceled because of the rain. Poo. Yesterday we traveled south from Auckland and spent most of the day driving down to Taihape ...