Some Pics from NZ

Battling in the cold here in New Zealand. Our tent almost blew away on saturday night, so we had to pack up and sleep in the car at 2am. Its actually 10-14 degrees when the suns out which isn't bad at all but we just had a few blustery days which felt baltic. After a well needed recharge at a plush hotel in Wellington we took the ferry over to the south island. It was really choppy yesterday. It gets dark here at 5.30 and our ferry was at 6.30 so there was no horizon to focus on and so I finally sucombed and was seasick...! Hee. Well, it didn't feel funny at the time... There are many Thermal Springs around and about especially in the the north island. That's Chris there in the mist. Many of the lakes and rivers that are safe to have a dip in are commercialised now, but our lonely planet book told us of one of a few places you can just just go for free. It felt bizarre cos it was a dismal cold day - we drove far out to this forest, walked down this narrow forest path, then stripped off and had a dip in this river that was hotter than bath water!
The marine life here is amazing. There are many seal colonies scattered around the coast. We're considering a swimming with seals and dolphins trip. They're a bit scary on land but they are really friendly in the sea...apparently.


This is our hire car at Kaikoura! Chris is off on a whale watching trip tomo from here so we're staying here tonight. I'm saving my pennies to do a 300ft abseil into the Waitomo Caves back up north - check out the pic i found of it below - those dots are people! We've been doing hikes (they call it 'tramping' here) during the days. Got caught in the snow the other day but it was actually quite fun. Oh yeah... its my birthday tomorrow too! Chris has got something special planned.