And a trip through Kaikoura is never complete without the seals

"F**k there are loads of them, and they're doing stuff" was the cry from Marcus, so we stopped to take some pictures, this little baby being the cute one!

Back to Picton

Picton is truly a picture postcard port! And vest seen on a sunny day like this!

Windy

Even though it was really warm the wind was gale force! Great fun, and have an impressive wind tan now too!

Old Whaling Station

Into the Queen Charlotte Sound and past one of the first Land Based Whaling stations Perano Whaling Station(now derelict but being restored as a museum). Even got to see a seal on the way, but no whales.

Mountains of the South Island

A clear day meant that we could see the snow covered mountains of the South Island as soon as we left port.

And so back to the South Island

This is what Wellington should look like from the Ferry, a beautiful day, if a little windy, but the wind was a warm Nor'wester so while the ferry was pulling out of the harbour we could relax on deck - Marcus was sleeping inside again! I was happy to be getting the truck down to the South lsland as I knew Simon could come and rescue me now if I needed but, so far so good.

The Devils Bath

This is the crazy kind of stuff you get to see in this part of NZ. This water is coloured by minerals being dissolved by the extreme heat and pressure from under the surface to the earth, in this case mostly sulphur. Would be a great way to get rid of a body!

Getting a steam bath

Me in soft focus due to the hot steam! This time I got my layers right! What this doesn't show you is the eggy smell - nice!

Not my kind of Champagne

This is known as the Champagne Pool, the water comes out of the ground at about 200 degrees and is 74 degrees on the surface so you DON'T want to dip your toe in! Good for a facial steam though.

Hot boiling Mud Action

Plop!

Mud Glorious Mud

Today we went to explore the mud and steam around Rotorua - and surprisingly even Marcus got out of bed! First up was Waiotapu, with a quick stop on the way to find this boiling mud pool just at the side of the road!

More Steam

Bit further along the Thermal Explorer Highway was the Thermal walk down a dirt track with a small cafe at the end and run by a strange bloke from the UK who insisted that he show me his Trantula eggs, why I'm not sure! I set off well wrapped up after the Craters but the steam in this valley was so hot I ended up in my t-shirt!

Craters of the Moon

Strange to think this place wasn't even here in the 1950's I was sort of waiting for it to explode!

The Geo-thermal Tour

Excited by the Volcanoes, me and Marcus then moved on to Taupo where I took the opportunity to see the thermal features. First stop was Craters Of The Moon, an erie sight in a basin just outside Taupo. I know I look cold, but the steam actually kept me warm. Marcus stayed in bed!

Volcano

This is the summit of the Volcano Ngauruhoe I WOULD have been able to see out of my window all week if it hadn't been cloudy! This mountain looks just as a volcano would and the clouds at the top just look like it's erupting. The good weather did mean we managed to have a great last days skiing in the southern hemisphere.

And then the Sun came Out

Bloody Typical, just like the exam down south the day after the exam had finished the sun decided to make an appearance. And what a view, I cannot believe for the last 3 days all I have been able to see out of my window was cloud! This is a full view of Mount Ruapehu.

Marcus Passed!

He did it and taking all Southern customs to those stuffy Northerners he instigated the inaugural NZNIA run around the Skotel - Stephanie would be proud!

Whakapapa

But the bad weather returned and I had to spend the first day in Whakapapa - pronounced Fukapapa hahahaha hidden in my hotel due to gales and rain. I only managed to escape once to catch lunch with Zuzzi & Andrew who had been trapped like this for 3 days! Eventually on Thursday (the final day of Marcus' exam I managed to get on the mountain, but you can see the weather is a bit dodgy. Mind you the excitment of skiing on a volcano that erupted only 3 weeks ago was awesome, I kept an eye on the top to make sure there was no smoke!

Proof I was there when it was sunny!

Me in Wellington enjoying the un-expected sun

Wellington Historic Cable Car that's really a tram

I arrived in Wellington in the cold and dark and went straight to my hotel. The next morning I awoke to wind - which you would expect as Wellington is known as the windy city, but Antartic winds???? Bloody freezing. I made my way to the Museum, which is really good, but on leaving the weather was so shite, I decided I needed an afternoon in front of the TV. Fortunately I had splashed out and had Sky and a sofa in my room so veged out watching movies, brilliant. The next day the weather was totally different - it wasn't even windy so I tried to do as much as possible to make up for the day before. I took the Cable Car to the top of the city and then walked down through the Botanic Gardens to the NZ Parliment building - the Bee Hive. I was knackered by the time I got back to the hotel to collect the car to drive up to the ski field to meet Marcus

Picton

I arrived early for the Ferry so got a chance to look around Picton, a very pretty small harbour - in complete contrast to Wellington. The weather was good, but it would stay this way for long.

Montana - not the state

The second winery was Montana, where they had a full tour of the winery. Not much was going on as it was the wrong time of year, but got a great lesson in wine tasting, so I can talk a good game now! I had to limit myself to only 2 wineries as I was a bit squiffy when I left this one and I had to drive to Picton to catch the ferry to Wellington

Cloudy Bay

I decided to go up to the Norht Island to give Marcus some moral support as he had to re-take his stage 1 but thought I would take in some sights on the way. The first stop was Cloudy Bay Winery. I had always wanted to go here since an old work college had raved about the Sav Blanc, and as you can see I have bought a small sample. I felt a bit wierd as I got there at 10am on a Sunday morning, but apparently I wasn't their first visitor. I tried a few and boutg a Sav Blanc and a sparkling

The Journey Down

Strange to think it had been rainy and cloudy all day in Christchurch and Simon took this photo as we travelled back down the hill in the now working perfectly truck. About 10 minutes later we were in thick fog then rain!

Mount Hutt

To celebrate that I am now fully qualified to teach, as I passed my Stage 1 NZSIA exam me and Simon went to Hutt. We were supposed to be there earlier but 1) Dougal took us out the night before and we got VERY drunk and 2) the wonderful truck decided to die on me in the morning. After I dramatic U-turn when Simon had to stop the traffic I managed to limp into a garage where they told me that my gear box had a leak and I had no clutch fluid. Panicing I asked what they could do and he drained the clutch and put new stuff in, and told me that I just needed to keep checking it. And he said it would be OK to get me to the North island - Phew. He then checked the oil and charged me a sum total of $15 (which is about £5!). Anyway we eventually got to Hutt at about 2.30pm and I gave my first lesson. Simon says I was very good and he learned some stuff (was he just being nice?)