Having arrived at our 4 Star hotel in Miraflores, which was far from backpacking.

We met up with Nacho and Melissa who live in Lima. They kindly took us out and in true backpacker fashion we went for Sushi! We discussed our plans and they both provided us with some great tips. So we took them up on the idea of heading for Mancora on the way up to Ecuador.

The next day, after spending 3 hours trying to get money out of the bank, we headed into Central Lima. We both became very aware of ourselves as literally everyone stared at us. This slightly unnerved us. .

You can see by Sam’s expression, what his thoughts were...

We walked from Plaza De Armas to Plaza San Martin and noticed that there were lots of young couples passionately embracing around the statues. Hence we renamed it ´Snoggers Square´.

After a brief experience of Central Lima, we decided it wasn’t the place for us and headed back to Miraflores. We walked to the beach and were pleased to meet some surfers who actually asked us whether we were Spanish - we were very proud, as for up to then, despite our efforts of trying to speak in Spanish, everyone seemed to reply to us in English.

The next day we checked out of the hotel sad to leave the luxuries of life and headed to the nearest coffee house to wait before we got our bus to Mancora. We found Starbucks of all places! It was very surreal to be sitting in a Starbucks with the same lay out as every other damn one.

Once aboard the 17-hour bus journey EJ settled in to watching film after film after film in Spanish!! Her particular favourite was a "boys in the hood" meets American football film!

On our first break we where treated to a game of Spanish Bingo. Sam thought he would have won but did not understand any of the Spanish numbers!! EJ realised there was room for improvement with Spanish. After a quick inspection by the Peruvian Police accompanied by sniffer dogs, we stopped again at 3:00 am. Sam went for a pee and nearly missed the bus!!

During the journey it dawned on us both that having had the comfort of a 4 star hotel for the first 2 nights we had to start realising that accommodation was not going to be so grand and we would have to start slumming it.

We arrived in Mancora at 8:00 am and where guided by a local taxi to a recommended hostel!! At $10 dollars a night we decided to stay for 3 nights.

The 6 bed 2 bathroom, Jacuzzi and bedroom sea views for just us, seemed quite reasonable...

Mancora is known for its constant sunshine, surf and great seafood, we are loving this place!!

SAM COMMENTS
Have realised that my Spanish needs some work, EJ´s pigeon Spanish is coming on - I know rabbit Spanish, as I am like a rabbit in the headlights during any conversation. Also note to self always pack more than one pair of shorts!!

EJ COMMENTS
The Peruvians seem really friendly. I had some teenage boys in hysterics after they called out to me in English and I replied in Spanish. Then on the beach 4 little girls around the ages of 8 - 10 hovered around me for a while and when gathering enough courage asked if they could take a picture of themselves with me, once they taken a few, they ran off giggling. I then realised I was the only blonde on the beach - not sure whether to be flattered or to be thought as a freak show...

Lima remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The uneventful evening past and after dropping off our hire car we were ready to take in the culture delights of Melbourne. We explored the iconic town hall buildings and the Victorian Flinders Street station.

However, we both felt unsure of where to start or what to see. We also felt slightly tired of arriving in a new city and having to see all the major attractions like we had done for the last year.

We therefore decided to split up for an hour, with E-J deciding to explore the shops, whilst Sam went to the iconic home of Australian cricket, The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

Sam took a tour around the 95,000 seater stadium and listened with strong interest, whilst E-J enjoyed the various different fashion houses of Melbourne.

An early night was taken that evening as E-J went to bed with a terrible cold and Sam went to sleep listening to E-J doing her best Darth Vader impression.

Friday morning in St Kilda was spent looking lovingly at all the fine bakeries and enjoying the fresh croissants with a great cup of coffee, which is all part of the Melbourne cafe culture lifestyle. In the afternoon we took the local transport of a tram into the city and visited the National Art Museum of Victoria. Feeling slightly cultured out we met our good friends Bre and Mark in the city for a few drinks.

Mark and Bre were friends that we had met whilst doing the Inca trail almost a year ago and Bre, in her home town was an expert in the local bars of the city and she also managed to find us a fine Chinese restaurant. Having enjoyed a few pints, some cocktails, a couple of shots and two bottles of wine we were all feeling fine!

Surprisingly the night ended in a slight blur, in one of Melbourne's more glamourus bars. Perched atop of Melbourne’s beautiful city skyline, the staff at the Blue Diamond bar were relieved to shout the words "last orders" as four intoxicated people were the last to leave the penthouse bar, taking the lift back down the fifteen floors.

It would have been foolish for either of us to have made any plans for the Saturday morning as we both woke up feeling a bit under the weather, at around midday. So with are last full day in Melbourne we managed to enjoy a fantastic pizza and wander around the shops of St Kilda before E-J went off to meet her friend Tracy for a drink while Sam found himself back in a pub with Mark and Bre.

Having once again over induldged in far too many drinks and enjoyed our evening, conversing with many of Mark and Bre's good friends, we thought that sleep was a good idea before our early morning flight back to Sydney so we staggered back to our hostel just before four o'clock!

Amazingly at seven o'clock that morning we managed to wake up, grab all our belongings and make it to the airport in time, although are brains were still probably in the bars of Melbourne!

Sam's Comments: With fewer slot machines, tucked away pubs, green parks and vibrant music scene Melbourne felt almost like an English city.

E-J's Comments: Despite being absolutely freezing, Melbourne is a great place, with lots of great sights cultural things to do. We had an absoutley brilliant time with our firends seeing Melbourne by night too!

Melbourne remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The weekend before we set off on the Great Ocean Road, we had friends from New Zealand visiting us, who we had originally met in South America. The weekend had been an incredibly indulgent one with far too much rich food, over refreshing amounts of alcohol and plenty of competitive card games. So, on Monday, waking up at 5:30 am to catch our flight, we realised that perhaps the indulgence of the last three days had been a little excessive on our bodies!

We made it to the airport 45 minutes before departure and somehow found ourselves running for the plane. With Sam always insisting on being there at least an hour and half before departure, this early morning rush did not make him too happy!!

We arrived into Melbourne at 8:30 am to be greeted by a blast of strong wind and cold weather. Having collected the car and found out a bit about where we were going, we began our trip.

Our first stop was Torquay, which is known as the surf capital of Australia, and also home to the final scene of the iconic film, Point Break. Although on arrival, we were more concerned with finding somewhere to eat. Tired and both slightly irritable, we managed to find a small cafe on the high street. On entering the cafe, we couldn't understand why the waitresses and waiter were looking at Sam in a half fascinated, half peculiar way. As Sam ordered the breakfast, the cafe staff all huddled around the till, to then look rather disappointedly at Sam. Sam initially thought that perhaps scrambled egg and sausages was the wrong thing to order, but then was quickly informed that they had mistakenly thought he was a contestant from Australian Idol called "Wes"!! After finishing our breakfast, E-J and the celebrity got back in there Hyundi Getz and headed for Bells beach.

Despite the wind blowing with great force into the beach, we both were still able get a sense of how colourful and picturesque the beach could be. However, after a few minutes of enjoying the view, E-J found the cold and Sam's constant quotes from the film, Point Break too unbearable to stand and headed back to the car.

Driving west towards the border of South Australia, we arrived in the sleepy seaside town of Anglesea. Sam couldn't quite believe his luck when E-J said she wanted to go to the Anglesea Golf Club. It all became apparent why, when E-J became all excited when she saw a row kangaroos lying on the green at the first tee. Desperate to see some more, we drove around the back of the course and at the bottom of Birdy drive, E-J managed to sneak onto the golf course and see some wild kangaroos, lazing on the grass, taking cover from the terrible golfers.

Having both enjoyed the experience of kangaroos in the wild, we set off in search of koalas. Sadly, we were unable to locate them, but managed to enjoy a fine cup of tea at the Split Point lighthouse. By this stage in the day we were both totally exhausted, but felt proud we had achieved as much in the first day of our trip, so decided that Lorne would be our final stop that day.

We arrived into Lorne and quickly found a lovely bed and breakfast, where our large nosed host Neville, made us feel very welcome. After an hour of rest we drove up to Erskine Falls. It was lovely to appreciate the 30 metre waterfall all by ourselves, but sadly it was not as spectacular as the many other natural heritage sites we have experienced already along our trip.

After a brief and blustery lookout at the towns observation point called Teddy's lookout, we headed back into town for a light supper before retiring to our charming bed and breakfast. Out of the strong wind and thrashing rain we sat down in front of the log fire and enjoyed a good cup of tea and while having our usual argument over the television channel.

After having a brilliant frie-up, we thanked Neville and headed off with the intention of doing a long walk around the Sheoak Falls. With intermittent bursts of torential downfalls and blustery winds, E-J still insisted on doing a walk, so a compromise was made with a 30 minute walk to the falls. Reluctantly Sam agreed although he wasn't too impressed with the view!

Next stop was Grey River Road, just off Kennett River. This top tip was from our friendly host Neville, who claimed that this was a great stop for seeing Koala's. As we drove up the road we would spot the large furry animals sleeping in the trees, this delighted E-J who loved there soft, cute and cuddly toy-like appearance.

Our next stop was the Cape Otway lighthouse. The 18 metre lighthouse is an iconic feature, as it protecting the many various ships that tried to sail accross the tempestuous bass strait. It was also the first sight of Australia for many imigrating English families after three months at sea.

We climbed up to the top of the lighthouse and took in the view of the Otway region.

With a strong easterly wind and the waves crashing in against the coastline we gained a idea of how hard it must have been for the tall ships not to end up smashed against the jagged rocks.

With little else to see in the Otway area we drove on to Port Campbell. Our first stop in the area was the Gibson steps. Sadly the walkway down to the beach was partially closed, however we were still able to take in the ginormous limestone cliffs.

A further five kilometres up the road we arrived at the Port Campbell national park. This is home to a collection of natural limestone stacks standing just off the shore line known as the Twelve Apostles, although there are currently only eight apostles left.

We admired this popular tourist attraction for a good fifteen minutes before heading back to the car to warm up as it was freezing! The other reason for remaining in the car was due to E-J insisting on seeing the apostles at sunset, but with huge black clouds hogging the skyline and a bitter sea breeze, Sam became slightly impatient having to wait for a sunset that he was sure would never arrive!

With the sun finally down and no sunset, we headed off to Port Campbell to find a warm place to rest and sleep.

Awaking early on the Wednesday morning, we headed back to the Port Campbell National Park to view the other limestone gorges. Along a walk, we were able to get down to the beach and with the crashing waves coming in, we could really appreciate the enormous limestone caves and gorges and the power of the sea.

The rest of the morning was searching for the natural arch known as London Bridge. Sadly we never found it, and so headed off to Melbourne. We think the reason why we didn't see it was due to the fact that it collapsed in 1990!!

Sam's Comments: With the weather being so cold during the trip I can only take the positive that it is good training for the English winter!

E-J's Comments: I really enjoyed the beautiful landscape, despite battling the elements. I still can't believe how cute koalas are, I was so tempted to smuggle one home, but I don't think Sam would be able to put up with its smelliness and constant need to sleep and eat - sound familiar to anyone else...!

The Great Ocean Road remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The night before our departure, the ever excited E-J struggled to sleep and constantly enjoyed asking Sam various pointless questions throughout the early hours of the morning. Sam was not impressed with E-J asking him " Which plane breakfast are you going to have, cooked or continental?"

On Tuesday morning with an early start, we traveled to Perth. It was a smooth journey with one exception, E-J getting agitatedwith not having her own TV screen and then not having any sound through her headset, meaning that she may miss the inflight movie "Sex in the City". The experienced air hostess saw E-J's plane-rage temper growing to an alarming level, so quickly moved us before things boiled over.

Once in Perth we had a four hour wait until we finally caught our connection to Broome. E-J has now been to Perth 3 times, but never got further than the airport!

We arrived in Broome just before 7pm, to enjoy a most spectacular sunset on landing.

As soon as we set foot off the plane, we were immediately blasted with the heat and tropical feel of Broome and E-J knew we had come to the right place. Sam just complained that it was too hot!

Due to the expense of our flights, we decided to stay in a hostel, but we had planned it so that we stayed in one just by the Beach. We caught a taxi-bus to our hostel and prepared ourselves for the dorm that we had agreed to stay in and yes, it was primitive, with boys clothes, and food everywhere. E-J was just relieved not to find any insects and rodents joining in the party.

That night we relaxed at the hostel, exhausted from the long journey and with the two hour time difference we were in bed by 10pm.

The next day we were up early to find that the sky was overcast. E-J was a little disappointed by this, although it was still incredibly warm. Rather than immediately hit the beach, we decided to catch a bus into town. On the way in, we were immediately struck by the vivid colours, with the redness of the earth and the luscious green of the trees and piercing blues of the sea.

Having wandered around the town for a bit and looked in a few art galleries, we stopped at a cider bar and enjoyed a refreshing pint of home brewed Cider. We sat there for a while, enjoying the incredible views and the powerful colours of the landscape.

We then headed back to the hostel, grabbed our beach stuff and relaxed on the beautiful Cable Beach. Again, we were not disappointed by the sights.

We spent the rest of the day, lying on the beach, indulging in our books and soaking up the sun. It was paradise. Then, hearing so much about the famous sunsets, we sat and waited for it to arrive.

The sunset took quite a while and we started to become a little impatient and playful.

Finally, we sat there and enjoyed the beautiful colours.

That night, we went out to the only local bar. We enjoyed (as always) a good drink and a good meal and then headed to bed.

The next day was scorching hot, so E-J decided to head straight to the beach while Sam headed into town to do a few chores before meeting her.

We enjoyed a nutritious lunch of rice crackers, cheese and ham on the beach, and boiled in the 30 degree heat, with occasional ventures into the sea to cool off.

Again we waited on the beach until sunset and took in the beautiful views.

Broome is well known for the Boab tree. There trunks store water meaning that they can survive during a drought. We where fascinated by there size and shape.

There is a Boab tree that can be found in the Kimberleys, which was treated as a place to keep prisoners inside its trunk. It is an impressive 14 metres in diameter and is now a registered aboriginal site and is of cultural significance to local tribes.

Saturday was market day and E-J, always keen for local markets wanted to explore what crafts and trinkets there were to buy. She became mesmerised by all the pearls, which Sam had to steer her away from! With a few gifts we headed back to the beach for another intensive afternoon, battling the 30 degree heat whilst turning pages on our books.

The next day followed in the same routine as before, with an indulgent and relaxing day on the beach.

Then in the evening we moved over to the right side of the beach (which is also the nudist beach during the day) to watch the Camel rides against the sunset.

As the camel's would pass us, Sam would break into song "Camel Time" to the melody of M C Hammer's "Hammer Time!".

After E-J had taken a thousand pictures of the camels and Sam, had really had enough of these smelly creatures we headed up to the bar just above the beach to have a drink and enjoy the last of the sunset. The colours were incredible.

That night we followed our usual tradition of ending the evening with an good meal.

The last day was again spent on Cable Beach, which we decided was one of the five favourites of the trip. Buy now we had both got through three books and pleased with our tans (well, E-J anyway).

That evening we enjoyed the last of our beautiful sunsets together, with a couple of beers, in an isolated spot along the beach without another person in sight.

It was a fantastic way to finish the already amazing trip.

Sam's comments: A fantastic place, which only wants me to see more of the West Coast.

E-J' s comments: My favourite place in Australia. I've never seen such incredible colours and felt so happy and relaxed.

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E-J, determined not to get this one wrong, managed to negotiate a good deal with a motel on Hastings Street, which is full of restaurants, boutique shops and easy access to the beach.

Having found our accommodation easily, we decided to settle on the main beach. The calmness of the water and the blue skies meant that we were able to really enjoy this laid back, little town.

However, the ever impatient Sam decided that after an hour and a half's sunbathing he wanted to do a bit of exploring, so we decided to take a walk within the national park to the right of this main beach. The walk we chose hugged the coastal line of the park, which meant we were able to appreciate the views of the calm sea, little beaches and bays along the way.

Having walked for a good couple of hours we decided to reward ourselves with a refreshing drink when we got back and then ended the evening in a pleasant, little sushi place.

The following day we allowed ourselves a lazy morning having had really early starts from the beginning of our travels and had a quick breakfast on Hastings street before heading to the beach. After an hour or so on the beach, the weather started to cloud up a bit, so we decided to put the time into deciding on where to go next, using the internet. Though after an hour of excessive web surfing, E-J was still in her same, unmistakably, indecisive mood. Sam decided to take the present into his control and hired a car for the next two days to get us down to Bryon Bay and then back up to Brisbane. The rest of the day followed the same as before, with a walk in the National Park, stumbling a cross a little snake, which E-J made such a noise about and then ending the evening with a few drinks and a good meal.

The next day we were up early and after a quick coffee on the beach we set off to Bryon Bay, in our snazy, upgraded car, which made both of us feel very grown up.

After three trips to the same roundabout, we finally left Noosa thanks to E-J's less than helpful map reading and travelled down the Sunshine Coast. By 1:30 we decided to make a brief stop in Surfer's Paradise, just to see what it was all about. The stop lasted all of hour and truly Sam would have been happier with ten minutes.

The place was an array of sky scrapers and revolting flashing neon lights. The place looked as though it had been a rushed attempt to make a booming and busy city. There was also a level of Vegas gone terribly wrong and we were very happy to leave the place after a brief bite to eat.

We arrived in Bryon Bay around 4pm and after a quick and approving inspection of the beach, we decided to look into accommodation. We got as far as the beach front motel and the Main Beach Hotel and decided to push the budget once more and stay at the lovely Beach Hotel. This time we were not disappointed in our indulgence.

The room was massive and it had the most gorgeous little patio leading out onto the garden and from there you could see the sea. In love with our little haven we were quite tempted to spend the rest of the evening there, but managed to drag ourselves away from the delights of the place and explore the buzzing little town, full of shops, bars and restaurants.

After a cocktail and a delicious Thai meal (something that has become rather essential to our diets), we headed back to the bar by the beach front and watched a good Reggae band until it was time to call it a night.

The next day we walked along the beautiful beach, which E-J wanted to spend a lot longer on, but Sam obsessed by his schedule of beating the traffic, insisted on a brief walk before we drove round to the other beach below the lighthouse. Having parked up and surveyed the beach, Sam wanted to hop back in the car and make our way to Brisbane. This was when E-J put her foot down or rather stamped it down and insisted on taking a walk up to the lighthouse and appreciating the views around, rather then just driving from one place to the other, only to jump out of the car for a second for a quick postcard photo of the surroundings.

Sam, realising that E-J (as always) was not going to back down on this one, marched very promptly and quickly up the hill, leaving E-J to breathlessly try and catch up with him.

Once we were at the top, it was worth it, as the views were spectacular and we were even able to spot a whale splashing around in the sea having a "whale" of a time.

The drive to Brisbane was only memorable for an E-J tantrum. However by the time we reached the town we were both excited to see our friends Ben and Veronica, who we had originally met in the jungle of Bolivia and who lived in Brisbane.

Having pushed the boat out the previous night, we found the cheapest backpackers accommodation we could, which was right by the railway. The room literally shook and rattled each time the train went by, like in one of those old movies.

After a little exploring of Brisbane, we went to meet Ben and Veronica in a bar where Ben and his band were performing. The band played the Blues and they were incredible!

It was so great to be reunited with our friends once more, we spent the rest of the night reminiscing and drinking far too much!!.

E-J, a little out of practise had to call it a night at twelve, while Sam and the others battled on, well into the early hours of the morning.

The next day, Veronica met up with us for a late breakfast. After a much needed fry up, Veronica really kindly showed us around Brisbane, pointing out the different features and taking us to the top of a hill where you could get a good panoramic view of the entire city with the river meandering all the way through it.

We then walked around the botanic gardens, which were absolutely beautiful, with an abundance of trees, flowers, ponds and wildlife. We also all had a bit of a fright, when Sam almost stepped on a snake! E-J was the one to spot it and after shrieking "Snake, Snake!!!" it hissed venomously at Sam and then slivered into the cracks of a wall and lay there watching us until we had gone.

(if you look really carefully, you can see it's tail slivering into the rocks)

Veronica then dropped us off at the South bank and we said our goodbyes and then wandered along the rivers edge and around the art gallery until it was time to catch our flight.

It was so easy making our way to the airport, by the efficient transport of Brisbane (which is more than we can say for Sydney) and ended up arriving at the airport really early. To our luck we were put on an earlier flight and before we knew it we were back in Sydney.

Sam's comments: It was great to see Ben and Veronica although my head wasn't too great the next day

E-J's comments: We had a great time chilling out on the beaches, enjoying the walks and seeing our friends again. I'm a little disappointed with my poor stamina when it comes to alcohol, I guess I'll have to get some more practise in before we return to England.

Noosa, Byron Bay & Brisbane remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Having spent 14 and half hours on the greyhound bus, we were relieved to finally arrive at Hervey Bay. Sam's highlight was helping the bus driver change a flat tyre. E-J was just extremely pleased to have survived the crazy journey having experienced some hairy moments, including having her head smashed against the window when the bus driver (who looked uncannily like Frank Butcher) accelerated a little too fast around a bend.

However, when we did finally arrive, we hadn't expected to find the place quite so spread out, so we quickly jumped in one of the backpacker transfer buses and headed to the cheapest hostel we could find, to make up for the loses we had made over the last few days. The hostel we stayed in was very basic, but the one thing it had was the kindest and most helpful lady on the reception, which made all the difference.

Having organised with her for the Fraser Island tour company to pick us up from the hostel the next day, we set about exploring the place.

The beach itself was very pretty and deserted, but the town only seemed to have one main strip of extremely depressing shops and cafes. Spending all of two hours wandering around the beach and the streets, we realised there really wasn't that much more to do here, so set about spending a bit of time on the net trying to plan our next part of the trip.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, but we found an amazing Thai restaurant for supper, which really was the highlight of the day.

We were up early the following day, excited to be visiting the largest sand island in the world. It stretches over 123 kilometers in length and 22 kilometers at its widest point. We were greeted by a friendly coach driver who took us to the harbour, then after a pleasant but cold boat crossing we found ourselves on Fraser Island and started to make our way to the tour coach, which would be taking us around the island for the day. E-J had hoped to spend a few days camping on the island with a group, driving around in a 4WD, but Sam had put his foot down, saying he was not in the mood for camping with a pack of nineteen year olds, so we had comprised on the one day guided tour.

When we entered the coach and found the average age of people on the bus to be in the 60-70 year old mark, we realised we may have made a slight error with the type of tour. This was then confirmed when the bus driver proceeded to sing poems and rhymes about his entire life story to us.

This sent E-J into an emotional downturn or what is commonly known as a tantrum! She really didn't want to hear about how the bus driver's fat mother-in-law had been mistaken for a whale and pushed into the sea, or how ever the silly story went. Sam on the other hand wanted to stay positive. Our first stop was the Coloured Sands (The Coloured Pinnacles), which were made up of 72 different colours of sand. On arriving, there was the usual rush of everyone trying to push their way to the look out point and take a photo without any other tourist managing to walk into view. Although we were not mesmerised by this first attraction, we found light relief in having a few minutes away from our Sean Connery look-alike tour guide.

As you can see, our moods were of similar variety to the contrast of Coloured Sands:

After a brief photo session, we got back on the old pensioners bus and headed for Eli Creek. During the warmer time of year, many people like to wade up the crystal clear waters and then let the light rapids take them back down again, which leads onto the seventy five mile beach, but with the weather being slightly blustery, Sam decided only to walk down whilst E-J took in the views.

With Sam's shorts now soaked at the bottom and E-J's mood not improving, our next stop was the Mahemo Shipwreck along 75-mile beach. This ship was originally built in Scotland in 1905 and had been a luxury cruise ship sailing between Sydney and Auckland. She had also been the fastest turbine steamer of her time. However when she crashed in 1935, she then became target practise for the airforce during the Second World War as well as practise for the Z force, in planting limpet mines to her and blowing them up, which meant there really wasn't that much left of her to see.

The Seventy Five Mile beach was beautiful, but it was windy and cold that day, which meant we couldn't stand out there for too long. Also it is a highway, which means you have to be careful of all the coaches and 4WD, which are constantly zooming by.

Aware that the tide was quickly coming in, the tour guide hurried us all to take our photos and jump back on the bus. The journey back to the island resort for lunch didn't help morale when a huge wave hit the side of the bus and a blast of water sprayed through the bottom or side of the coach, drenching Sam and the man in front! It was the only moment of the day when E-J was in uncontrollable laughter! Sam just tried to dry off from this unexpected car wash!

Our half hour break for lunch was light relief from the rest of the group, although the disappointing food was little comfort for either of us.

With mild indigestion and the bus driver hurrying us all up, the Saga group and ourselves boarded the bus bound for a nature walk around the island. Taking in the walk, we were told how the Australian's had invented camouflage, which was due to them noticing how trees found on Fraser Island had camouflaged bark.

We were also told of all the deadly snakes and insects which also lived here and E-J was rather relieved not to be spending the night there after all.

Our last part of the trip took us to Lake Mackenzie. This clear blue water lake is ringed with the whitest and finest sand ever. we were told that if we were wearing any gold or silver to rub this sand into it, as it would bring out the shine. We enjoyed the fine sight until two minutes into arriving, a few drops of rain started to pour down.

After a quick photo or two we boarded the bus one final time and suffered some further painful poems from our driver. We couldn't wait to get on the ferry! Just when we thought things couldn't get any worst, the passengers at the front of the bus broke into jovial song, "for he's a jolly good driver, for he's a jolly good driver". This was the final straw to our disastrous tour and we just wanted out!

We sat on the ferry reflecting on our trip with relief and slight disappointment. We both knew that the only way to salvage the rest of the day was to enjoy another fine Thai meal!!

Sam's Comments: The Thai meal was the only high point on a disappointing part of the trip.

E-J's Comments: I was really sad to be so disappointed by Fraser Island, as I had heard so many good things about it. I found it to be so commercialised now, like some kind of Disney ride - here is this, here is that, snap snap of the photos and onto the next sight. I think I would have got more out of it had I either been a 70 year old pensioner or an 18 year just wanting to get drunk on the beach.

Hervey Bay and Fraser Island remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The reason for coming to here was to explore the Whitsunday Islands. They where discovered on June 4th, 1770, when Captain James Cook sailed through the islands on his voyage up Australia’s East Coast. Previously he named the Island chain collectively as the Cumberland Islands. Sam noticed this Cumbrian connection as many names of the Islands were places familiar to him, naturally Sam was very proud!

The greyhound bus trip from Cairns to Arilie beach wasn't too bad apart from the last 5 hours. This was due to two drunks shouting and spilling beer on the isle next to Sam. He therefore thought the name “grog hound” was more appropriate. On arriving, we had a coffee by the beach to try and stay awake, but realised that our great idea of putting the savings made by using a bus rather than a plane to arrive may have been a bit of an error. This was due to the fact that we didn't realise we had booked into a resort on one of the Islands, which was a ferry ride away from where our tour started the next day. In hindsight we should have looked more into this and not at the pictures of the resort called “Daydream Island Resort and Spa”!

We explored our secluded Island Resort and then settled down to what E-J described as “much needed sunbathing”although this was more suitable to one than the other!

Sam, tired of sunbathing after all of 5 minutes decided to play the resorts 19 hole crazy golf course, whilst E-J enjoy some quiet time in the Sun. The evening passed with an unimpressive cocktail for E-J and a disappointing meal for Sam before an early night in anticipation of our boat trip the following morning.

After a ferry and a taxi we arrived at Abel Point Marina in time to start our 3 day, 2 night tour. As we have now done plenty of tours Sam was rather cautious of spending so much time on a boat with 16 unknowns. Although the optimistic E-J kept telling him it would be fine. Sam's confidence didn't improve on hearing a German girl shout out “I love sailing!”.

After the usual safety debrief and details on how not to block the loo we set off on our 67ft ocean racing trimaran in good strong winds.

The freedom of the trimaran (catamaran to E-J) ensured that we could spread out across various parts of the boat, this was particularly appealing to Sam who was his usual "tour sociable self"!

After lunch at Cataran Bay it was a smooth sail down wind to Tongue Bay. The evening was spent chatting with fellow crew members before going to sleep in the hull.

The morning wake call of the Anchor being winched up sounded far worse than any alarm clock and ensured that we were out of bed first and looking at the approach to one of the premier icons of the Whitsundays, Whitehaven beach. Sadly the overcast conditions meant that we didn't enjoy it in its full glory.

After two hours relaxing on the beach it was all aboard for Narra Inlet. We enjoyed scuba diving, appreciating the reef and fish, although we both felt spoilt from our previous experience in Port Douglas.

We moured just around the corner from here to take in the sunset and made sure that all the alcohol that everyone had brought on board was finished.

Our final morning saw us wake up to clouds and no wind, which meant we where disappointedly unable to sail back to Airlie Beach. After breakfast and a few cups of coffee we headed over to Langford Beach. With us arriving at low tide it meant that we could walk along the full beach and taking the various stones and shells that lied beautifully on the beach.

Although we where reluctant to snorkel here, shouts from our Yorkshire crew members of "Turtle, turtle" had us both rushing into our wet suits and grabbing our gear quicker than you can say Yorkshire pudding! Not realising the coldness of the water we spent ten minutes chasing this little creature around the bay, before the little turtle got fed up of people swimming after him and laid to rest under a piece of coral.

We climbed on board and after lunch Sam enjoyed one final snorkel at Horse-shoe bay before we motored back to Abel Point Marina.

As we came in to the Marina we both felt very relaxed and refreshed. The thought of a nice cold beer was very appealing to us both and with the tour company providing us with a few free jugs of beer we were keen not to miss out.

However we failed to realise that the last ferry back to our accommodation was already leaving as we arrived back from the tour! We where stuck with 3 days dirty clothes and no where to stay. With our bus tickets non-refundable for the next day, Daydream Island had quickly turned to Nightmare Island!

We booked into a hostel in Airlie beach and took consolidation with the complimentary beers that we shared with three entertaining Irish lads, after a trip to the local night club along with a few more beers we fell straight to sleep.

With sore heads, the next day was not a particularly memorable one. We met up with our Irish friend for a much needed fry up breakfast before saying our goodbyes.

Then, as E-J relaxed on the beach with a magazine and a smoothie, Sam had the task of catching a ferry and picking up the bags from Nightmare Island without any refund. Reunited at 4pm, E-J having had a rather pleasant day and Sam struggling with all the bags, we prepared as well as we could for the 14 hour bus journey which would take us down to Hervey Bay.

Sam's comments: I really enjoyed my time on the boat, I suppose our travel organising skills are a bit rusty!

E-J's Comments: Too bad about our idea of spending the money wisely... We were lucky to have a good group of people on the boat, just shame about the weather. I guess it means we'll just have to return another time. The night out in Airlie Beach was a good laugh though.

Airlie Beach & The Whitsundays remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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At 7am on Thursday we were back to being backpacker again. Well, without the backpacks (instead a massive bag for E-J and reasonably small bag for Sam). Also, having saved a bit and E-J getting a nice bonus at the end of her job, we decided to see the rest of Australia in style!

First stop was Cairns, actually Port Douglas, as we'd heard better reports about that place. So after a flight into Cairns we caught a bus up to Port Douglas. By the time we got there it was almost 4pm, so we quickly organised a Great Barrier Reef tour for Saturday and explored the town, which consisted mainly of a busy strip of shops, bars and restaurants, a four mile beach on one side and a mariner the other.

Port Douglas is also very pretty as the streets are stripped with palm trees.

The beach was quite lovely, but a little windy. Sadly we have been so spoiled by the Brazilian beaches that our expectations are incredibly high now, but generally we were very happy with the place.

The next day, we headed to Habitat, which is an animal Sanctuary, that E-J insisted on seeing. The morning was spent having an amazing breakfast of everything you could eat while birds wondered and flew around. Also if you were unfortunate you'd end up having to fight for your breakfast with the birds.

Next, E-J insisted on having a cheesy picture with a koala. The Koala was both heavy and smelly and typically was a lot more photogenic than E-J!

Sam also thought Koala's reminded him a lot of his twin brother, as they sleep for 19 hours of a day and eat for up to 3 hours!

We then continued to walk around the sanctuary, stroking the kangaroos and interacting with other birds and little crocs. It was a very enjoyable morning and we both made sure we took full advantage of the eat as much as you like breakfast to the point where we found ourselves practically rolling out of the place!

Next, back in Port Douglas, we made plans to hire a car for Sunday and travel up to Cape Tribulation for the day. The evening we indulged in some amazing seafood and then enjoyed a bit of the Olympics back in our room.

Saturday, we were up early and excited to start our tour of The Great Barrier Reef. We were promptly collected by our coach and then driven about 100m to the mariner, it hardly seemed worth it, but we found the ride rather amusing.

Having got a few seats at the back of the boat, we basked in the sunshine on the way to the reef. We were lucky with the day as it was a clear blue sky and not too windy. The place that we were heading to on the reef was Agincourt and it was about an hour and half to get there. The day involved three different sights around there.

The reef is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms and we immediately became mesmerised by its sight, with the incredibly turquoise water against the sandy looking coral.

When we jumped into the water, we were amazed by the colours of the reef and fish. The reef is full of stunning, blues, purples, yellows, reds and the fishes are equally beautiful.

What is also amazing to see is just how tame the fish have become to humans. They seem to accept them as part of the reef and are quite happy to swim straight past your nose! We really thought we where trapped in another world.

On the second sight we were able to come across a few little nemo (clown) fish hanging out in the reef.

Also, it was so special to see the fish playing and chasing each other and nibbling away on the reef. There were so many shapes and sizes. Apparently there are over 1500 types of fish in The Great Barrier Reef.

The third sight was the largest sight and is known as turtle bay. We became slightly nervous when the first turtle to be spotted has a massive chunk out of him and when asked what had happened, we were told a tiger shark had got him!

This sight had huge fish in it, the size of about half a metre, swimming in a shoal together, which was slightly intimidating! There was also a famous fish there called Mari, who was literally the biggest fish around that would follow us around hoping to be fed.

The best part was when we spotted a lone turtle cruising along, over the reef by himself.

After the final spot we had a good cup of tea to warm ourselves up and then headed back to Port Douglas.

Thoroughly impressed by our tour and the incredible sights we had seen, we ended the night with a hefty pizza back at our accommodation, washed down with a bottle of wine - bliss.

The next day we picked up the hire car at 9am and hit the road for Cape Tribulation. On driving there it was incredible to see all these huge mountains covered in thick, green, lush rainforest.

When we got there, we decided to do a canopy, elevated walk around a place, which ended up being rather expensive for what it was, but it was great to walk in between all the rainforest and see the views from above all the trees. The place also had overflow of information, so that by the end we were exhausted from everything that we had heard and read during the walk.

By 12:00 we were at the pick up location for the jungle surfing, which basically involved being swung through the trees of ropes, similar to a pulley system, but with a harness around you.

We found this tour to be reasonably good, although our expectations had hoped for more of a thrill. We did enjoy the few jokey things we did, such as E-J pretending to run through the sky and Sam giving a good high five with the guide at the end!

After this tour we headed up to Cape Tribulation beach were we had a little picnic and soaked in the views. It was incredible to be in the heart of the heritage rain forest, with The Great Barrier Reef so close by.

After an hour on the beach we headed to the famous Daintree ice cream shop were they make their ice cream out of the natural fruits of their farm. It was delicious!

After this we had a quick peep at Alexander's Range and then headed to Mossman Gorge. By the time we reached Mossman, it was 5:45 pm and beginning to get dark. We would have liked to have walked around there, but with the light fading we decided not to push our luck!

That evening we enjoyed a few more victories for the British in the Olympics and headed out for a good meal and a few drinks. By 10:30 pm we were exhausted, so decided to call it a day.

The following day we checked out of our apartment and had hoped to spend the day on the beach, but sadly it was rather cloudy and windy and after an hour on the beach, getting covered in sand and shivering with cold, we decided to call the sunbathing a day!

The rest of the day was spent sorting out the rest of our trip and wandering around the Port Douglas until we caught to bus to Cairns to catch the dreaded Greyhound down to Airlie beach.

Sam's Comments: The reef was one of the best experiences I have had, it was good to see that even underwater E-J loved posing for the camera!

E-J's comments: It has been a great start to the trip. I have been really blown away by The Great Barrier Reef, it really was a lot better than I expected.

Port Douglas and The Great Barrier Reef remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The week days were spent. pretty much like those in England, we'd both
drag ourselves out of bed by 7:00 and return to the flat around 7/8pm.
Occasionally we'd meet up with a few friends, but we tended to keep
ourselves to ourselves, saving to get the opportunity to explore the
rest of Australia for the end of the trip.

Sam took full advantage of the overtime of his job working six days a
week and clocking up a total of 64 hours a week. E-J on the other hand
was initially having doubts about the job as it took a while for the
commercial she was suppose to be working on to finally confirm. Until
then she just did random things around the office, questioning whether
it was really worth it.

We had a few fun events over the weekends, such as Liz Richardson's
birthday party at an interesting German restaurant along with a visit
to Taronga Zoo.

We also over indulged in a few beers with our fellow Inca Trail friend
Mark and reuniting with another Inca Trail friend, Brie, when she came
to Sydney for her birthday.

It was also great to see Helen Brain along with Sam's old flatmate
Stuart, we met up with them on several occasions.

Then mid June Sam returned to the UK for Bubba and Erica's wedding and
was able to catch up with family and friends.

During the two weeks of Sam's departure E-J's job really started to
kick into gear and she found herself back to working the crazy hours
that production demands.

The job had a few perks too, the best being the last part of the
twelve day shoot, which took E-J to Kununurra in Western Australia.

This was the same part of Australia where some of the latest Baz
Luhrmann film, "Australia" was filmed.

The landscape was utterly stunning and words simply cannot justify its
beauty to I hope these pictures can.

The second location for filming. was reached by helicopter, so E-J
again got the opportunity to see the magnificent landscape from above.

She also ended up having to sleep out in the wilderness with all the
crew in order to be able to catch first light the next day.

(Helicopter arriving at first light)

Everyone had to sleep in swags, which are basically a cover for a
sleeping bag. It was pretty unbelievable and special experience to
stay and sleep in a spiritual, Aboriginal site, looking up at the
thousands of stars in the sky before falling asleep.

E-J also found herself the stand in, which meant standing in cold
water for an hour while they lit the area and found the right camera
angle and lens. She was then put in a plastic bin liner to warm up.

After this epic journey, not only in destination, but also from the
sheer magnitude of the job, E-J said goodbye to her fellow work
friends and we embarked on our travels once more.

Sam's comments: Sydney was an interesting place to work and get to
know. Glad to see my old friend Stuart who was a great mate to have in
an unknown city. I look forward to hosting him when he comes to England.

E-J's comments: Initially I found it quite hard living in Sydney,
particular since we didn't do much during the weekends as we were
trying to save. Also going back to work with the chaotic last minute
changes that constantly happen in a commercial production company was
a lot more than I expected. However, it turned out to be the best
opportunity ever, it was an incredible shoot to work on and fabulous
to be a part of such a talented and diverse crew. It also really made
me enjoy my time off again!

3 and 1/2 Months Working in Sydney remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Although there where a few distractions, Sam enjoyed his tour of the famous Sydney Cricket ground, he still struggles to understand why E-J wasn't keen to see the Don Bradman pavillion.

On Wednesday, we did a walk from Coogee beach all the way to Bondi beach, stopping first at Coogee and then at Bronte to soak up the sun, before finally finishing after a 3km hike with a delicious mango and passionfruit boost juice.

The evening was spent with E-J's great friend's Liz and Dave where wine and lovely food was enjoyed.

Friday arrived with confirmation that Sam had a job, so we had to deal with admin, like setting up bank accounts and buying appropriate clothes to work in. As the day wore on, Sam realised that his short lived retirement was over!

The weekend was spent exploring the various areas of Sydney with Liz and Dave. Although the number one priority was trying to find a proper pub, which we were struggling to locate, much to the annoyance of both of us.

Sunday, E-J met Kathy and her cousins in Manly, while Sam prepared himself for his first day of work since over six months ago.

Monday was a strange day as Sam prepared himself for an interesting day in the office. E-J spent the day in Bondi Junction, waiting for an interview with a production company, which then got cancelled at the last minute.

Tuesday, Sam went off to work as normal and E-J went off for a recruitment meeting. It all seemed a bit strange, having travelled for so long and seen so many incredible sights, to suddenly start to build up a routine again and get back to the mundane way of life. However that was short lived when Sam returned home early on Tuesday having being told on day two, that there was not enough work to keep him there!

Wednesday, E-J had her production interview, which looked like a potentially interesting job that could lead into September. This however, would change all our plans, so we had to make a big decision as to whether we were both prepared to go with this. That afternoon, Sam contacted more recruitment companies and managed to find another job, starting the following Wednesday. E-J went off to the Australian Museum, to clear her head and check out all the scary and most dangerous insects and animals that can be found in Australia. after this. She continued to escape the city by walking around the incredible botanical gardens. Stopping for a coffee, she managed to share her table with two beautiful birds.

These birds can be seen quite commonly around parts of Sydney, although they do get very hyperactive if they eat too much sugar!

The next few days were filled with pretty miserable weather, so we amused ourselves by going to museums. E-J, also dragged Sam around endless shops trying to find the right style sunglasses. Sam lost interest and his recommendations were slightly concerning?!

Saturday, Sam was invited to the horse races by his old housemate from London, who has been living in Australia for the last five years. Not only did Sam find himself in the VIP section with free drinks on tap, but was also surrounded by the most beautiful models and a few Australian soap stars. While Sam was mixing with the rich and glamorous, E-J and her great friend Liz, went to Balmoral and had a lazy lunch in the gorgeous little restaurant called Bathers, where they could look out onto the beach as the ate. Then after this they walked along a beautiful coastal walk, from Balmoral, all the way to Taronga Zoo. Sunday was spent catching up with EJ's family, Michael, Kathy and the Cousins.

The next few days we did some more touristy things until Sam started his second job on the Wednesday. The rest of the week seemed to drift slowly for E-J as she patiently waited to hear about the potential job at the production company she had the interview with. After many left messages, she was told to come into the office the following Monday to help out with office admin and get a feel for the place, before the specific job she was hoping to work on, was confirmed.

Monday was a strange day for Sam and E-J as they both woke around 6:30am and prepared themselves for their working day. It just seemed so strange to be the other side of the world and back into the routine of going to work. The week went quickly and before we knew it, it was Friday, ANZAC day and a National holiday. Sadly, the weather wasn't too good, but we did manage to make a trip to Balmain.

On Saturday, it was sunny for the first time in two weeks so we decided to make the most of it and rewalked the Coogee to Bondi walk, which we had enjoyed so much in the past. In the evening, Sam went off to watch the rugby with his friend, Stuart. E-J's great friend Emily Smith had also arrived in Sydney that day with her friend Lucy, so Emily, Lucy and Liz joined E-J for drinks and a late meal. Sunday, was spent having a lovely lunch with Liz and Dave in the only proper pub we have found in the whole of Sydney called, The Lord Nelson. We finished our weekend by catching the ferry across to Manly to catch up with Emily and Lucy. After a walk on the beach and a drink at the port, the weekend drew to an end.

This is where our blog must temporarily hold until we begin travelling again. The mundane life of work starts for us both but are travels aren't over.

Sam's Comments: Work, strange to be back. Although definitely feel like I am blending in to life in Australia as I have a great aussie Mullet!

E-J's Comments: It is so strange to think that we have been in Australia for over a month now and in one place for over a month too. It seems so strange to get back into a routine of life and not have to think about packing the backpack up and where to head to next. Also, we are living an incredibly spoilt life, in a most gorgeous flat, which is all the more appealing after a long day at work. I have to say, work is work, no matter where you are, it just makes it a little harder when your friends and family are the other side of the world. Let the work finish and the travels continue!

Working Life in Sydney! remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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However, having enjoyed the boat ride, they felt they needed some refreshments, so ended up going to a local boat club for a couple of glasses of wine instead. Nettie's friend Katie also joined them there, briefly. After a few drinks, Nettie and E-J attempted to do part of their original plan, but ended up walking only fifteen minutes up to the next ferry port and deciding to catch the next ferry back.

In the evening we decided to go for a drink in the bar of the Shangri La hotel, as we had heard that it had spectacular views of the Harbour from its wall to wall windows. On arriving, it was jam packed with people and the floor had that sticky feel to it, whereby your foot is lodged to the ground each time you try to move it.

We managed to find an area by a window and after a drink and a giggle about the tackiness of the place, we headed back to the flat. It was quite a funny experience, but nothing to really shout home about.

Sunday, was Tiff and Nettie's final day of seeing Nettie's brother and family, so we headed over to Avalon and went to Palm beach for the day. By now, it was so sad to think that Nettie and Tiff were going.

That evening Michael came back to Darling Harbour with us and we went out for a meal in Cockle Bay, which is at the end of the harbour.

Monday, was Tiff and Nettie's final day and it was sad to think they would be gone soon, having all got on so well and having had a jam, packed time of activities. After a final drink at the Opera House, at the same place we started our times in Australia, we said our good byes and they were off.

E-J was incredibly sad to see them go, so that night we had a quiet night in and discussed plans for the next few months of our travels.

Sams Comments: It was great having a couple of extra "travellers"for a few weeks. I don't know how I will cope without Nettie the tour guide organising my day!

E-J's Comments: I have loved spending time with Tiff and Mummy and we have all got on so well. I guess it's time to start thinking about getting a job and reflect back on the wonderful time as a lady of leisure and a holiday maker.

Sydney Part 2 remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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On arriving there, although our rooms were not ready yet, we were immediately made to feel welcome and the place looked like a country, state home, with lots of plush, comfy furniture in the lobby area.

We decided that we would do a walk straight away, so headed to Echo's Point to get the incredible, postcard photo of the Blue Mountains.

We were not disappointed and were also incredibly lucky with the weather, as it had said that it might rain, but something had been on our side and it was sunny. We started the walk going down the giant steps and this was more painful than we realised, but we were grateful to be going down them and not up, unlike some of the crazy, red faced people that we passed.

The walk was three hours in total and it took us all around the Blue Mountains and to the most spectacular look outs.

What also was very lucky, was that not many people had decided to do the same route as us, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves, which made it all the more special.

After the three hour walk, we were all pretty exhausted and thankfully retreated to our now, ready rooms. The rooms were fantastically huge and the hotel had very kindly left us a complementary bottle of sparkling wine for E-J's Brithday. Tiff then suprised E-J with a Brithday cake and we all sat around having cake, sparkling wine and watching E-J open her pressies. This was so much more than E-J had ever expected to receive on her Birthday and even more so when travelling. She felt utterly spoiled.

Then, Sam and E-J sprung a surprise on Tiff, telling her that she had a massage at the hotel spa in ten minutes time as an early Birthday present. Then Sam turned to E-J and said that she had a massage too, at the spa as part of her birthday present and then finally Sam and E-J turned to Nettie and told her she also had a massage in half an hour. All the girls were incredibly shocked by this as none of them had realised that they were having one, yet had been aware of the secret of each others. It was only Sam who had, had the game plan and finally, could enjoy an hour or so of peace, away from the chattering women and watch some good, old sport on TV in his room, Bliss.

The women all ran off to get into the appropriate attire and had the most wonderful massages and pampering session.

After the indulgence of the afternoon, we all got ready for supper which we had organised to have in the lobby area of the hotel. As E-J was about to borrow Tiff's dress for the evening, Sam surprised E-J with a beautiful red dress he had bought her for the evening. It was perfect and a wonderful present to end on.

The food was delicious and the waiters made an exceptional effort to make it a special night, with a complementary glass of champagne for E-J and a sparkler in her pudding! It was a fantastic evening.

We ended the night with another bottle of sparkling wine back in E-J and Sam's room. Though after a while, both Sam and Nettie had to leave the Boutwood sister's to it, as they couldn't quite keep up with their pace!

The next day we all had an early swim in the indoor pool, followed by an incredible breakfast of everything you can imagine. After this, we walked around the gardens of the hotel before heading to the Wentworth Falls.

As we were all quite stiff from the exertion of the day before, we all opted for the twenty minute walk to the first look out, which was perfect.

Appreciating the view and after much deliberation, the women finally got into the right pose for the picture...well, almost...

Thoroughly satisfied with all we had seen, we headed back to the City and stopped at the famous fish market on route. The fish market, is a place packed with stalls of fresh and delicious fish, ranging from absolutely everything. It does tend to pong a bit, but if you can get past that, it is a wonderful experience to wander around the place.

Having bought some fresh prawns we headed back to the flat and then Nettie, Tiff and E-J went for a walk along the harbour.

Sams Comments: A vast and beautiful part of Australia which starts to show how big this country is.

E-J's Comments: The Blue Mountains have been like the icing on top of an already very special two weeks with my family. What an amazing Birthday!

The Blue Mountains remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We killed time exploring what the airport had to offer, which wasn't much and found a bar to have a few drinks. E-J was like an over excited puppy who just couldn't sit still, driving Sam slowly mad!

Finally, two and a half hours later and after much anticipation, Nettie and Tiffany arrived through the gates and we were all reunited with a few cheerful tears.

As the three girls chattered continually without drawing breath throughout the entire journey from the airport to the City, it suddenly dawned on Sam, this was what the next two weeks were going to be like....

Once we had reached the flat and settled ourselves, we caught a taxi and had a drink in the bar under the Opera House.

Seeing the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House brought it home to us that we really were in Sydney and we were not disappointed by either sights, as they were simply spectatular. Also, E-J hadn't realised, was just how close they were together. Seeing both pinnacle features of Sydney lit up, on a lovely warm night really started our experience in Australia on a real high.

Exhausted from the travels, we returned back to the flat after our drink. E-J decided to surprise Nettie and Tiff with her bungy video. It went down a treat as they had no idea she had done it, until they saw her jump.

The next day we were all up early and after a pleasant swim in the downstairs outdoor pool (we're telling you, this is the life), we caught a ferry to Manly, where we met Nettie's brother who lives in Australia. Nettie's brother Michael, has lived out in Sydney for the last twelve years and lives about an hour's drive from the City in Avalon. Kathy is Michael's wife and they have four children, Jessica, Georgia, Oliver and Coco.

The ferry ride to Manly was a wonderful experience as we were able to get some fantastic pictures of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Also, it gave us an opportunity to take in the sights and see the different bays around the harbour. It really is a fantastic place.

Once we'd met Michael, we made our way over to Avalon to see the rest of the family. It was strange for E-J to meet her four cousins that she had never met before, but after some initial shyness, they were incredibly friendly and wanted to play with us.

During the day we went down to Palm Beach, which is a local beach to Michael and his family and it is also the beach where Home and Away is filmed. Tiffany, Sam and E-J took great delight in walking up to the surf shop and recognising the different areas from the filming. Although, Sam was mortified on the way back, with both sisters singing the theme tune at the top of their voices!

After the beach, we returned to Michael's house and played around with the kids in the garden, before a lovely meal and then headed back to the flat in the City.

The following day we all decided to do our own thing, so Sam went about looking into work stuff, E-J and Tiff went off shopping in Bondi Junction and Nettie went to see her brother again. In the evening, we went out for a lovely meal on the harbour just outside the flat, it was so special to be in such a fantastic location.

On the Tuesday we headed into town to the QVB, which is a beautiful Victorian Building with lots of boutique shops and cafes inside.

Sam humoured the girls as they took great delight in looking around the place. It also had a spectacular clock in the middle of it, which would play a song on the hour and the inside would light up with machnical scenery reenactments of history, which would rotate around.

Having enjoyed the ride to Manly on Saturday, we decided to spend Tuesday on the beach and Tiff's friend, Claire who lives in Sydney, joined us.

A particularly interesting observation about Sydney is the colour of it's beaches. In Manly, in the centre of Sydney, the sand is a very yellow and gold colour, yet in Palm beach, which is part of the Northern Beaches, the sand is far more reddy, giving it more of a pink colour.

After a short stint on the beach, we resorted to finding a bar and having a few drinks there. That evening, Sam and E-J met up with Dave and Liz for a quick drink and catch up. Liz use to live with E-J back in London and now lives and works in Sydney. It was lovely to see them both and they both seemed so well and happy in this more laid back lifestyle.

Wednesday, Nettie and E-J decided to do a boat ride around the harbour ending in Watson's Bay, where they sat, chattind and catching up over a cold glass of white wine. Sam and Tiff decided to explore Sydney on foot, so went to thousands of places, from the Rocks to the Military area and the Botanic Gardens and much more. In the evening a friend of Nettie's came round for drinks and then we all met Michael and Kathy in Paddington for a meal.

On the Thursday, we collected the hire car and decided to put it to good use, by going to Bronte beach about thrity minutes away by car. It is a really beautiful, little beach and there is a walk that you can do from a beach a bit further along called Coogee, all the way to the famous Bondi beach.

We think this is probably our favourite beach in Sydney, as it is not at all touristy and there is something really cosy and intimate about it, especially since it is not very big.

After a few hours of sunbathing, E-J and Tiff decided to do part of the Coogee to Bondi walk along the cliffs. We got to Bondi and on first impressions, E-J didn't really think much of it. The beach itself is quite pretty, but it is so over packed with people, that there is literally only a metre between you and the next person. Also, it's as though people are on the beach because they think it's the one they should be on, rather than looking around the corner to find one a lot quieter and a lot more beautiful.

Having stopped for a Boost juice, which is a freshly sqeezed smoothie (absolutely delicious), we made our way back and then E-J drove everyone home. That night we decided to go across the road for a cheap and cheerful wagamamas.

On Friday, Nettie went off to see Michael and the family, so Sam, E-J and Tiff amused ourselves in Sydney, wondering around Darling Harbour, The Rocks and Circular Quay.

On Saturday we drove to Balmoral, which is another beautiful, white sandy beach.

It has a lovely restaurant in the middle of it called Bathers. When you step into the place, it's like stepping into the 1950s. There is something very special and old fashioned about it.

After a quick coffee we decided to do part of a walk to Chowder Bay.

This walk was along the cliff edge and gave us the most spectacular views.

Occassionally we would get a little freaked out when we had to pass under a massive cobweb, with a huge spider hanging from it.

In the evening we headed into China Town and managed to have the most disgusting Chinese food.

Also, E-J had a little tandrum at the waiter, when they didn't serve aromatic duck with pancakes. She is very embarrassed about her behaviour now.

On Sunday, we all returned to Avalon again and spent the day with Micheal and his family. We did the same as before, spending some time down at Palm Beach and then returning to the house for a few drinks and being entertained by all the children's many talents, before heading back into the City.

On Monday, Nettie headed over to Manly to spend time with Michael and his two year old Coco, Tiff went to see her friend Claire and Sam and E-J spent some time together. It was so strange after being just the two of us for so long to suddenly be surrounded by E-J's family. We decided to head to Manly and go to the beach. After a walk up and down it, discussing our plans about travel and work, we went to meet Nettie and Michael in a bar by the water front and Tiff ended up meeting us there too.

The next day, Sam wanted to work on his C.V and continue looking for a job, so E-J, Tiff and Nettie took the car off and went for a walk around Rose Bay, Watson's Bay and Double Bay.

It was so lovely to have the opportunity to see so much with the advantage of having a hire car.

On the Wednesday, Nettie and E-J headed to The Botanic Gardens during the Morning, while Sam and Tiff did some shopping.

The Botanic Gardens are amazing as they are right on the water's edge, but at the same time, behind them you can see the massive, City skyscrapers.

The gardens are absolutely huge and so lush and green, with various types of trees and vegetation, along with ponds, pathways, rose gardens and sculptures throughout them.

There is also a certain section in the middle, which has about three trees just filled with masive fruit bats hanging from the branches. Theses bats are so big and although they are suppose to be nocturnal, they make one hell of a racket throughout the day. It is almost creepy as you walk under them, with the fear that they might just drop onto you or by some freck chance, attack you!

After a morning of different chores, we headed to Bronte for a few hours to enjoy our favourite beach. In the evening, we drove to Balmoral and had a lovely meal with Michael at Bathers, the sweet little 1950s place, right on the beach.

Sam's comments: With E-J's mum proving to be a great tour guide, my start to life in Sydney has been very enjoyable.

E-J's comments: The last two weeks have been fantastic and I feel as though I have been on holiday rather than backpacking, as we have crammed so much into the time with no expense spared! We have been utterly spoiled by the fantastic flat my aunt and uncle have let us stay in.

Sydney remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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This campsite was situated in a 5km wood right on the bay. It also had a few basic facilities, including a shower which gave you hot water for four minutes for 2 dollars.

When we got there, we found the place to be pretty much empty, so settled in for the night, in a cosy little spot which just looked out onto the bay.

With the wind blowing straight in from the bay, we sat in the communal kitchen with a wholesome meal and a few drinks (well, actually quite a lot for E-J)! After a few glasses and feeling tired, this became a concern to Sam, as E-J ensured that anyone who was in the kitchen new of E-J, or the women who talked "like Princess Diana", as one Lady put it! However the German couple eating there at the same time, were not quite so enthralled by E-J's conversation. From Sam's point of view, E-J wasn't really making any sense and the German's couldn't understand a word she was sluring! By the time Sam finally managed to drag E-J away from any further embarrassment it was pitch black outside and we had real trouble finding where we parked the van. Somehow, we managed to take a wrong turn and found ourselves fighting our way through foliage and branches, until we finally came upon the van, by luck. Despite insisting that she was wide awake and didn't want to go to sleep, as soon as E-J's head hit the pillow she was out like a light and snoring!

The next day, with E-J feeling a little worse for wear, we headed to Akaroa. As the French believed they owned this area of New Zealand, it has a slight, quaint French feel to it, with the streets and shops written in French. This makes it feel like a place slightly removed from anywhere else in New Zealand.

After indulging in a good old fry up, we enquired with a tourist office about swimming with dolphins. This place is particularly renowned for swimming with dolphins as they have the rarest of all dolphins here, called the hector dolphins. These are also the smallest dolphins in the world and can only be found in New Zealand. They are an endangered species, so it was a real privilege to get the opportunity to swim with them. To our luck we found that there was space throughout the day, so booked ourselves on a 4pm tour with the hope that the weather would improve as it was rather overcast in the morning.

The rest of the day we spent killing time, wandering around the town (which took all of 10 minutes), surfing the net at "Le internet", in the hope that someone might have finally sent us some e-mails or put some comments on the blog! We spent the rest of the day chilling out by the bay and reading our books. It was simply blissful and by the time it was 4pm the sky had brightened and the sun was shinning.

As we got into our groups and into our wetsuits, we were relieved to find ourselves in a friendly group of seven. As we set off in our boat out of the bay, we were all told a bit of history about the dolphins and the usual safety procedures about the boat. Ten minutes later, we spotted two dolphins swimming past us and as we slowed down they started to make their way back to us to investigate. This was our chance to get into the water, which was absolutely freezing! The first challenge, was to get in without making much of a splash as we had been told that splashing to dolphins is an aggressive act and is threatening to them. The second challenge, was to not scream from the sheer agony of the freezing cold and the final challenge was to try and move in the water, as all we seemed to do was bob around from the air trapped in our wet suits.

As we acclimatized to the water, the dolphins would swim near to us and then disappear again. We were instructed to attract them by singing into the snorkels under water (as apparently they liked that noise) and to tap stones together (which were given to us before we got in). We're still not absolutely sure whether the guide was being truthful when she said this, or maybe she was just having a laugh at making us all look ridiculous. Needless to say E-J got incredibly carried away with her dolphin impressions, Sam on the other hand kept making a noise similar to a seal with a sore throat! The rest of the group just couldn't understood why...

As we continued to wait in the water, several other dolphins would swim towards us and under us, checking us out. We had bought an underwater camera, but it was impossible to get a picture of the dolphins as they swam so fast past us and the water was also very murky. A couple of times a dolphin would swim right up to the back of a person, but as soon as they tried to turn around, it has gone. Sam was the only lucky one to have a dolphin actually play with him. This was when the dolphin circled Sam and he circled around with it. It was incredible to see.

We were only allowed in the water for a maximum of forty minutes, so after the final flock of dolphins left us, we all got back in the boat shivering and very greatful to be given a cup of hot chocolate.

When we got back to Akaroa, the tour had taken a total of two hours and by now it was 6pm. All the stores were closed and with no food in our van, we resorted to eating in one of the restaurants in Akaroa. It was a beautiful evening and we sat outside by the dock, discussing what an experience the day had been.

That evening we returned to the same campsite as the night before and went to bed, without bumping into the Germans! The next day was a day of nothing, so we decided to spend the morning on the beach at our campsite (which actually turned out to be a lot colder than we had anticipated) and spent the afternoon in Akaroa.

It was really lovely just to wander around the quiet little place and have nothing to do. We have been so spoiled over the last few months, with constant activities, that sometimes you just need a day of nothing.

The following day Sam's friend Charlie met us in Akaroa. Very kindly, Charlie would be having us to stay in Christchurch during our last two nights in New Zealand. First, we went to Hicks Bay where we went surfing. Charlie had very kindly brought three surf boards down so that we all got a chance.

Having only really body boarded before, in wasn't long before E-J had, had enough of being thrown around in the sea. Also her rather lively imagination, managed to persuade her that if she stayed in the water any longer, she just might be the first shark attack to happen there. Sam on the other hand, took to surfing like a duck to water and even managed to stand up on his second go.

After a short session in the surf, we set off for Christchurch. Leaving it a bit late, we raced there to get the van back in time. Having just made it back and dropping the van off successfully we where kindly collected by Charlie and taken back tp his house where his housemate, Emily had very kindly offered to cook us supper for the night. With a few drinks enjoyed at the local pub we slept very well!

The following day, Charlie took it upon himself to entertain us. We spent the morning wandering around the shops near to his place. We stopped in a couple of surf shops and a what can only be described as a revolting second hand place, which Sam seemed to love....

The afternoon was spent surfing with Charlie and his housemate Emily, who were both fantastic surfers and made us look pretty pathetic. Sam managed to stand up a couple of times, but E-J felt as though the sea had literally slapped her in the face, from the amount of times she managed to fly over her surf board in an attempt to catch a wave. After drinking a gallon of water, E-J was the first to call it a day and after a while the others joined her too.

That evening, Charlie and Emily, joined us for a meal in the centre of Christchurch, which was lovely. After that we went to a trendy little bar in town, before heading home.

The next day, Charlie was off to work at 8am and after saying good bye and thanking him for his enormous generosity during our stay, we headed off too. We managed to work out the bus system to the centre of Christchurch, had a quick bite to eat and then caught another bus to the airport. At this stage, Sam found E-J impossible to handle, with the amount of excitment building up inside her. E-J was completely over the top about the fact that in a few hours she would see her Mummy and sister in Sydney.

The flight was only three hours and very pleasant and before we knew it we had left New Zealand and were on our way to Australia.

Sam's comments: Swimming with dolphins was not the life changing experiance people say it is meant to be, but the surfing might be! A big thank you to Charlie, a great friend.

E-J's comments: I really enjoyed the last campsite we stayed in. It was so lovely to wake up in the morning and hear the sea. Swimming with dolphins was also an incredible experience, although I wished they had wanted to play with me! Charlie was lovely and just so generous with all he did and gave to Sam and me. Staying with Charlie made it a really special end to the trip in New Zealand. Bring on OZ!

Akaroa and Christchurch remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Having only left Queenstown at 7pm, we didn't reach the campsite until 10pm. On arriving in the pitch black, we found it to be a deserted area by a swamp like pond. With the area reminding us of a typical backdrop to a horror movie, we headed back up the road to one of those dreadful commercial campsites. When we reached it the owner informed us that they had already closed for the night. Sam, with his usual lucky charm, managed to persuade her to let us stay.

The next morning we were up early, showered and ready to start the day. It was a very freezing morning and we gave full credit with much admiration to the man sleeping in the tent next to us, with his form of transport, a bike lying on the ground next to him.

Disappointed to miss the local sheep shearing show due to our early start, we decided to drive on and make a day of our time at Mount Cook.

The windy roads on the way to Mount Cook had the most stunning views as we followed a crystal clear, blue lake all the way there.

When we reached the town nearby, we enquired about which walk to do and decided on a pleasant three hour walk. Sam, not wanting to read sign posts, insisted that his particular route was the correct route and after ten minutes of walking in a round circle, we realised that we were going in a completely wrong direction. Somehow, we had managed to join a twenty minute walk to one of the many look out points of Mount Cook. Sam suggested that it would be better to keep to this route and that he actually didn't quite fancy the thought of the three hour walk anymore!

The view was incredible and we both stood there for a while, taking in Mount Cook's monsterous size and the whiteness of its snowy peak.

We spotted a few ambitious walkers hiking up another mountain to the side of Mount Cook and thanked ourselves for not thinking we should have done anything as strenuous or stupid as that! Before we left this area, we stopped in the local cafe and reflected on all we had seen so far.

Lunch was enjoyed taking in the peace and quiet of the serene, beautiful lake, before a load of Japanese tourists all fighting for the best photo arrived. With this, we jumped back into the Camper and hit the road for the long drive to Akaroa. Although we spent over five hours on the road, it was a lovely drive surrounded by beautiful scenery.

Sam's comments: A lovely place and I felt so lucky to catch it on a beautiful day.

E-J's comments: Mount Cook and the scenery around it is simply breathtaking. I just wish we could have had a bit of a longer trek around it, but Sam is always in control when it come to directions....

Mount Cook remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We planned to stay in Queenstown for four nights with E-J's friend Emily, who had three days off from work and had arranged a few days of adrenalin packed activities.

Emily, now renamed team leader had organised for both E-J and herself to do a paraglide in the morning of the first day and E-J not the best at flying in a plane (like her father) was dreading it. This was not helped by Sam repeatedly saying, I'll still love you even if something does happen to you and things similar like, "it was great knowing you". The guides also took it upon themselves to join in, saying that E-J's pilot had only just passed his test the day before...

It was a beautiful crisp day and E-J and Emily were jumping from Coronet's Peak, which is about 3000m above sea level. E-J, knowing that her nerves were getting worse decided to go first and before she had time to think was told to run as fast as she could off the side of the cliff.

Suddenly, she was off with her guide paragliding along the mountain edge and above the tops of thousands of alpine trees.

The views were incredible and she found herself absolutely loving it, although her hands were freezing too. The guide then asked her to hold onto the the two cords to steer the paraglide, but it wasn't long before she handed them back to him. EJ (always knowing best) also managed to tell the guide that she thought they were heading for the mountain edge! Her guide, one of the best paragliders in the world, reassured her that he knew what he was doing! As they landed, E-J's screams of terror could be heard echoing for miles as the guide sharply turned the paraglide around and down, adding a bit of a thrill to the end. E-J's landing was perfect and very smooth and as she sat comfortably on the grass she happily called out, "I'm alive!". Emily's landing wasn't quite so smooth and the poor girl could be seen tumbling on the floor as her guide tripped over her on landing.

The next part of the day was a wine tour. This was arranged with a group of other people. The guide took an immediate dislike to E-J, after E-J questioned her about something she was unsure about. From then on, whatever E-J said the guide would completely disagree, to the point that everyone started noticed. The vineyards we went to were ok, but not of the same quality that we had experienced in Mendoza and this made us realise just how spoiled we had been in South America. Also, there was no actual vineyard tour or explanation about the wineary and how it was produced. We were simply taken to one place, poured four tiny thimbles of wine to sample and then moved onto the next place. We did stop at one place to have a meal, but the portions were so small. The guide helped herself to a susbtantial amount of salmon, then made a point that everyone was only to have one piece as she saw E-J taking a second measly piece that had been left.

Despite the guides strange ways, we had a fun time during the tour and enjoyed taking in all the stunning views around us.

When the guide finally dropped us back in Queenstown, she said to Sam, 'hopefully, you'll be rid of that one soon and I hope to see you again'. Sam wasn't quite sure how to respond...

That evening, Emily had organised for us to do a tour on an old vintage steamship called the Earnslaw, along the Lake Wakatipu from one end to the other. This gave us a fantastic view of the mountain range, The Remarkables.

This was good fun with plenty more wine and on the way back E-J discovered the pianoist at the back of the boat and took it upon herself to accompany him on vocals. We're not sure if he actually appreciated it, but the rest of the boat seemed to find it rather amusing; particulary the Canadian toursist who zoomed his camera in on E-J singing away! Sam decided he felt more comfortable out on deck!

The following morning we woke to pouring rain. Emily had arranged for us to go river surfing, which involved dressing in a wetsuit and helmet and going down the river in grade 3 and 4 rapids on a body board. Madness really! On seeing the weather, Emily said she wasn't so keen to repeat it again, but E-J having not experienced anything like this before, was still determined to try it. Sam, also had to back out as his mosquito bite was starting to hurt again and he was worried that it may become infected.

The river itself was the Shotover river, but a different section to where people get taken in a speed boat. In fact in this section, you pass under the Kawarau bridge where you can see people bungy jumping off the original bungy site.

The water was freezing and after a brief paddle E-J found herself being thrown into grade 3 rapids, which felt like she was being thrown around inside a washing machine. After a minute or so the rapids died down. The guides' controll of the group was incredibly professional and they took great care in making sure that everyone stuck together and if anyone needed any help or support they were there to give it to them. In another section of rapids the group was
then told to surf the rapids, which meant you had to approach the rapids backwards and then paddle like mad to reach the crest of the rapid. Once you had caught the surf, you stayed in one place not moving forward or back, just simply bouncing up and down over the swell of it. It was a very strange experience and E-J along with three others were the only ones who were able to catch the surf, out of the group of twelve.

By the time the group reached the final rapid, E-J felt as though her lips were turning blue and having already swallowed a gallon of water asked the guide if he would help her down the last part. This made the experience far more enjoyable as she was able to sit back and enjoy the ride, while the guide found the perfect line to take her through, so that she wouldn't be pulled under and thrown around by the grade 4 rapids. It was a most exhiliarating experience.

After the tour was over, the group gathered in a pub back in Queenstown to enjoy a hot dog and a few drinks, while watching the photos of the day. Sam was bitterly disappointed to have missed out on something that looked so much fun, so decided that instead he would do a bungy jump before we left Queenstown.

The next day Emily was back in charge of the tours and we started the day early with a bus ride over to Glenorchy where we would have a jet boat ride along the Dart river, followed by a kayak back down the river. This would be organised through Emily's employer who ran the tours. Sam, again was concerned about getting his foot wet, so was only able to join us on the jet boat before he headed back to Queenstown.

The jet boat ride was good fun as we went zooming along the river and then by a signal of the drivers hand, we would suddenly be hurled around at 360 degrees, leaving our stomachs behind.

It was brilliant fun, though Sam ended up getting completely soaked by sitting on the side, much to the E-J's and Emily's amusement!

After this part of the tour, Emily and E-J said goodbye to Sam and proceeded to blow up an inflatable kayak. Once set, E-J took the front position of paddling, while Emily sat in the back steering. It wasn't long before Emily worked out that E-J was pretty useless at paddling and if she wanted to get anywhere she would have to steer and paddle.

The kayaking was great fun and at lunch time we stopped at the side and had a fantastic picnic of lots of delicious foods, while looking out at the incredible views around us. After lunch, we then got the opportunity to kayak inside some caves, which were fascinating and the water inside seemed to look like a glowing aquamarine.

When we were almost at the end of the kayaking trip, when our guide heard on the radio that all the jet boat drivers were determined to splash their work colleague, Emily.

Seeing the speed at which they went and the power of their splash, worried both Emily and E-J, so that each time a jet boat was on its way round, Emily and E-J would paddle like crazy to the side of the bank, get out of the boat as fast as they could and run out of the way of the spray. E-J and Emily were particularly pleased they did this, when on a final attempt to get them, one of the jet boats got so close to the kayak that the spray literally blasted the boat out of the river!

After this, we headed back to Emily's to shower and refresh ourselves, before we ended the evening by the lake with fish and chips from a local bar.

The next day Emily was off to work, so we planned to move on from Queenstown, but before doing so E-J wanted to do one last adrenalin filled expericence and that was The Canyon Swing. The Canyon Swing, is a massive swing that sits within a canyon on the Shotover river and has a 60m free fall drop before a 300 metre swing, begins.

As we headed there, the guide started to make a few jokes and Sam, being as calm as ever, indulged in the banter. E-J just kept incredibly quite and petrified about what she was about to do.

There were six of us in our group and after the other four had gone, it was E-J's go. It took her forever to gain the courage to walk to the end of the platform and as she looked down at the canyon below, she realised just how far down it was. After several minutes of persuasion, the guide managed to coax E-J into stepping off the platform. He kindly told E-J that he would hold on to her before droping her. However, as soon as she stepped off, she suddenly found herself freefalling down and before she knew it, it was over!

Sam, on the other hand not at all phased by anything, took only a second before he confidently jumped feet first off the platform. This style of jumping was suppose to create maximum thrill.

Both of us thoroughly enjoyed this and were tempted to do another, however, already stretching the budget we decided that once was enough.

The next thing we planned to do was collect our van from the Queenstown carpark and then drive to the bungy site for Sam to do his bungy before heading on. When we got to the car, we found it had a dead battery and not believing our luck, we had to take it to the garage down the road. The garage told us it wouldn't be ready until 5pm, so with no time for Sam to do his bungy, and make another rugby game in Dunedin we would have to stay another night.

The next morning, we were at the Kawarau Bridge at 9am, so that we could be on the road straight after Sam's jump. It was another beautiful, crisp day and E-J felt more nervous than Sam. The next few minutes all happened so quickly, as Sam was weighed, filled in the appropriate forms (the usual signing away of your life) and then made his way to the bridge.

Before E-J had a minute to blink, Sam jumped and all E-J could do was scream!

After this, E-J started to wonder whether she wanted to try this experience too, but Sam persuaded her that she would hate it, so we headed off towards Doubtful Sound in the hope of either doing a tour that day or the following.

When we reached the tour company for Doubtful Sound, we were shocked by how expensive it was. It was almost three times more than Milford Sound and after much consideration, decided to call it a miss as we really couldn't justify the money. Instead, we headed to Taupai, where we found a pub to enjoy a few drinks. Sam watched the 1st test match between England and New Zealand and E-J sat outside reading Cosmopolitan!

The evening was spent on a glow worm tour at one of the local caves. It was quite interesting to see the glow worms sparkling away in the pitch black of the cave, but having seen and done so many wonderful things, it didn't hit us with as much impact as we had hoped.

Also, having seen Sam do the bungy, E-J just couldn't stop talking about it and trying to understand his experience, much to Sam's annoyance. The more E-J talked about it, the more she was intrigued to do it.

The next day, Sam exhausted by E-J's constant questions about the bungy, asked her if she really wanted to do it and if so he would drive her back, cutting out the rest of the south of the South Island to head back up towards Queenstown. E-J being E-J, was desperate to do it by now, but wanted Sam to do a tandem with her. Sam decided there was absolutely no way he would do a tandem bungy with E-J. So, she would have to do it on her own (not quite how she had planned)!

Similar to Sam's experience, within seconds E-J found herself being weighed, filling in the necessary paper work and then waiting at the top of the bridge to jump.

The bungy seemed a lot more terrifying than The Canyon Swing, especially since one had to go head first, but without thinking E-J moved onto the top of the platform and dived off the bridge as though diving into a swimming pool. Her blood curdling scream was very loud!

After the jump, we then spent the rest of the day in Queenstown before heading back up the East coast towards Mount Cook.

Sam's comments: A flat battery on the campervan really sums up our trip here. Disapointed to miss out on a trip to watch the rugby in Dunedin. However have experianced some challanges that I won't be in a hurry to do again!

E-J's comments: The last few days in Queenstown have been incredibly exhilarating. I think I've turned into an adrenalin junkie! It has been so much fun catching up with Emily and she has made our time in New Zealand simply brilliant!

Queenstown remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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When we reached Queenstown it was lovely for E-J to see her old friend Emily and after catching up over a good meal, E-J was already looking forward to coming back to spend some more time with her.

The 295 kilometre drive down to Milford Sound had breathtaking sights all the way there. Much to E-J's pleasure Sam did most of the driving so she was able to sit back and take in the incredible scenery. As we began our journey, the skies began to turn a miserable grey and by the time we reached Milford Sound the place was covered in a deep, low mist with torrential rain splashing down everywhere. This was surely the only reason why it was named after Milford Haven in Wales?

Rather than being disappointed by this, it added a greater depth to the place. Surrounded by tall, threatening mountains and steep gorges, everything look very haunting and eerie as they gloomily appeared from behind the low cloud and mist. The rain also caused an abundance of tiny waterfalls to cascade down the mountains, creating a constant sound of splashing water. This was the first time that we both felt totally awe struck by the magnificence of the place. It was very easy to see why Peter Jackson chose to do most of the filming of Lord of the Rings down here; it felt like another planet.

The town of Milford Sound consisted of one cafe, which was attached to one pub, a few buildings which housed staff, a petrol station and a fire station. Having spent all of 5 minutes understanding the lay out of the place, we looked into the best way of seeing this world heritage site. Deciding to avoid the huge tourist crowns aboard all the cruises, we booked a kayak tour for the following day and then made our way to the only lodgings / campsite area there. The place was of course booked up. Luckily, one staff member took pity on us (due to E-J providing him details of our unfortunate time in Wellington!) and found us literally, a hole in the hedge where we could park up and stay for the night.

The rain poured heavily all that night and E-J began to worry just how soaked she was going to be kayaking the next day! When we woke up the next morning, the skies were still a moody grey but the rain had stopped. There were only eight people kayaking in our group, which made it perfect, as it meant we had the place all to ourselves. E-J particularly felt this when Sam insisted on going on ahead of everyone!

From the kayaks, the views were spectacular and we felt so helpless and small as we looked up to the most enormous mountains right above us, which are apparently three times as tall as the Empire State building.

The kayaking was a good four hours and by the end of it we were all pretty tried and wet from the waves. E-J was relieved to have seen some seals on the rocks as the guides had told her that two weeks ago a great white had been spotted in these waters and all other sea life had disappeared. The thought of coming across a fifteen foot shark was something E-J desperately didn't want to experience.

After a quick lunch break we got back in the kayak for a second tour. This involved a walk along some of the famous Milford Sound hiking track. The kayak crossing was suppose to be simple, but by now the winds had picked up and it was almost impossible to get out into the water.

People call kayaks the divorce boats and after several angry words about each other's paddling and near miss of some rocks and trees in the lake, we could see why! Fortunately E-J managed to calm down and remember how to paddle!

The walk itself was beautiful. The place is so full of rich, lush trees and vegetation. Our guide was incredibly informative, explaining a lot about the different plant species and wildlife that can be found there. He also showed us various plants and shrubbery that you can eat.

After the forty minute walk we returned back to the main base of Milford Sound and were taken to the bottom of a most impressive waterfall. It was so powerful and incredible to be so close to it.

By now it was 8pm and we were on our knees from all the exertion of the day. We decided to end it with a delicious steak in the only pub in town! By now the skies had totally cleared up and we were able to experience a beautiful sunset among all these incredible mountains.

Sam's comments: I can understand why Rudyard Kipling called this place the eighth Wonder of the World, amazing, best experiance of New Zealand. Altough E-J's tantrum in the Kayar nearly spoilt it!!

E-J's comments: This place is simply breathtaking. Photos can't do it justice. These mountains are just so enormous and as you stand at the foot of them, they literally go vertically up into the sky! It feels almost magical, a place I would highly recommend!

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As we drove along the deserted highway without a car in sight, we continually stopped to take in the most impressive views.

By 4pm, we were a comfortable distance from the Glaciers so decided to rest for a night in a beautiful little spot by Lake Lanthe.

There were only a couple of tents there and one other campervan. After battling with the sand flies and covering ourselves in repellent, we enjoyed a good meal and a cold bottle of wine, while watching the sun go down over the lake. It was beautiful!

Up early the next morning, we made our way to Franz Josef, which was about forty minutes away. On arriving, it was a little misty so we decided to wait around until it cleared. We then walked to the end of the pathway and crossed the restricted fence to get a bit closer to the glacier.

The glacier was impressive to see, but looked incredibly dirty from the dust of the rocks around it. It was not as impressive as Perito Moreno in Patagonia, which had a magnificient angular structure formed from being in a lake. We took in the sights appreciating them for what they were at ground level, though we're sure we would have found the views far more breathtaking had we seen them from a helicopter or small plane.

We then made our way to the Fox Glacier and walked up to the base of it. Again, we found it to be not as beautiful or as impressive as the one in Patagonia, but we feel that we have been rather spoiled by all the incredible views we saw in South America.

As we walked back to our car, Sam suddenly shouted out to E-J, "Look!" and just at that moment a most enormous piece of ice broke away, causing an incredible crash and explosion into the small stream below. We were so lucky to see this, as it was such a massive amount to fall at that time.

Pleased to have experienced this, we set off towards Queenstown where we were meeting a friend of E-J's in a couple of days.

Sam's comments: Enjoying the new van but not the sandflies they are everywhere

E-J's comments: The place we stayed at the night before we saw the glaciers was how I had hoped our experiences would be like in the campervan. The view from the back of the van was incredible and it was so special to wake up to something like this. I am also pleased I saw the Glaciers, but I'm afraid they're not a patch on Perito Moreno in Patagonia.

Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We arrived into Kaikoura with beautiful sunshine to be told that, all whale watching tours had been cancelled for the last few days, due to bad weather. Therefore there was a large backlog of bookings waiting to happen. Not expecting to get a chance to view any whales, we booked ourselves on a waitlist for the day and went off to explore a few of the views from the hilltops.

The views were spectacular and there was just so much wildlife around, from seals, to albatrosses and various other sea birds, which names escape us. Having taken in the beautiful views and the incredible blue colour of the sea, we made our way to the whale centre to find out whether we had made it on any of the tours. We stood in the waitlist queue, which felt like some kind of audition or interview as the lucky names were called out. Having been there since 12pm, we finally got our call up at 1.15pm.

We were then bused down to the port and transfered onto a massive speed boat, which took us out into the deep ocean where we would have the opportunity of seeing a few sperm whales. We were more than lucky and were able to site five sperm wales, which was quite unusual (or so they told us). It was incredible to be so close to these magnificent creatures swimming past the boat, squirting water into the air with a big blast and revealing just how enormous they were as the wave broke over them.

When the whales have had enough of roaming the sea, they dive down, around sixty metres into the depths of the sea leaving spectators with a picture perfect flicker of a whale's tale. Once down, they will not resurface for a good few hours. On all five attempts, we kept trying to get the perfect whale tail picture, but failing each time, we resort to videoing it instead.

Watching these massive whales was such an incredible experience and we were then taken over to a group of playful dolphins.

There must have been about fifty to a hundred of them and they absolutely loved playing with the boat, chasing it and also jumping out of the sea numerous of times as though they were performing to the people watching them.

They seemed so tranquil, yet at the same time having the best time, full of fun. We couldn't wait for our experience to swim with dolphins, having seen how playful this lot had behaved, but we would have to wait until near the end of the trip.

After a fantastic day we headed down to Christchurch for the night, after circling the city centre a few times we managed to find our accommodation for the night. This would be the final night in our perspex windowed van. After four days, the sticky tape seemed to have come away, leaving a terrible draught to sleep in. Also there were only so many nights we could tolerate sleeping on the remains of the shattered glass from the incident.

Sam's comments: Due to EJ's directions (or as E-J says"a bad map")I seem to know Christchurch city centre better than most! The whales where a joy to watch.

E-J's comments: Kaikoura is a very special place and I feel so priviledged to have seen these mammals of such incredible size and grace. The dolphins were also just so happy and playful, making it a perfect day.

Kaikoura remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The boat journey over to the South island took three and a half hours and luckily it was a sunny day with calm water. Sam enjoyed his book inside, while E-J spent the majority of the journey staring out to sea thinking about the robbery, what had been lost and how we could have prevented it. Repeatedly Sam would come out to see if E-J was alright, reminding her that the South was all about a new start, but E-J being typical E-J, could not stop thinking and talking about the robbery, changing from angry to sad and then angry again.

Finally, when we reached the South Island E-J was able to smile as we past the most beautiful scenery on our way into the harbour.

We arrived into Picton and decided the best thing would be for us to travel across to Nelson to try to relax and enjoy the beaches around it, if not the quaint, little town.

The drive there was relatively pleasant, passing numerous vineyards and a vast mountain range covered in conafors. Sadly, as we drove into Nelson the weather started to go bad with the sky turning a moody, overcast grey. E-J thought how much this reflected her mood.

That night we stayed in a campervan site in Nelson as we only had perspex in place of the windows (the repair garage in Wellington hadn't had the glass to fit them). Over the top about security, E-J wanted to be somewhere enclosed, which was rather a shame as there were plenty of desolate camping places around. Without the proper security, we didn't want to lose anything else.

That night the rain poured down heavily and we awoke to pretty miserable weather. We then decided we would go to Collingwood to escape from people for a day or so and take in some of the beautiful beaches of the Golden Bay.

As we drove along, the weather started to brighten up and we talked about how things were going to improve. Just as we were both laughing together, a siren and flashing blue light suddenly appeared behind us and an undercover police cop pulled us over to the side. He told us that he had actually been hoping to get the guy in front, but since we were speeding too, he'd give us the ticket instead. E-J, in her usual calm and assuring state, started crying and going off on one at the policeman about what a terrible time we'd already had and why not give us a fine just to add to our troubles. With the policeman starting to soften to our story, Sam quickly advised E-J to be quiet and get back in the van (before she started to become too dramatic and irritate the policeman). Then as a school boy to a headmaster, in the politest most responsible way possible, Sam answered all his questions as best he could. To our luck the policeman let us off!

Once we were in Collingwood, we were relieved to finally make it there with no fine and finding it to be pretty deserted. Having found a camp site at the end of the town, we spent the rest of the evening in a local pub down the road. This pub was incredibly large, but also incredibly empty too.

By the early hours of the next morning, the bad weather seemed to have followed us there, so with no chance of enjoying a gentle stroll on the beach, we resorted to returning to Nelson and possibly heading onto Kaikoura from there.

On the way back, we decided to enjoy some more of the scenic views and decided to make our way down a gravel track to a cave, which is suppose to be the biggest cave in New Zealand. Having travelled down it for a good ten minutes, we started to worry about just how far we had to go to get there. With the gravel road narrowing and an almighty, steep edge of a cliff on one side, we decided that luck hadn't really be on our side lately, so perhaps we ought to turn back. This was also influenced by the sight of the remains of an old campervan, which had previously taken a tumble off the edge. Sam skillfully manoeuvred the van round and we made our way back, passing the occasional car, which added more tension to the trip as we found ourselves practically hanging off the edge while passing them. Once off the uneventful track, we both made a packed not to do anything as stupid as that again!

After a brief stop in Nelson, we continued our travels down the East Coast to the town of Kaikoura in the hope of booking a tour to see some Whales.

Sam's Comments: Glad my charm saved me from a speeding ticket. Good to know I have still got it!!

E-J's Comments: These last few days have been very difficult for me, as I am trying to enjoy New Zealand, but there is a part of me that can't let go of what happened in Wellington. I just hope that the next part of our journey has more good excitement.

Nelson & Collingwood remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The journey was pretty smooth with E-J singing along as the CD player blurted out "There may be trouble ahead". If only we realised how significant that tune would be. By 11am we were in the city centre. We decided to park it in a multi story car park, we figured that it would be safer in an indoor place rather than out on display for the whole of Wellington to see. As we drove past the two men standing at the front desk we enquired whether it would be alright to park the campervan there. Being as cheery as all New Zealanders we had met so far, they gave us a warm smile and said, "yes it's fine, it's fine, have a good day". The next obstacle was then finding a parking space as the place was chocker blocked, but as we reached near to the top, some spaces became available. We then did our usual check that all the windows and doors were locked and nothing of any value was out on display. In hindsight, we wished we'd locked our bags together with a chain like we usually did but for some reason, whether it was because we were tired or distracted, we forgot.

For the next four hours we wandered around the city taking in the sights and spending some much needed catch up time on the internet.

At about 3pm, we headed back to the car park, wanting to move the car to a less expensive parking space where we had seen a load of campervans while walking around. As we walked up the levels, Sam managed to walk out onto the wrong floor and in a panicked voice, said the van had gone. E-J, more reassuringly told him to calm down as it was on the next level.

As we walked to the van, we were joking away about our equally terrible drivinig skills and the challenge of managing twenty more days in the van without any major incidents. We didn't notice a thing. It was only when E-J jumped into the drivers seat and as she slammed the door, heard the shattering of glass. Shocked by the noise, she turned round to see that the two back windows had been smashed in and all our bags had gone. All she could say was, 'Our bags, our bags, they're gone...."

The next hour or so seemed a bit like a blur as Sam contacted the police. A sweet girl who happened to be there when we discovered the break in, went down to contact the staff on the bottom floor. The two staff were already aware of the situation as they had already been up there and cleaned all the glass away from around the outside of the car. This explains why we didn't notice the damage at first, but also makes us wonder why they didn't think to contact the police when the break in was first realised.

E-J at this point was in a state of shock, but Sam took control, giving a full account to the police, the car hire company and insurance. What E-J couldn't believe was that the police said there was no point in coming to the crime scene as only the windows had been smashed and as there was no blood anywhere, they wouldn't be able to find any fingerprints.

E-J started to take things into her own hands, walking into the offices next door, where she had noticed people having cigarette breaks in the car park. She started to ask whether anyone had seen anything, but sadly to no prevail. She then proceeded to walk around the building checking all the rubbish bins and in the alley ways around the building, but she found nothing.

The irony was that these buggers hadn't bothered to look in the glove box where they would have found an ipod of value. We had also hidden our passports and credit cards in a separate compartment that they hadn't bothered to look in either, so all that they had was a load of worthless clothes and junk, but to us it was priceless memorabilia.

By now it was 4:45pm and we had to drive the car round to a garage by 5pm. Getting slightly lost, Sam started swearing at all traffic as EJ sat in the passanger seat with tears of disbelief and heartache.

All we were left with is what can be seen in the picture above, simply the items that we hadn't packed away. We wish we'd been a little more messy, so that more would have been left...

We took what possessions we had and headed to a nearby hostel. All we had with us were our camera, passports and wallets, two sleeping bags, a jacket and two jumpers and the clothes we were wearing that day. Poor Sam was in a t-shirt and shorts and to add insult to injury, he wasn't wearing any underwear!

The next struggle was trying to find a hostel, as everything was booked up. On our final attempt we finally got into a twelve bed dorm, which we knew would be pretty unpleasant.

A few more insurance calls later and one more large check around the car park and we retreated to a bar to drown our sorrows. Our two glum faces attracted the attention of two girls, called Sue and Sina. On hearing our story these two proud Wellingtonians couldn't believe it. They insisted on showing us the proper Wellington the following evening and offered us the chance to stay in their home.

That night we both slept badly. With the robbery still fresh in our minds and sharing a dorm with loud, drunk eighteen year olds meant E-J started the day at five thirty.

The next day was all about organising ourselves and realising just how much needed to be replaced. This ranged from the mundane items such as buying pants and everyday basic clothes to buying something to be able to wash with. After a day of painful chores, speaking to our banks about security issues, picking up the campervan (which now had perspex in place of the glass windows) and dealing with the ever unhelpful insurance companies, we managed an hour and a half of intense shopping. This is when we constantly saw the genuine sympathy of the Kiwi public. So many people took it upon themselves to help us; the pharmacist gave us a load of free sachets of cleansers, shampoos, etc, the jean shop gave Sam a good discount on his jeans, the phone company gave us a free charger and Sina, one of the girls from the night before provided us both with two rucksacks to put our new belongings in.

Feeling as though we had hit rock bottom, we finally met up with Sue and Sina. With it being Friday night they insisted on showing us the town and raised our moods straight away with a few drinks in the pub before we headed to see the local rugby team, the Wellington Hurricanes.

When we got there the queues for tickets were enormous but somehow we were luckily able to get tickets quickly. We then found our seats and with a few beers watched the Wellington Hurricanes beat the Queensland Reds.

Although the game wasn't the most incredible, E-J thought there was something special about being at a live game and feeling the atmosphere of the stadium. E-J also complained constantly about how poor the teams cheerleaders were and how she would be so much better. Sam observed as E-J's views on this opinion became stronger and stronger with each glass of white wine she had. As we left the ground E-J danced through the aisles ready to hit the town!

After the match we made our way back into town to enjoy some more drinks. In the first bar we stopped in we happened to bump into Graham Henry, the All Black coach, which was an incredible feit for Sam. With Sam trying to talk to him about the new laws being introduced, E-J insisted on telling "Henry Graham" how she had been robbed! Sadly for Sam this ensured Graham wanted to make a quick exit! Then afterwards Sam explained to E-J who he was, as she had no idea.

The rest of the night was spent enjoying more drinks and E-J in her usual state of excitement became more and more out of control on the dance floor until finally at 2am Sam decided it was time to pull her away from the floor and thanked the girls for a great night and for lifting our spirits during our time in Wellington.

Sam's comments: Should have worn some underwear! When purchasing new ones picked up the wrong size and am now a proud owner of 2 pairs of XXL navy blue boxer shorts!

E-J's comments: Wellington to me will always be associated with a sad time, but also an example of just how kind and thoughtful the Kiwi community can be. People were generally devastated to hear our news and willing to help in any way they could.

Wellington remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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After a quick stop in Gisborne to buy some CD's for the car, we arrived at Muff and Selby's around 6pm and enjoyed a delicious dinner party along with an incredible American couple who were staying with the Palmer's. They were both over 80 years old and had far more energy than us two put together. After a boozy evening we slept very well that night!

The next day we did some exploring of Hawkes Bay as recommended to us by Muff and Selby. First we drove over to Selby's farm and almost got lost but on finaly finding it we went to look around. Sam decided to drive into a field surrounded by thick grass and thistles. E-J not feeling too confident that the campervan would make it through this, decided to jump out and walk the rest of the stretch of field. Meanwhile, Sam managed to take out a few thistles, avoided a few sheep and finally almost wedged the van in a crevasse. After a few panicked reverses, wheel spins, skids and bumps, he finally got it free and quickly drove the van back onto the gravel path.

After this we then visited a few of the local beaches, which we are sure on a fine day, look absolutely stunning, but while it was raining and gloomily overcast, we really had to use our imagination. After this brief tour we met up with Muff and went to her Cheese Factory for lunch. It was a lovely place and what was more interesting, was to learn just how expensive cheese is in New Zealand. In fact it is thought of as more of a delicacy than a necessity. The cheese here was delicious!

Muff then drove us up to the most incredible look out point. We could see for miles and were really able to take in the beauty of Hawkes Bay.

The day was ended with a few drinks back at Muff and Selby's gorgeous house, which is situated on top of a hill, so that it looks out across the most spendid view of vineyards, fields, trees and mountains. It really was a very special place.

In the evening, we were treated to some lovely tapas down in the village at one of their local haunts.

In the morning we said our goodbyes and thank yous for a wonderful time in Hawkes Bay and headed to Napier to enjoy a day of cricket. The weather was incredible, and as E-J sat on the green basking in the sun, she began to think, that just possibly, she might be able to get into this whole cricket, spectator sport thing; well, provided she had some sun on her anyway.

After a brief appearance on the TV screen as an English supporter, E-J was in her element and enjoying the beers too as Sam had offered to drive.

England were playing brilliantly and by 5pm we had to leave the game just before the end, in order to get to our next destination during daylight.

We headed to a small village called Feilding (yes, spelt this way) just outside Palmerston North where E-J wanted to meet a friend she use to work with. After a couple of hours catching up and exchanging news and stories it was time to say our goodbyes and head to bed.

Sam's comments: What a great game of cricket, Paul Collingwood smashed the fastest fifty by an englishman!

E-J's comments: Hawkes Bay is such a wonderful place. It was just such a shame we didn't get to see it in the best weather as I'm sure we would have been blown away by its beauty.

Hawkes Bay remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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After a brief instruction on what and what not to do, Sam managed to successfully reverse the van out of the drive.
We were then on our way and within two minutes E-J managed to get completely confused with the directions to the supermarket! We stopped less than a mile from the campervan depot, so that E-J could drive and Sam could direct! Next was buying food supplies. On first parking the car, E-J decided to change spaces pretty quickly, when she noticed the porch parked next to her had a white scratch mark on the door; looking uncomfortably similar to the colour of our van! After a brief and successful shop, we escaped the supermarket to finally hit the road!

Next was finding somewhere to stay and being novices at this campervan malarkey, we decided to play it safe and stay in Hamilton just outside Auckland in one of the lonely planet recommended campsites. Finding it with nearly no problems, we thought the place looked a bit depressing with all these other campervans parked up around us. We decided this wasn't going to destroy our joyful spirits, so tucked into a good bottle of wine and enjoyed a ready cooked roast chicken and salad. This was the life!

By 8:30 am the next day we were on the road and heading to Rotorua to do the first of our many dare devil challenges, a Zorb ball. For those of you unaware of what this is, it basically looks like a hamster ball which you get inside and then throw yourself down a hill at great speed.

When we got there we were advised to do the option with water and after the necessary briefing and reading the small print that if you were to die it was not the company's fault, we were driven up the hill to begin our experience. E-J at this point was starting to go slightly white and feeling terribly nervous. Having just seen children of the age of 10 and 12 years old throw themselves down a few minutes earlier, E-J felt she really couldn't bring herself to pull out at this stage. E-J decided to go first and then Sam followed. E-J could be heard the whole way down, screaming for dear life. The guide informed Sam that he hadn't seen someone so petrified all day! Sam was silent and unimpressed with the lack of thrill factor involved. As we left this place to continue on the journey, E-J could feel her neck seizing up and realized she had somehow managed to crick it and was in complete agony! This left Sam the duty of taking the wheel!

We decided that we wanted to see as much of the North as possible so chose to follow the highway 35 all the way around the East Coast. This was quite a long distance to our night's destination at Hick's Bay, but we took great delight in taking in the lush scenery and indulging in the rather empty and windy roads.

By the time we reached Hick's Bay, it was 7pm, so we found a campsite for the night and Sam cooked a delicious carbonara while E-J indulged in a bottle of white wine to numb her pain!

Sam's comments: Hitting route 35 across to the East was beautiful. With Hellman's mayonnaise in the fridge I couldn't be happier!

E-J's comments: I'm loving the freedom of having a van. It's great to be able to take off whenever we want rather than having to wait for a bus as we had, had to do in South America. Also despite the fact that the bad weather keeps following us, I am still enjoying the beautiful green countryside and the sparseness of cars on the road.

Hamilton, Rotoura and Hicks Bay remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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At 8:30 am we were on the bus to the Bay of Islands in the North, excited that we were going to see some beautiful beaches. Immediately, we noticed the difference in the style of New Zealand buses compared to South America. Firstly, no food or drink was allowed on the bus, making it all feel and look immaculate. Secondly, the bus driver continually made announcements over the tanoy about places, who was getting off at what stop and any other trivial pieces of information we might like to hear. Our greatest highlight was when the bus purposely stopped halfway through the journey for a morning tea break. We absolutely loved this and took full advantage of it.

As the journey continued the weather started to deteoriate and as we looked out to the green fields and grey over cast skies, it reminded us so much of England!

By the time we arrived in the Bay of Islands the rain was torrential and after finding our hostel, we found a bar to sit in and have a beer, dwelling on the weather. Actually, only E-J could have the beer as poor Sam was on antibiotics.

After much deliberation, we finally got round to booking a boat tour around the islands for the following day in the hope that the weather might improve and ended the evening in a pleasant restaurant called 35 degrees South, which looked out over the ocean. The mussels there were ridiculously huge!

We awoke the next day to relatively bright skies and kept our fingers crossed that it would hold out for the day. The boat trip that we had organized was called the Cream Trip, which was once a boat trip that Captain Lane would do to pick up dairy products from lots of farmers around the bay. Now the boat delivers papers and other necessary items to the people who live around the bay.

Lunch was spent on the Urupukapuka Island. A beautiful bay with golden sand and blue water. We gazed out at the incredible view as we ate our typical backpacker lunch consisting of crisps and water!

Before we set off for Brett Cape we enjoyed an underwater boat around the bay to view the coral and fish. Due to the poor visability the tour wasn't too memorable but the shout from the skipper to an American tourist who was slow on getting on the boat of "hurry up love or I will feed you to the fish" had Sam in fits of laughter!

We then set off for the Bay of Island landmark known as Cape Brett, which has the original nickname of "whole in the rock".

When we got to the hole in the rock, the weather was beginning to get a bit choppy, so we couldn't go too close to it, but then a group of dolphins suddenly appeared with a couple of baby calves. The captain was sure they would come and play, especially since there was also a massive shoal of fish around the boat, but they suddenly darted off and the captain could only imagine that there must be a shark within the shoal and the dolphins had left to protect their young. It was fascinating to see something blue under the water attacking the fish, but no one was sure it was an actual shark.

When we finished the boat ride we decided to spend the evening exploring the quaint little town of Russell, which has the oldest building in New Zealand. This happens to be a mighty 200 years old...

After listening to a live band and having a bite to eat, we headed back to our hostel for a relatively early night, before heading back to Auckland the next day to collect our home for the next 3 weeks, a campervan.

Sam's comments: I wish E-J had reminded me to put sun tan lotion on! My face resembled the middle of the Japanese flag!

E-J's comments: This place is really something special. I would have loved to have seen it in the blazing sunshine, but we were lucky it didn't rain the entire time. The hole in the rock was pretty special and seeing all the dolphins was rather special too.

The Bay of Islands remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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On first impressions, we were amazed to find just how sparkling clean everything looked and so new. Also it was strange to suddenly be able to communicate with people without having to translate it first in our heads.

When we got to our hotel, it was 4:30 am and the guy on the desk informed us that check in wasn't until 2pm (though he thought we could probably get in by about 10am). Reluctantly and exhausted we left the hotel and found a 24 hour internet cafe to waste the next few hours.

By 10 am we were finally in our room and after showers and the necessities to stop ourselves from feeling like complete zombies, we decided to explore the city. We walked down to one of the wharfs and had a drink in a bar looking out to the sea. In the port there was an absolute abundance of boats. We had been warned that there were more boats in Auckland than people and seeing this, we could believe it.

After a stroll around, we made our way to the Sky Tower to get a panoramic and impressive over view of the city. We were not disappointed as it was fantastic.

From the top, we were able to see how Auckland was originally formed by a load of volcanoes, with the lava forming the flat ground which is now totally built up with houses. We found out that the volcanoes are not extinct, but actually dormant, though they haven't erupted in over 600 years. It is however possible that they could erupt at any time again.

Looking down across Auckland, we could really appreciate how it is literally made up of land and sea. Everywhere is surrounded by the sea and this reminded us slightly of Rio, although these Volcanoes are not quite as high as the mountains in Rio.

After we had spent a good time up in the Sky Tower and enjoying a good drink in the bar, we made our way back down to the port area and had the most delicious seafood supper. By 9pm we were on our knees, so decided that considering that Chile was a good 15 hours behind New Zealand, we were doing pretty well with the jet lag and could call it a day.

The following day Sam woke up in agony, due to a mosquito bite on his foot, which seemed to have become seriously infected. An hour later, a very grumpy Sam left the walk in clinic with antibiotics for the infection and was instructed not to walk on the beach or go in the sea until he had finished the treatment. Although E-J tried to reassure him this would only be a week and we still had three more weeks to indulge in lots of activities, he was determined to stay in a depressed mood for the rest of the day. This was slightly exacerbated when E-J insisted on going to the local aquarium, which ended up not only being ridiculously expensive but also rubbish!

Sam and E-J's moods were finally lifted when they found a lovely restaurant that evening and indulged in some more fine, fish cuisine.

Sam's Comments: I struggled with the jet lag, often found my self speaking Spanish! The Doctor was worried that I didn't understand what she was saying when I was prescribed antibiotics.

E-J's Comments: Auckland seems incredibly modern and clean, a real shock to come to after being in South America. The people here are also incredibly friendly and immediately make you feel right at home.

Auckland remains copyright of the author E-J, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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