We’re now back in Auckland after a very cold (-2 degrees) stopover in
Waitomo Caves.

We spent today in the Auckland museum, main art gallery and exploring
the various galleries throughout the city hosting the photography
festival. Nothing hugely inspiring art-wise but we rather like
Auckland – it has a nice feel to it.

Also got some important shopping done: we now have a guidebook to
roadtripping the US and a map to start plotting our line. That should
keep us busy on the beach in paradise.

We fly to Rarotonga tomorrow afternoon (6th June) and arrive this
evening (5th June). Wierd!! We get a bonus 6th June. What shall we do
with it?! Btw, Internet access is an unknown in Rarotonga so don’t
panic (Mums) if you don’t hear from us for 2 weeks.

Last night in the camper tonight 🙁 We shall miss it. It’s been great
fun. Recommend Escape campers to anyone who’s coming to New
Zealand…as long as you’re not much bigger than us two, it could get
cramped.

Since the glaciers we have just been making our way North, stopping in
Greymouth, Westport, Nelson & Picton. Nothing hugely exciting but we
had a lovely walk along the coast in the Abel Tasman National Park and
a cold but clear trip through the Marlborough Sounds back to the North
island this morning. We even saw a big pod of dolphins jumping and
frolicking in the sun, a fantastic sight. The pic was taken during a
walk along the coast from Picton looking out into the Marlborough
Sounds yesterday.

We did think that as we moved North the weather would get warmer. We
have been incredibly lucky with gorgeous clear sunny days for the last
week or so but it has got colder – it was -1.8 degrees the night
before last which is our record so far but generally is just below
zero at night. We’re snuggly under our 2 duvets and heater though.

Now in Whanganui in North Island making our way back to Auckland for
our flight to Rarotonga on Saturday. Can’t wait for warmth!!!

After leaving Wanaka, which we both loved, we drove further North
along the coast to Fox Glacier and Franz Joseph Glacier. We stopped
and had a look at Fox first but it turned out to be less impressive
than Franz Joseph which we went back to this morning and did the
longer walk to get up close. It was truely awesome but we’re glad we
decided not to do the day-long walk through it which looked knackering
to say the least.

After our walk to the glacier this morning we drove North to Greymouth
where we are staying tonight. It’s a little warmer here thank
goodness. We survived our lowest overnight temperature of 0.9 degrees
in Wanaka so we should be fine under our 2 winter duvets here.

By the way, if it looks like we are always wearing the same clothes in
the photos it’s because we are. Don’t worry though, we are washing
them when we can pluck up the courage to go without during the wash
and dry cycle!!

Thank god we saved ourselves for ‘something a little higher’. That
thing was a 12,000 foot tandem skydive each.

We had booked in for 1pm but an inversion layer cloud meant we were to
call back at 2.30pm. At about 1.30 the clouds started breaking up and
by 3pm there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We were assigned our jump
masters, Eugene and Geoff and given ridiculous outfits to wear.

Before we knew it we were circling up to altitude staring out at the
frankly stunning scenery. Then the door opened…

The 2 other guys on our flight were gone in seconds and all of a
sudden it was really happening. Jen went first and then it was my
turn. Head back, legs up, breathe in and whoosh!

The falling sensation lasted a few seconds and then it was the ride
our lives. The instructors gave us a few spins and made sure we waved
to the camera before our 45 seconds of freefall were over. Then the
lovely parachutes opened and all was calm floating over snowy
mountains and just beautiful scenery.

We floated back to earth with amazing precision and had a big hug to
celebrate.

We still can’t believe we did it and keep looking at each other in
amazement. It truly is a highlight in our lives and something we will
never forget. For those who need proof we both have DVDs of our jumps
with Jen’s having some great facial expressions.

On a bizzarre note, as we were about to get on the plane two people
getting of were James and Kerry who we first met in Malaysia. We then
met them in a campsite kitchen in Te Anau and here they were. They’re
really nice and its good fun to share travelling stories. They have
some great tales involving wild animals! We met up for a few beers
tonight to share jump stories and we will probably meet up again in
ournext campsite. It truly is a small world.

Wow! What a day!! Can’t believe we did it. Again! Again!