NZ Van Life

Hi from NZ currently in Rotorua with another wonderful stench of sulphur...pheeew. Currently sleeping in a van with Wild Things (childrens book) graffiti'd all over It...which gets some looks I can tell you....Aching a bit today as yesterday we were in waitomo and abseiled 26 odd meters down into an underground stream before getting on inner tubes and going underwater caving..turning your helmet light out allows you a view of hundreds and hundreds of glow worms...a phenominal sight (although very tricky navigating by glowworm light alone) a long trudge back upstream and we then had to climb our way back out again...good fun but tires you out especially climbing with a soaking wet super thick wet suit on... NZ country side is amazing and the weather here's treating us right...going off now to get drunk as free camping doesnt allow you to really get to the pub (as you normally have to hide yourself away on mountain sides or woodland) anyway hope ya all having fun...l8rs...(ps heres me at the top end of NZ gonna see if we can make it to stewart island right at the bottom! it wasnt cold just super windy!!!!)

Off to Aukland

Just a quick post to say we are off to aukland tommorow woohoo come on the meat pies and Vino you can drink without gagging and an Ale my kingdom for an ale (can you tell i'm excited) we've been sat in the hotel room this morning recovering from a rowdy night at the northern club for mels birthday dreaming of food and civilisation. Good night even if one of the old fellas was trying to tell us that evolution had just been disproved .. oh well...lovely bloke though actually had seen me before on his island in the yasawas and he did buy us a load of booze(well under duress from alan the 72 year old alkie) hehehe it was a laugh though and I had the best tamarind and fish curry ever...proper black it was lurrvely...so yes still eating our way round the world looking forward to eating an entire lamb by the time we've left NZ....just hope the fish is as good as here but we'll see...so next time i write it hopefully wont take me 1000 years to check my e-mail...oh the only downside will be that its going to be freezing in NZ it dropped under 20 degrees when we were in the bush and it felt like sub zero....doesnt bode well really...anyhoo hope you like the image mel + cat and our house in long beach in the yasawas called a bure and would have been lovely if the bed wasnt calapsing!

More from fiji

The pace has slowed down quite considerably. That'll be fiji time then...Just got back from Ovalau to the mainland where we've been staying in the bush on a bloke called Bobo's farm. Nice fella - although his wife is german but you cant have everything...he owns an absolute stack of land in which he's built his own house. Drank loads of Kava and went to watch the local rugby team...pretty mad that...all the local women sing lilting war songs as these giant fijians smack 7 bells out of each other. then all go to the local club (more gentlemans club than flashing lights afair) and get smashed out their heads on beer and grog. All great fun. Bobo also has an interesting bath/water source in the form of a home made resevoir. Great for a morning cleanse although you do have to share it with freshwater prawns and fishes! (check bobo diving not bad for a 52 year old!) Off to to the coral coast and singatoka...L8rs