Devil's Punchbowl waterfall, Arthur's Pass, New Zealand

Devil's Punchbowl waterfall, Arthur's Pass, New Zealand
Originally uploaded by Carrie & Eddie.

The next day - today - we headed from the east to the west coast towards the glaciers. We drove via Arthur's Pass. It's a beautiful drive - you start in the lowlands then gradually climb high into mountains, then down again when you reach the sea, then into the mountains again past still, clear lakes, crystal clear streams, to end up in Franz Josef Glacier, an Alpine village with snow-capped mountains as a backdrop. This photo is at a waterfall in Athur's Pass National Park where we stopped for a while. Tomorrow - glacier hikes!!

Dusky dolphins, Kaikoura

Dusky dolphins, Kaikoura
Originally uploaded by Carrie & Eddie.

Carrie, Alex and Zoe, wet-suited up for dolphin swimming

Carrie, Alex and Zoe, wet-suited up for dolphin swimming
Originally uploaded by Carrie & Eddie.

On to Kaikoura, where the ocean's canyon system (or something equally technical sounding) makes it a great place to see dolphins, whales and other sea mammals. We went swimming with dolphins and it was just unbelievable. We went out into the ocean, and they go where the dolphins usually are and just hope for the best - they're totally wild so there's no guarantee they'll want to interact with you. But they were very playful and we had about five separate drops into the ocean to swim with them. And there were hundreds! Everywhere you looked there were dolphins - swimming around you, under you, leaping in front of you. It could be a bit frightening at times - the ocean was murky so you wouldn't see them till they were right by you, and they swim right after you and swerve at the last minute, in a bizarre marine game of chicken. Without a doubt an incredible experience.

New Zealand wine region

New Zealand wine region
Originally uploaded by Carrie & Eddie.

We touched down in New Zealand a four hour flight and 25 hours later than we left Rarotonga - the international date line still totally throws me. Eddie's friend Phil met us at the airport and we went back to their flat, then out for dinner in the evening, and after that very brief introduction to Auckland, flew to Christchurch the following morning. We were heading straight up to Kaikoura so left Christchurch straight from the airport, and stopped in the Waipara wine region on the way up, where we stumbled across a wine festival - food, wine, music, glorious sunshine... I was definitely the only person there who didn't actually try any wine at the wine festival, which became quite embarrassing - not the done thing, apparently! But the food was fantastic and we had a lovely afternoon, chilling out and sunbathing, before heading up to Kaikoura to meet Alex and Zoe.

Motu, Rarotonga

Motu, Rarotonga
Originally uploaded by Carrie & Eddie.

This was the view from the beach right in front of our hotel.

Eddie and Carrie, Muri beach, Rarotonga

Eddie and Carrie, Muri beach, Rarotonga
Originally uploaded by Carrie & Eddie.

Next stop - Rarotonga. We were staying right on this lagoon. It was hot, exotic, tropical - gorgeous. Having said that, our pale skins only allowed us to be in the sun before about 10am and again after 5pm but for normal-skinned people, Rarotonga would be an absolute tropical paradise! This part of the lagoon is by far the most beautiful, with little islets dotted around which you can walk or kayak to across the lagoon. It rained solidly for the first day, so on the second day we decided to get outdoors and hire bikes and cycle the 32km around the island - bad move with my level of fitness and the excessive heat! So after that we just did nothing but read and sleep to get over the jet lag. We were there for four days, by which time we were pretty eager to leave and get going with our travels, as there's nothing at all to do on the island.

Eddie's LA family

Eddie's LA family
Originally uploaded by Carrie & Eddie.

First stop - LA. We went to visit Eddie's cousin Amy, her husband Jon and their little girl Cadie who was absolutey adorable. They took us out for dinner, and to Malibu and Santa Monica the next day to catch up with the family. By the time we got on the next plane, to Rarotonga, we'd had such a great day that we already felt like we'd been away a week.