Rotorua

How to tell us apart
Originally uploaded by Carrie & Eddie.

The whole of New Zealand is precariously balanced on the fault line of some very big tectonic plates. This accounts for the beautiful scenery, but also the constant threat of earthquakes and volcanoes. On a more positive note, in Rotorua it all comes together in a whole city built around geothermal activity and everything that comes with it - hot springs, spa pools, bubbling mud baths, and a constant, hideous, stench of sulphur. For two days we saw geysers, hot springs, immersed ourselves in mud, went to a very luxurious spa and tried not to breathe through our noses.

Queen Charlotte Track

Queen Charlotte Track
Originally uploaded by Carrie & Eddie.

Feeling invigorated with a lust for walking that we had never felt before we decided to push ourselves even further this time with a gigantic 22km, yes 22km, walk on the Queen Charlotte Track. On our first really hot day since arriving in New Zealand, we got a boat through the beautiful and tranquil Queen Charlotte Sound then started our walk. We climbed up steep hills and walked through forests and open fields taking in views of beaches and bay and ocean along the way. We were treated to the most amazing scenery for 8 hours, only to be 'rewarded' with the most stiff leg joints for the following 8 days. But the area was so beautiful that the pain was worth it. Whether we'll ever walk that far again, though, remains to be seen...

Mount Cook

Mount Cook
Originally uploaded by Carrie & Eddie.

Then, like Siri, we went to Mount Cook. It's New Zealand's biggest mountain and the place with loads of walks for the most and least able. With the weather as unpredictable as ever, we packed for all eventualities. Eddie thought it was unnecessary to pack so much, seeing as we left the hostel in blue skies.
"Do you think it will rain?", he asked.
"Is the Pope Catholic?" Carrie replied.
As it turned out, the Pope wasn't a Catholic any more as JP2 had departed this earth that very morning. And it did rain, but not for long - we were soon treated to blue skies and amazing views.

Dunedin

Dunedin - Ed and Jake
Originally uploaded by Carrie & Eddie.

Our next stop was on the opposite coast to see Drs Winburn and Ford (or Ian and Liz) in Dunedin. Jakey and Helen joined us and we spent 3 days basking in the seaside sun running up and down sand dunes and searching for, and occasionally finding, some penguins.

Doing the Sounds

Enjoying Milford Sound 1
Originally uploaded by Carrie & Eddie.

Sounds are basically fjords and we went to spend two days seeing what are allegedly the two most beautiful - Milford and Doubtful. We got to Te Anau (the hub for visiting these places) at Easter weekend to find it was full. We ended up staying 20km away in a dump with a psychotic madman next door. We slept with one eye open and so were really tired for the first trip, to Milford. Said to be one of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring places on earth, we were eager to get there, not only as it was several hours away from the guy wearing his dead mother's clothes next door. However, the weather was so vile that we couldn't see beyond the end of the boat - for all we knew we could have been sailing along the Aire. This gave us plenty of time to catch up on sleep. The next day we went to Doubtful - weather had been restored and having been delighted to make it through the night for a second time we were in awe of the place. Lush green mountains, serene waters, dolphins a-leaping - the world was good again.

Fear and loathing in Queenstown

Queenstown
Originally uploaded by Carrie & Eddie.

A serene photo of Queenstown which in no way reflects our activities there. Even pathetic couch potatoes like us end up engaging in all manner of craziness in Queenstown. We went canyoning - abseiling into a canyon and getting to the other end by throwing ourselves off rocks, jumping forwards, backwards and sideways into rock pools and plummeting down canyon streams. We followed this by a half-hour ride on a jetboat which zips along the canyon, terrifyingly close to the sheer, deadly rocks at 70 miles per hour. To top it all off, we went to watch people bungy jump - from a safe distance, which was just how we liked it.

Eddie the Eagle

Eddie the Eagle
Originally uploaded by Carrie & Eddie.

1.30pm: No intention of sky-diving despite telling Zoe I would do it with her - enjoying a relaxing lunch on the way to Queenstown.

2pm: No intention of sky-diving and enjoying a lovely drive when phone reception comes back and 3 messages on the phone from Zoe saying "Where are you? I have booked us to dive at 3pm."

2.30pm: Now deeply worried: how do I get out of this? Meet Zoe who says it's been called off because of clouds. Try to sound disappointed.

3pm: Zoe calls sky-dive place to make sure it's cancelled, only to be told we can now do it at 4pm. No disguising my lunch is not sitting too comfortably.

After all these ups and downs my adrenaline resources were drained. I went up nervous as hell but managed a smile for the camera before being shunted out of the plane strapped to a Hungarian who works as a product manager for Ford in the winters. In the end it wasn't worth the worry but was great fun and some far-out, narly views of Wanaka (as we adrenaline-junkies say).

Fox glacier

Carrie Eddie Zoe and Alex, Fox glacier
Originally uploaded by Carrie & Eddie.

This was always going to be an intrepid journey. It was the first time we had done physical exercise for as far back as either of us could remember. We donned crampons along with Alex and Zoe and moved up the glacier. It was amazing how easily you could move on the ice with just some metal pegs stuck to your feet (and with a guide cutting steps for you as you walked everywhere). It made up for what schooling missed in Geography and we are now bonafide experts on glacial movement.