Radio Silence

Alright Folks,

Like the Fiji media, there has been radio silence from myself under the repressive Cowan Administration. Thankfully I've managed to escape and post a long-overdue blog.

Well we are currently in Auckland on our final night in New Zealand before heading off to the slightly politically unstable Fiji (though at the moment the Foreign Office still say it's OK to travel there). What a time we have had in New Zealand. Emma has covered most of the things we have done in previous postings, though she admitted that she didn't quite give sufficient attention to the Milfort Sounds which we saw last Thursday. Not wanting to exaggerate, but it is one of the most amazing places I've ever seen and definitely the highlight of our time in New Zealand. If you've never heard of it, then just Google it.

Overall, we thought New Zealand would struggle to live up to the amazing time we had in OZ. However to be honest i think it is about on a par, given the complete contrast in the landscape in a country the size of the UK.

After slumming it in a white van (or rather campervan) these past few weeks, we are currently enjoying some luxury in a quality hotel in Auckland. It was an emotional farewell to the van this morning before flying up from Christchurch. The van has become a close friend these past few weeks and has opened up new career opportunities for when i get back home as a whitevan-man. All that cutting people up and causing long tailbacks has been great fun!

We had a great time staying with Mark and Fiona (and Sophia) in Dunedin and thoroughly enjoyed our we visit to see some pengiuns in the wild. They seemed perfectly happy with us sneaking about in a war-like tench taking photos of them as they sat enjoying the afternoon sun. Certainly better than watching them walk zombie-like in Edinburgh zoo.

Anyway, I'd better head off before Emma spots that I've managed to sneak on the computer without her supervision! Hope you're all doing well back home and that you had a great Easter.

Ricky

P.S. It's unlikely that we'll be able to update the blog for the next week or so in Fiji, but normal service will resume when we get to the US.