New Zealand

New Zealand was a nice holiday within a holiday. We arrived at the airport mid-afternoon and cycled our way to a campground just south of Auckland.

We soon realized that there was more to do here than we had thought and since we had only 6 days, we decided to rent a car and get the most out of it. We picked up a little station wagon, loaded all of our gear into it and headed south.

We kept active on our "holiday within a holiday" with rock-climbing, caving, abseiling, black-water tubing and a short trek up a mountain. We also visited active thermal pools and a bar in Auckland completely made of ice. With the car rental and the high prices of our extra-curricular activities we tried to save money elsewhere. We "free camped" the entire time in farmers fields, the sides of highways and picnic areas. We also cut costs by buying our own groceries and creating cheap ways to make our food last, ie; mustard on crackers and bread dipped in hot sauce - my favourite!

We're now headed to Argentina to start our tour through South America. Unfortunately our flight has been delayed by 3 days and we've been put in a hotel close to the Auckland airport with free meals and movies. I guess there has been strikes in the Argentina airport making it very difficult to fly in and out of......good times!