"New Zealand Summary - Highs and Lows"

Highest point: NIck and Marissa: Sky-diving at 9,000ft (not metres as I said before) over Glenorchy and Lake Wakatipu.

Lowest point: Nick and Marissa: Under-water caves visit at Waitomo to see the glow-worms - at least 30m down!

Meeting a Hagrid looky-likey in the middle of nowhere in the North Island and staying in his shop or an hour or so chatting and doing puzzles!

Best Scenery: Nick: The breath-taking scenery along Glenorchy road from Queenstown with the lakes and mountains. Marissa: The walk to Mount Cook through the Hooker Valley.

Weirdest Experience: Nick: Horse-riding for the first time. Marissa: Meeting a Hagrid looky-likey in the middle of nowhere in the North Island and staying in his shop or an hour or so chatting and doing puzzles!

Biggest adrenalin rush: Nick: Bungee jump from Queenstown 'ledge'. Marissa: Other than Sky-diving (which we have already mentioned) then  there wasn't really another one for me - think that does it!

Best value for money experience: Nick: Hooker glacier walk to Mount Cook - free just at the expense of your legs! Marissa: Has to be seeing the whales at Kaikoura even though it wasn't cheap it felt like a once in a lifetime experience...

Nicest food: Nick: Fantastic chicken salad at the Alana vineyard in Martinborough (the sun and ambience certainly helped). Marissa: The gorgeous fish at the Boat Shed restaurant over-looking the water at Nelson.

Worst food: Nick and Marissa: Dodgy quiche and chips on the hoof at Twizel - surrounded by wasps too!

Most chilled: Nick: Looking over the bay at the Boat Shed. Marissa: Fishing for big prawns at the Huka Prawn farm in Taupo.

Best YHA: Nick: Mount Cook for the scenery and service. Marissa: Waitomo for the relaxed environment, good clean digs and muesli!

Worst YHA: Nick: Greymouth - just boring and bad location. Marissa: Taupo - really uncomfy beds!

Worth a second look: Nick: Wanaka due to the short period of time that we spent there. Marissa: Bay of Islands in good weather for the beaches and views.

Never again: Nick and Marissa: Greymouth! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Ok, on this one....as we were travelling around we have been thinking about our chums back home (naturally) and when we have been somewhere or done something we have often thought "oh, so and so would really love this" so we thought that we'd do a 'recommended for X' type of summary. Just in case you thought that NZ wasn't for you well maybe we have found the one or two places that might be.

Sky-diving (wherever) - Dale and Vicky (Joshua may have to wait a few years!)

Sampling wine around Martinborough - Mum and Paul

Whale-watching in Kaikoura - Caz and Mark (we know your love for wildlife!)

Meandering around cafes and bookshops in Auckland - Carl and Kath

Antarctic experience and Te Papa - Steve, Lou and the kids

Gigging in Auckland - Our trusty 'traveller' companions - Ben and Geri (setting a pace that we couldn't stick to!)

Horse-riding and enjoying Blanket Bay in Glenorchy - 'G' and 'Fi'

Pubs, Thai restaurants and prawn-golf (so funny) in Taupo - has to be the Tallises, Burnetts and Bob'n'Neenas!

Deep Rugby chats (all the Kiwis love to rub our noses into how much they will win in the world cup) - Rob, this one's for you to fight your corner on!

We know we haven't mentioned everyone here but as we are only 2 months into the trip then I'm sure we'll match more people to places soon - Smiths, Guintolis etc.