Mar 10- Auckland, City of Sails

Mar 6-9- Abel Tasman, South Island

Abel Tasman is as far south as we will venture. It's an amazing coastal national park that attracts locals and travellers alike with its turquoise waters, postcard-perfect limestone cliffs, and golden sand beaches. We spent 3 days in this heavenly locale camping for 3 nights. The first night we had to hike over 4 hours in with our packs. Whew, the blisters were rough.

Mar 5- City life in Wellington, NZ

Wellington is the southern-most city of New Zealand's North Island and the center of NZ's film industry. To commemorate that fact, we went on a silly Lord of the Rings tour. Here we are playing out a scene from the first movie when the hobbits fall down the hill. We are great actresses huh?!!

Mar 4- Bungying Lake Taupo

Today was an adrenaline day for Sara and I. Since I'd already done the sky-diving thing in Hawaii, I decided on bungy over the Waikato River. It's about a 47m fall complete with a dip in the water at the end. With a little persuasion, Sara decided to make the giant leap and skydive over Lake Taupo. The hardest part is definitely committing to make the jump when you're standing on the precipice.

Mar 3- Tongariro Crossing, NZ

The Tongariro Crossing is billed as NZ's best day hike and it was spectacular. In the 7 hr hike, you go from barren alpine bush to burnt red and black volcanic peaks to the emerald hued crater lakes and finish with a trek in the rainforest. The weather was great for the hike just a little clouds that drifted over the lakes. Just amazing.

Mar 2- Waitomo Glow Worm Caves, New Zealand

After arriving in New Zealand yesterday, Sara and I headed to Waitomo, the home of the glow worm caves. These larval gnats dot the ceilings of the caves creating a cathedral of tiny green stars. It's so amazing to see. To do so, we went caving through and toobing down the stream of a mile long stretch of cave. It was exhilirating and tiring. Definitely glad to see daylight again.

Feb 28- Trinity Beach

After all our jungle adventures, we really needed to relax so Casey and I headed back down the Queensland coast to Trinity Beach. At night we drank some wine as we walked along the beach and then watched the sunset in the morning. It's such a lovely beach, no tourists (but us), and so peaceful. It was a great recommendation.

Feb 27- Jungle Surfing and Croc Hunting

Today the weather finally cleared up and it was gorgeous. Since we'd seen the rainforest at night and from the ground with our hike, we decided to see it from the top and went jungle surfing with zip-lines criss-crossing the canopy. It was tons of fun and we went upside-down, fast, and every which way. After that, we headed back to the beach and then on to the Daintree River to go crocodile hunting. We did see a couple crocs as well as some green tree frogs and giant bright blue butterflies.