And then there were two...

Helen: Now we're all on our lonely ownly ownsome. L, B and W went home a couple of days ago and now it's just us again. It's all quiet without them - but much easier to wash up after 2 people than 5! Predictably our baggage still expands to fill the boot of our car, and most of the back seat, even though we sent a whole bunch of stuff home with the Panks!

The last few days the rest of the clan were here we went kayaking in Milford and walked the hallowed Milford Track (well, 2 miles of it anyway) - have to say it didn't look that different to the rest of the rainforest we've seen in NZ! C & W got very excited because they thought they'd seen a kiwi in the wild - it turned out to be a weka instead (small, brown bird so they could be forgiven for the mistake). Then we went to Queenstown (where we saw real kiwis in a bird sanctuary), wine tasting in Otago (yum, yum, yum is all I can say) and ended up in Mt Cook where we got an amazing picture postcard perfect day with clear blue skies behind the snow and ice capped mountains. Bloody gorgeous.

Now we're back in Nelson (stayed a couple of nights on the West Coast where we encountered the rudest man we've yet met on our travels - he was, I hate to say, English, about 55, very fat and traveling with a much younger German girl. We were minding our own business in the lounge playing guitar and harmonica (we're getting quite good together) and he just started playing music on his laptop without asking us if we minded. Of course, we didn't complain - not the British way - but we should have. Bloody Dido droning on for hours. They went upstairs and left her wailing away - mercifully she stopped after 20 mins or so all by itself...and he had the cheek to accuse us of messing about with his computer - it had just run out of battery because he'd plugged it into the wrong socket. He was really agressive and accusatory. Wanker. Then we had to listen to him and his girlfriend shagging all night. Delightful. I can only assume that she was with him for his money...) Anyway, as I said, now we're in Nelson, in our favourite hostel, swotting up for our yachtmaster exam on Sunday. Cross your fingers for us.

Lots of love
Hxx