We've spent our first week here in Fiji visiting the Yasawa islands, hopping from beach to beach. Lots of lovely sunshine, tropical fruits and nice beaches. We both went snorkelling and saw nice coral and brightly coloured fishies. We tried to go and see manta rays, but unfortunately they weren't around at the time. I also got to do some diving.

We're now back on the mainland, staying at a place called the Beachouse on the Coral Coast. We're heading towards the capital of Suva to have a look around and visit a rainforest park nearby.

Sadly, it's our last day in New Zealand, but we've had a wonderful time. The weather has been gorgeous the last week, so we're a bit sad to leave, but hopefully Fiji will be just as sunny. After leaving Christchurch we had fun with the dusky dolphins in Kaikoura. They weren't so keen to swim with us, but were happy to swim along with the boat. We also cycled round some lovely wineries in Marlborough before catching the ferry back to the North Island.

In Wellington we saw the last Lord of the Rings film, but we had to get past a scary Ringwraith to get into the elegant Embassy Theatre. We then saw some of the film locations as we drove through the Hutt Valley up to Napier. Napier was a beautiful Art Deco town which was completely rebuilt after a 1931 earthquake. We also stopped in Tauranga to visit John's Uncle Len and were regaled with his singing at the Tauranga Country Music Club. Our last sightseeing was in the Coromandel Peninsula which had some lovely rugged coast and we had fun digging holes on Hot Water Beach to find the hot springs underneath.

Here are the last photos from New Zealand.

Happy New Year! Especially for all those suffering from northern hemisphere mid-winter blues, we just thought we'd say we've spent New Year's Day on the beach in 25 deg C.

Here are some more photos.