Gidday,

Well it's been a while since the last update, & we have managed to do a few things other than sit on the beach & progress the tan, so thought we'd let you know what's happening.

Deirdre & I have now made it to Aussie, and are camping down at Wilson's Prom, the southern most part of Australia in Victoria. We've managed to time it perfectly for the school holidays so the place is full of kids. It's pretty nice down here - a long way from Queenstown NZ, from where we sent the last update.

Anyway, to recover from all of the activities in Queenstown, we took off to Milford Sound for a couple of days. This place is one of the most amazing we have ever been to. We booked in to do some kayaking by moonlight but the weather had other ideas, so we did a boat trip the following morning. If you get the South Island this is one place you just have to go - the scenery is amazing.

Next stop was Invercargill via some hick town promoting itself as the sausage capital of New Zealand. There really isn't a lot of point in going there as we found out rather quickly, so headed to Bluff (the most southern part of the south island) to get freshened up in the 40 knot winds. Needless to say, didn't even bother to get the tent out & continued up the eastern coast to the Catlins to stay in a backpackers.

Cookie country (Otago) was next, and I was disappointed to find that there was only 4 pubs in Alexandra, but the one that was open does good toasties. We made it to Dunedin, which actually turned out to be quite a nice place, although found the locals a little strange. They keep raving about their big peninsula, which turned out to be quite long, but fairly scarcely populated. From there we headed inland to see Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo (really nice), climbed Mt John, and back to the coast at Christchurch. We found some great bars & a few good beers, then out for a day trip to Arthur's Pass and Akaroa.

Next day saw us travel back up to Wellington to catch up with Wozza & Mary for a few beers & had a really good night, except that Deirdre's pizza gave us all some concern. Still, a good bit of Kiwi beef and cheese (pie) sorted that out in the morning, and we nailed it straight back to Auckland by early evening.

At this stage, Team New Zealand had already opened a couple of cans of whip-ass and were leading the Italians 2-0 in the Americas Cup. We spent the next week watching this go to 5-0, which gave the whole country an excuse to party and partake of a few more beers. All of this provided a good lead up to my 30th, and a load of us went out in Newmarket for some Turkish food, a good natter, a rather large glass of whisky (thanks Lazza), then the rest of the night is a bit hazy. Still I survived and emerged a better fisherman than ever.

It's true. As an older, wiser, more mature fisherman, I started to find success at the end of my rod. It all started on the trip down to Gisborne where we stayed with Andy, Kelly & Otis. After catching up with Nikki, Doug & the kids, we all went out with the bait catchers down to the wharf (Otis is going to be "just a fisherman" when he grows up), & started pulling sprats from the water. Fish at last. From there we headed round the East Cape, & after a couple of days fishing, headed to the Te Arowa fish shop for the best fish & egg burger in the whole world. Damn, it was awesome. It must have worked; the next day I pulled my first keeper from the ocean. It was a whopper Kowhai, at least 2cm past legal length. Combined with the Red Cod I caught after it, they gave us enough for a meal when we stopped at Waihau Bay for the night. Next, on to Maketu, where I landed a few fish including 4lb Kowhai, which we took back to Auckland to slap on the barbie. Mmmmm, freshly caught barbied Kowhai.

The next couple of weeks saw Deirdre run & recover from the longest run she's ever done in her life. It was time for the Round the Bays fun run, so we joined 60,000 other people for the 8.4km run, then relaxed with a few beers & a barbie thanks to Kiri & the Telstra team. Nick also hosted the Big Steak Competition the following Saturday. The rules are simple, get the biggest steak you can, cook it how you like, & eat it between 2 slices of bread. If you can't finish it then you're disqualified. Well, all participants managed to complete the assignment, but I won the contest with my whopping 985 gram rump.

Next stop Melbourne. After a couple of days & a couple of dodgy Backpackers, we caught up with Fi. Mary also arrived at the same time, so we had a night out on the town, & ensured that Mary wasn't going to return to Wozza without a hangover. After a few days in the city & the compulsory Phillip Island tour & Penguin Parade, we've headed for the coast & the bush for some quiet relaxation & a few leisurely walks. Trouble is, so has the rest of Melbourne folk with their kids. Damn.

Till next time...

Cheers,

Rik & Deirdre