And the final words...

That's all folks!

...and the best bits of Australia

Snorkelling on the Barrier Reef. Crumpet the Koala. The Sydney Opera House. Kangaroos. The Sydney Harbour Bridge. The Echinda crossing the road. Steak & Moreton Bay Bugs (a cousin of the lobster). Turtles swimming in a coral reef lagoon (don't forget to pronounce Turdles). The duck-billed platypus (a lifetime ambition acheived!). Friendly folk - everyone! Sunshine (no rain!). The Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains. The hot chocolate (melting chocolate buttons by candle) in Katoomba. Automatic car + Cruise control! (Sat Nav says 'sit back and relax for the next 300kms')... The Croc show at Australia Zoo (tribute to Steve Irwin).

And now, finally, the best bits of New Zealand...

Most impressive view and SO worth the hundreds of kilometres to reach it: Milford Sound. The anticipation. The effort to get there. The drive through the range. The Homer tunnel. The keas. The cruise. The dolphins. The view. The weather. All mind-blowingly fantastic...

And a close second - spending time with our lovely friends Xanthe, Greg, Sophia & Jessica (we miss you guys!).

Now the best of the rest. The South Island. The glow worms. The whale-watching trip. Being on a boat with a pod of dolphins swimming ahead of it. Throwing snowballs on a snow-covered volcano. No queues, anywhere. Best drink: great coffee - everywhere. Best snack: homemade sausage roll from the tea shop in the Old Town at Cromwell. Best ice cream: the incredibly large single scoop on Ninety Mile Beach. Most impressive architecture: "tin town" - Tirau (buildings shaped like dogs & sheep). Most surreal experience: standing at the face of a Glacier. New Zealand milk - don't know what they do to it but it's gorgeous! Favourite birds: the Pukeko (although in Australia they call it the Purple Swamp Hen!), the Fantail (does a little dance in the air as it catches the insects you disturb as you walk), the Tui - the most incredible song, and the Kea - a green mountain parrot. Favourite animal - Sea Lions. Most unusual experience: sand tobogganing. New Zealand beef - so delicious. The thing we didn't manage to do this time round but would like to do next time: Abel Tasman Park (mostly only accessible by boat) and the Tongariro Crossing (8 hour walk across a volcano plain). Would most like to go back and explore some more: Tauranga. Most unusual place: volcanic Rotorua. Most stunning beaches (so many but these are our faves): Cathedral Cove, Orewa, Piha, KareKare. Best wine: chilled Mills Reef Chardonnay in a little restaurant in Tirua (on the Coromandel). Best value: (everything thanks to the exchange rate!) Scallops - about 70p per half dozen! Best value day out: Karangahake - explore goldmine workings with a torch, all FREE (including the parking). Best value accommodation: a camping cabin at Shotover, $45 for the night (about £20). Best alternative to a UK product: Weetbix by Sanatorium (even nicer than Weetabix!). Cutest thing: Emma taking a Llama for a walk at the farm park at Hanmer Springs. "Is going to get some getting used to not having": bags packed for you at the supermarket (and pleasant staff who chat to you while they're doing it!). Best food product (other than milk and beef): Soggy Bottom Sausages from the Clevedon Farmer's Market. Best piece of marketing: Radio Morning Show slogan "Wakes you up like a full bladder". Most pleasant surprise: the dunny (dry earth toilet) half way round a 4 hour circular walk around a volcanic crater lake. Best experience: volcanic hot pools (Waiwera, Miranda, Turanga & Hanmer). Most unusual journey: being driven up 90 mile beach (it really is the highway and a better ride than the unsurfaced road!). Funniest sight: Angora bunnies being shorn. What would we recommend to people thinking of going? All of it!!! (except the venison pie in Arrowtown) ;0)

Best tip: our most useful piece of kit - a 99p plastic picnic set from Asda - plates, dishes, beakers, cutlery. Meant we could have breakfast & a picnic lunch wherever we were, perfect for life on the road.

What we enjoyed the least

The Venison pie from the bakery in Arrowtown (full of gristle, yuk)! Lets get this right, not the cafe/bakery in the middle of the High Street, I'm talking about the Pie Shop at the top of the High Street. How dare they call themselves gourmet..... Total rubbish. Do not go there. I mean I bit into the pie and the whole content bit back as a massive piece of gristle. How could any chef put that into a pie and call himself gourmet ?? Bums on seat methinks, passing trade..... This rant was brought to you by Timmy!

Now he's got that off his chest (!), other least memorable points included...Invercargill. The "art deco" town on the way to Queenstown, so not worth the effort! The crossing from the south island to the north island (lumpy is an understatement, but luckily - unlike our friends the Nobles - we weren't asked to strap ourselves in!). Sandflies at, guess where, Sandfly Point. So small they're almost invisible but OUCH - they really can bite! Air New Zealand - the engines wouldn't start on 2 of our long journeys (not what you want to hear!), service was adequate but uninspiring.....Any products made by Watties (they're the equivalent of Heinz but they fill everything - from Rice Pudding to Baked Beans - with half a dozen teaspoons of sugar!). The chair lift to the top of the mountain at Queenstown - vertical up a cliffside - what made us do it??? Hot Water Beach was a big shame - the tide wasn't going out sufficiently when we were there so we didn't get to dig a big hole in the sand & sit in volcanic hot water! DOH! Ah well, maybe next time ;0)

Oh, and the rain.

The bits we missed the most

Family & friends. Our cat, Lucy (pictured).

Terry Wogan. Sarah Kennedy. The BBC. Janet & John. Our coffee machine. Buildings older than 1900AD. The National Trust. Canals. Central heating. Rolling green hills. London. H&M (Emma). SQUIRRELS!!!

That lovely feeling you get when you climb into your "own bed"...

Oh, and Cadbury's chocolate. We knew they made Cadbury's at a genuine Cadbury factory in Dunedin on the South Island of NZ so we took a detour and visited. There are three Cadbury factories worldwide - Birmingham (visited many times); Dunedin (have now been there) and Tasmania (now on our to do list)...

The thing is, even though it really is Cadbury, they have to change the recipe (a) for local taste and (b) because it has to be able to tolerate the sometimes much higher temperatures over there, so they have to reduce the melting temperature.

It wasn't really Cadbury as we know and love it though....

The bits we missed the least...

Tesco. Crowds. Traffic. Surly attitudes & bad service (pictured). The weather (although we really had some in Auckland!). Having a mortgage. Dealing with utility companies or local authorities. Taxes. Alarm clocks. The work-day routine. Instant coffee. Paying to park your car!

The best and worst of the last 6 months...

Well, finally, after 2 weeks getting ourselves re-grounded, we have time to publish our "best and worst of the last 6 months". We're going to publish in 4 parts, here goes... Part One: What we missed the least. Part Two: What we missed the most. Part Three: The least favourite things about our trip. Part Four: The very BEST bits. Right, now that's explained, here's Part One...

Back online!

Phew, over 2 weeks without the internet, that was a culture shock!!! First we had to order the line from BT (welcome back to the UK!) and then we had to wait for our belongings to come out of storage to get the router to connect us to the line! Thanks to our friend Marilyn we've been able to keep up with email but here is a belated entry for the BLOG!!!

The journey back was not too bad at all, an overnight flight to Hong Kong and we all managed to sleep for over 5 hours which is a first for us. Of course, we landed in China during the Olympics so there were mascots and flags everywhere - the equestrian events were in Hong Kong.

A special mention here for Hong Kong airport, it is spectacular. Three incredibly tall storeys underground, a subway train to take you between terminals, and all spotless and totally efficient. We stayed at the hotel at the airport and it literally is at the end of the runway, some amazing views from our window, first of the pool in the quadrangle, then the runway, then the harbour, and finally a volcano in the background... And the most awesome thing - we could watch the planes land right outside our window and there wasn't a sound - you could have heard a pin drop!

Hong Kong itself seems to be a city of two halves. The harbour area is glass and shiny and tall office blocks and air-conditioning. They even have air-conditioned tunnels between buildings so you don't ever have to go outside! After a wander around we got a taxi to the old town and had a delicious chinese meal. It's all hustle and bustle, noise, traffic and seemingly smooth-running chaos!

After our whistlestop tour (24 hours precisely) it was time to move on and complete our final journey back to the UK...