Belize, Central America

We arrived in Belize City, where our guide for that country took us to the airport for the short flight to the Ambergris Cay. Situated along the coastline of Mexico and Belize is the worlds second largest barrier reef,  Australia's Great Barrier Reef beeing the largest. One of the features in this reef is the Blue Hole.
This sinkhole is a natural wonder,  perfectly round, 600m in diameter and fathomless. To see the deep dark blue in the otherwise turquise colours of the reef is something to behold.
We made enquiries and chartered a little 4 seater to fly us out and over the hole. It is possible to go by boat, but the hole is best seen from the air. The other thing was this. The weather forecast was bad. Cyclone Dean was threatening and we had weather updates every hour. We were very lucky to be able to fly. Taking off and landing was really quite funny as our little plane was bouncing along the runway.
The Blue Hole looked awesome. It takes about 25 minutes to get there, then we had a fly over of about 15 minutes, then back to the airport. It was all we expected it to be and more.
We stayed overnight on the island in a lovely cabin and the next morning were biting our nails to see if we could get off the Island. Dean was really catching up with us. We made it on the last plane to leave, the islanders were battening down the hatches as we left.
We then made our way through the 'dead centre of town', a cemetery on both sides of the road, to take us to the Cha Creek Lodge, past the Pine Ridge Mountains, quite a long drive from Belize City. The accommodation was fabulous. Cabannas with indoor and outdoor showers, 5 star luxury plus.
We had booked a tour of the Actun Macnal Tunichil caves and had no idea of what was waiting for us. There were 7 in our group. We were duly picked up and driven to the car park. This took about 1 hour. From there we had to walk 3km through the rain forest which included 3 river crossings. The river was very shallow, but the river pebbles were very slippery. We had been told to bring an extra set of clothing as we would have to go through water to reach the cave. When we arrived at the entrance to the cave we were fittted out with hardhats with a light on top. To get to the cave, we had to swim in 5m deep water for about 15m in full gear, sneakers and all. Now the fun started. We had to go upriver for about 550m to reach the actual cave. Sometimes the water would go to our knees, sometimes we could not reach the bottom and had to swim. One thing was good - the rocks were not slippery as no sunlight ever reaches the inside.
The walk was magic, as there was a kind of crystal growth on the big rocks and they sparkled like thousands and thousands of diamonds. We were not allowed to touch, they die if you do.
As it was against the flow of water all the time, it took nearly 2 hours to reach the cave. When we arrived at the main chamber, we had to climb up about 10m to go inside.
We were asked to take off our sneakers and continue in socks - no bare feet allowed to protect from  human body oil.
The cave is huge, about 350m in length. It had been used by the Mayans as a ceremonial cave. We saw pottery strewn about and in one corner a skeleton. There were other bones in different places, obviously people were sacrificed here. We stayed for about 3 hours, learning all about the Mayans and their customs. What a fascinating place.
It was much quicker going back with the flow of the water and we were at the entrance in no time at all. But we still had to go 3km back to the car where a change of clothing was waiting for us. Because it was summer time, we were not cold.
Back at the Lodge we had a cocktail - named "Horny Hummingbird"  then fell into bed.
Belize remains in my memory as one of the very, very special places I have visited.

New Zealand, North Island

We left our rented car in Picton and made our way to the ferry to bring us to Wellington. The crossing  can be quite rough between the islands, but we were lucky. Calm seas all the way with lots and lots of rain. When we picked up our car we had a lovely surprise. We had an upgrade to a lovely 4 door Toyota with a real boot. We stayed at the Aotea Lodge in Poirua. They had a dining room attached to the Lodge and we tried New Zealand venison. It was delicious!
Our next stop was Hawera near Mount Taranaki. This mountain looks a little bit like Mount Fuji in Japan. When we arrived, in very bad weather, the mountain was not visible. BIG disappointment. We had booked into a guesthouse with 'guaranteed view of the mountain', but even they could not change the weather for us. We drove all around the base of the mountain for maybe a glimpse from the other side, but no luck. When we woke up the next morning - I looked out of the window - and we had a mountain. There it was in all it's glory. It looked especially nice as there still was some mist hovering above the ground and it looked like the mountain was floating.
After taking lots and lots of pictures we set off for Rotorua via the Forgotten World Highway.
What a trip. This must be one of the most beautiful forgotten roads. O.K. it was a gravel road for about 12km, not easy to drive on, but the scenery made up for it. There were big grass covered boulders, I called them dinosaur eggs,  lying all over the place. A kind of grass, looking like a featherduster and a flower, called Red Hot Poker, were lining the roadside. It was magic.  Along the way we saw a very funny sign.
"REPUBLIC OF WHANGA'S CAPITAL IS ONLY 22KM, come and increase our population."
On the way to Rotorua we visited the Huka waterfalls and stopped at Lake Taupo for lunch.
At Wai - O - Tapu we saw our first mudpools, but did not go inside.
We got up early the next day to visit the "Volcanic Valley" in Waimangu to walk among boiling springs.
The next morning Wai - O - Tapu was on our list of things to do. What a place! Much, much better than the Volcanic Valley. We walked past bottomless holes filled with water and smelling of sulphur. We looked into the devil's cauldron and saw the steam rise from boiling waterfalls. And we did not put our fingers into the water to see if it was boiling!
Our next stop was Pairia and this place was going to be a highlight for me. I had booked to swim with wild dolphins. The only trouble was - there were no dolphins. Oh well, you can't have everything.
We had planned something very special for the next day. We were taken on a boatride by a real Ngapuhi Chief in a Waka to the Haruru waterfall. We had to row the Waka ourselves, but before we set off, he celebrated the welcome ceremony for us. What a special treat that was.
Back to the Hotel to pick up our suitcases and off to Auckland to visit friends and then the flight home to Australia.
I loved New Zealand and it is well worth a visit.

New Zealand, South Island

What can I say about New Zealand?  It is one of the most beautiful countries I have visited. The other good thing about New Zealand - it is so small you can easily 'do' it in 3 to 4 weeks.
We flew to Christchurch, that lovely city, which was nearly destroyed by an earthquake about a year ago, picked up our car and set off.
Hokitika, Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers are all places we visited, but one of the really gorgeous parts of NZ is the Mt Aspiring National Park. The scenery is beyond believe.
Another beautiful (this word will be used a million times from now on!) place is Te Anau. Here we visited a glow worm cave - a feat for me as I am claustrophobic. I had my eyes closed most of the time, but did see the glow worms glow in the dark!! 
Te Anau is the gateway to Milford Sound, an absolute 'must' on any visit to the South Island of NZ. We passed the 45th parallel, which is the half way point between the Equator and the South Pole.
At last we drove through the 1200m long tunnel and were at Milford Sound.
The scenery is breathtakingly beautiful - there is that word again - and we walked around quite a bit, taking it all in. Then booked passage on a large sailing ship for a cruise along the Sound. We sailed all the way to the open sea, the Tasman, watching the abundance of wildlife along the Sound. Dolphins followed our ship, saying hello.
This is one part of NZ I will not easily forget.
On the way to our next destination, we were driving along, minding our own business, when suddenly we were surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of sheep. Sheep are funny creatures. They do not just walk along the road, they jump and run and then stop without any reason what so ever. We literally had to drive at a snails pace, careful not to hit one.
Our next destination was Duneden. We had heard about the Yellow Eyed Penguin Reserve and we were keen to see some of these very rare birds.  Lucky for us, we saw quite a few. On our way back to the entrance, this fat young bird was sitting smack in the middle of our walkway. I thought somebody was having  a bit of fun, because he looked like a stuffed animal, when he moved and waddled towards us. Magic!  
We were now heading north to Mt Cook or Mt Aoraki in the Maori language. We drove  past Lake Pukaki which is a bright turquoise colour. With the snow capped mountain in the background - it just looks stunning.
The next lake we passed is Lake Tekapo which is bright blue in colour. Man, this Country is beautiful!!!
Out next stop was Kaikoora, which is famous for whale watching. Booked into our Hotel, then proceeded to book our tours. Apart from going out on a boat, we wanted to see the whales from above.  The flight is called "Wings above Whales" but because it was foggy in the morning the flight was cancelled.
A funny thing did happen. The night before we went to a typical NZ pub to have dinner. Everybody was watching a broadcast on TV of a cricket match between Australia and New Zealand. There is a very friendly rivalry going on between our two countries, we both love our sports. We started to talk to a couple of Kiwis and had a drink with them. One young man in particular was very funny and made us laugh.
The next morning when we came to the airport for our flight - who was the flight captain? Our young man from the evening before.  His turn to laugh!
In the afternoon we went on the "Wheketeri" for our Whale Watch tour.
These clever people track the whales with sonar and after a little while we saw one brake the surface.  What a magnificent animal. But the best part came when he dived and we saw the huge tail out of the water.  This is a sight I will never forget.
On the way back to the Marina we encountered a school of dolphins. Hundreds and hundreds of them. Playing, jumping and swimming with us. What a sight!
And as a surprise - another whale. This one had already surfaced and we only saw the best part, when he was diving, his mighty tail high up in the air. How lucky can you get?  
Next stop Picton and the ferry to the North Island