Action packed fun in New Zealand

We really are having the best time in New Zealand. We are making the most of everything this wonderful country has to offer. As mentioned on our last blog we helihiked the Franz Josef Glacier. Here are some pictures

Steve has also done a bungy jump in Queenstown. Braver than Louise who could barely watch.

We visited a seal colony in Kaikoura, and were really lucky to spot dolphins and a whale off the coast line.

We've had a go at being a local by playing frisbee golf in the park.

We've been on lots of walks and had many picnics along the way.

We have also been on the Milford Sound which was amazing but all our photographs of that are on the camera so you'll have to wait until February to see those. We will update again soonx

We love New Zealand and our Campervan

We are having the best time in New Zealand. It is the most beautiful place we have ever visited. We are also loving the freedom of going anywhere we want to in our wonderful campervan 'Vince'

Can anyone guess why he's called Vince?

They say this is the best way to see New Zealand and we have to agree. Driving around is just fantastic as the scenery is breathtaking we have taken so many photographs on our camera, as everywhere you look is so beautiful. Driving the great coast road was amazing too.

We have also done some great walks through the forests, up mountains and around local parks. We have visited the Franz Joseph Glacier and treated ourselves to a helicopter ride over the glacier, followed by a trek on the glacier. It was unbelievable, like nothing we have ever experienced before. We are both feeling very grateful and extremely luckily to be enjoying our honeymoon in such a beautiful part of the world.

All part of the adventure we guess . . . .

Well they say things happen in 3's and it seems they do, after 2 hospital visits our flight from Singapore to Sydney for get our connection to Christchurch was a nightmare. Louise's legs started to swell on the flight. Bags of ice as a cold compress did nothing. When we arrived in Sydney she could not walk and need a wheelchair to leave the plane. Quantus, our airline, decided that she could not board the flight to Christchurch without medical clearance. Only one problem no doctor at the airport. So we had to go through customs to enter Australia, see a doctor who gave medication and fortunately gave us clearance, back through customs to leave Australia. When we arrived in Christchurch Louise was still in a wheelchair. The pilot even helped us with our luggage (pushing a wheelchair and luggage trolley at the same time is difficult). Luckily we had a homestay booked in Christchurch. Gill, the owner, was fantastic. We stayed there 3 nights for Louise's medication to kick in and recover. We are both pleased to say she is now better. The climate in New Zealand is helping with that, we think,  and we are loving every minute of our honeymoon again.

Singapore

Well I would have liked to have started by saying how much better I felt when we arrived in Singapore but it was short lived. We arrived late so went out for dinner, explored some of the Deepwali festival in Little India, then headed back to our accommodation to get some rest so we were ready to get out into the city the next morning. But this didn't go to plan. I woke up during the night with terrible abdominal pain, which soon turned into vomiting. After 6 hours non stop sickness, unable to keep water down an ambulance arrived (yes 2 ambulance trips in 3 days) after being given injections to stop sickness, having blood taken and being put on a drip, the needle stress was through the roof. A doctor came to see me and informed me I had food poisoning. After being discharged from hospital with yet more medication we decided to do nothing for the next few days. I slept most of the time and Steve began to research our campervan route in New Zealand.
After 3 days it was our final day in Singapore and we had not yet seen the city so we chose a handful of things we'd like to do and went out to explore. We visited the Gardens by the Bay. A man made park which doubles as a biomass plant for the city. $1.8 billion was spent creating it. We also visited Marina Bay which houses a hotel with a cruise liner on top of it. We did the city heritage walk and stopped by a ultra modern shopping mall which had a water canal offering gondola rides inside it. All a bit crazy but fun to see.

Melaka, our last stop in Malaysia.

Well our time in Melaka wasn't quite what we had planned. We arrived in the evening and went out from dinner, did some laundry and caught up on sleep after a few mad busy days in Kuala Lumpur. We hoped to wake up feeling fresh and ready to explore a new city but both still felt shattered in the morning, Louise's legs were covered in insects bites and the heat was not helping (33degrees). We decided to have a day people watching in coffee shops and also wandering around the air conditioning shopping malls. We took our travel guides to read up on Singapore. With another early night planned we would see the sights of the city the next day. However, this was not too be, through the night Louise started with a fever, collapsed in the bathroom, hit her head/face, knocking herself unconscious and busting her nose. Her wonderful husband sprung into action and Louise was soon in an ambulance on the way to Melaka Hospital. The doctors, nurses etc were fantastic, even showing sympathy with Louise and her needle phobia. After numerous blood tests, assessments and observations. Louise was admitted to a ward. (It looked like a pre-wartime hospital ward). Everyone in the hospital was very excited to see a white person with blonde hair and blue eyes. Lots of smiles from visitors to the ward, we were definitely the topic of conversation. A visit to the dermatologist diagnosed a severe reaction to insects bites. Louise left the hospital with 8 different tablets to take a day and creams to put on.
That evening we went out for a little walk to see some of the main attractions of the city, went out for dinner and back to the hotel to rest before our journey to Singapore.

So as already said not quite to plan but it was an experience and all part of the adventure and Steve definitely passed the first test of "in sickness and in health".