NEW ZEALANDNati had always told me we we just had to visit her family here. And now I know why.
Stayed with her fabulous Uncle Felix and his family in Hamilton on the North Island. I have bags of energy...but Felix...he is a Duracell battery of a man who made us feel liike sloths on a lazy day.
We were made to feel so welcome (well, apart from the time Nati's cousina Greta, 17, kicked my ass at tennis).
Felix showed us round, taking us boogie boarding by his bach (beach house) on the Coromandel; soaking us under an ice-cold waterfall; marching us up every hill he could find including Auckland's majestic One Tree Hill volcano, and; bouncing he and I down a hill inside a giant plastic ball in Rotorua (the home of zorbing; see pic above).
Nati's family laid on welcome and leaving parties and we must say thanks to Felix, Megan, Romelli, Greta, Adler, Jonathan, Nikita and Sophia.
Also caught up with Chrissy from uni for a beery day in England's Barmy Army at the cricket v NZ.
The North Island is great - but a week on the south island beat it for scenery.
If you haven't been to NZ, you really should go. You want a reason? How about the vast, flat-bottomed valleys with rivers bright blue from glacier sediment, weaving a path through the expanse of pebbles?
My favourite moment was clambering through bushes and into the middle of one of these valleys (Haast) and sending 'helllooo' echoes and whistles bouncing off the mountain walls. I felt soooo small.
How about Fox Glacier? We climbed the 13km-long chunk of ice on a day hike. It's toothpaste-blue and split by crevases, waterfall holes you can't see the bottom of...and arches, as on Nati's pic above.
The lakes are another reason to visit.
Lake Wanaka is epic and Hayes, with wind transforming its blue glacier water into giant waves, was closer to the sea and my favourite. Pukaki is a beauty backdropped by Mount Cook and Tekapo was surrounded by autumn colours and squashed between the 360-degree skies of the high-altitude MacKenzie country.
And then there is Wakatipu, a dark blue monster snaking 80km past Queenstown - the reason most people visit NZ.
Adventure sports Mecca QT is great fun, packed with tourists, endless activities and great burgers - and in a stunning setting beneath The Remarkables mountains. It's a place Nati and I loved and hope to visit again one day.
That would allow me another crack at the superb Seven Mile mountain bike course, the most advanced and challenging single-track runs I've ever cycled...and fallen off on. Think balancing along a tree-trunk with a jump at the end!
Going back would also make Nati happy as we'd visit her favourite cinema - Wanaka's retro-style theatre with sofas, home-cooked cookies and ice-cream. And a Morris Minor convertible parked in the stalls, as you do.
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