First impressions

I've been in New Zealand for about 7 days now and this is my first post so as you can tell I'm somewhat behind - largely because we've been rushing around the country so fast to make our flight from Christchurch on the 17th at 6am! We actually spent three nights in Taupo but between the 18.5km Tongariro crossing and the other activities I've had no time to myself. We arrived in Wellington at 3.30pm and are leaving tomorrow at 7.10am - 6 months of 12noon starts have not prepared me well. So far New Zealand is proving a very beautiful country if a little bizzare. The landscape looks like the bastard child of the English countryside and the African savannah, and there seems to be no one here. About one third of the population lives in Auckland apparently but we found it rather sparsely populated - it is their summer holidays but still! The people are so friendly - most of the population are employed in tourism or farming and it shows. The weather is so changeable and goes from torrential rain to blistering sun in a matter of hours - and I got sunburnt in the rain, my English colouring a ripe victim for the hole in the O-Zone layer! Otherwise it's been so much fun so far and I will update with more specific info as and when I can!