Thinking Allowed: This is what happens when you don't write a blog post for a week

There's too much! We fell into the trap of recklessly enjoying ourselves in New Zealand for 8 days, and falling asleep or planning travel in the evenings instead of writing. Now for a hasty recovery post, in which I summarise a fantastic week without doing justice to any of it.

In the last episode, we were about to head up to Arthur's Pass. We went. Tamar and Ali Mac decided to brave the Cave Stream, a pitch-black tunnel snaking through a mountain, with a river running through it. Sophia wanted to join them and, since we didn't know about the multiple deaths in past years, we figured why not. They scurried through the driving rain and wind (it was about 12 degrees) then descended into the cave, which turned out to have icy water up to Soph's chest, and a strong enough current to pull her away. The three adventurers clambered up waterfalls, crawled through narrow mouths, Tamar keeping a death-grip on Sophia's hand, and eventually they emerged at the other end just as I was wondering how I'd single-parent Tova (and the other kids of course). Soph's lips were mottled purple and she was grinning cheerfully and racked with shivers.

After reluctantly saying goodbye (for now) to our friend Alison, we stayed at a really really nice farm called Kairuru. Our cottage overlooked Golden Bay and was perfectly appointed. The girls bonded with the calves and sheep, we tramped down to the abandoned marble quarry which Parliament was built from, and Zadie gleefully tottered about the living room (she can walk now!)

The Golden Bay region provided all sorts of great outings. We saw the world's clearest water at Te Waikoropupu Springs, we hiked up the headland of Cable Bay and Tamar ran the ridge trail while we threw stones into the ocean, and we squelched our way out to the wreck of the Janie Sedona, a 1901 steamer.

Although Tamar thinks Nelson is much too big, we've enjoyed its libraries, playgrounds, coffee shops and town beach. The girls also adore its climbing gym, and Aurora is happy as a clam now that her palms are all torn up and callused.

Tomorrow we head to Picton, return our faithful iMax van, and prepare to hike the Queen Charlotte Track! Can we cajole the kids into walking 70km in the rain? Let's find out...