Taipei in the blink of an eye.

There had been two earthquakes there in the two days before, so it made perfect sense for us to hop a flight from Bangkok to Taiwan (Taipei) straight away. We really only had 24 hours in the city, part of which we needed to spend at the airport, so we headed straight out to the WORLD'S TALLEST BUILDING, Taipei 101 - despite the fact that it was chucking it down and very cloudy. Result: we could see nowt much from the top... but it was pretty cool anyway. The lift took 36 seconds to get from the 5th floor to the 89th - very impressive.

The rest of the day we spent cruising about the malls really, because the rain didn't give us much scope for much else. And I got gradually more child-like as I realised we were within half a day of getting to New Zealand, yipppeeeeee!

Arrived in NZ to a really great welcoming committee - both sets of parents, plus the ever-faithful Trudi W, and my kick-ass 89 year old grandmother, what a gal.

So, now we have been back for a full day. Still feels very surreal, and I've not really got in contact with many people yet as still a bit dazed and confused (public apologies here)... and besides, you're probably all away at some beach somewhere. Tomorrow we are having a belated family Christmas, with turkey and all the trimmings - yummmmm. Then, on the second we're back out again - to Fiji, hurrah! Will post some more pics before we go, hopefully.... it's a busy ol' time.