so its raining outside and the glacier walk/climb we were ment to be doing today at Franz Josef got cancelled (making me $140 richer again, on the plus side). Franz Josef, literally like the smallest town i think i've ever been to, makes Chichester look like a capital city. Franz Josef consists of two parallel roads of about 300m length with a few adjacent roads. it still manages to have about 20 hostels/motels/inn/BnBs. only 3 or 4 bars though.

anyway

the last blog i did i believe i was in Auckland. so in Auckland we walked around a lot, found the best musical instrument shop, i had the first vanilla coke in years, went to a maori museum in the Auckland park. we also went up the Skytower which is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. 360degree view of Auckland, with glass floors. FANTASTIC view. so good. many people say the don't like Auckland out of all of new Zealand, but i really really liked it, such an awesome city, but its very different from the rest of New Zealand. on an interesting note, Auckland (and all terrorities in the Auckaldn city radius or whatever its called) is the 4th biggest city in the world by land coverage, very surprising, i didn't believe it at first.

after Auckland we went up north to the Bay of islands, qutie nice, very hot. we spent two nights there. it was fun.

we went back to Auckland for one night, didn't do anything much.

now, we start our journey down south, the places have all sort of merged so i'll briefly sum it up i guess. we visited lots of cool places, the weather was generally good. we stopped in Taupo for two nights. and we did a SKYDIVE!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOH!!!! 15000ft. 1 minute of freefall. we all got a DVD with our freefalls on it. shame i look like semi unconcious and like a complete dick!! lol. some pics on a CD as well, they make me look even worse. hahaha. we walked around Taupo a bit as well. we stopped routura for a night as well. that was coool. Waitomo as well was cool, it would challenge Franz Josef for smallest town, but it would lose (only slightly though). erm, where else.. River Valley. literally a Lodge (quite large) at the bottom of a valley next to a river. they had a different idea of what a dorm room was. their dorms involved a bunk bed that could sleep 8 people on both levels (so 16 people!!) it was interesting...

Wellington was the next stop. i bought a camera!!!!! YES!!!!(check the pics out) and ricky bought a flashy waterproof camera (3m deep he'll have you know). Wellington was also a really really nice looking city too. we were there 3 nights. on one of the days we hired out some mountain bikes and cycled up a big hill, called mount Victoria (not all the way) to see some awesome views of the city. i would be lieing if i said i easily managed cycling up a hill. so yeah, great great deal of uncomfort and huge huge lack of breath (and fitness!!) it was worth it though. then we cycled down the hill (much more prefereable) and cycled around Wellington which was ace!! we stopped for lunch at a really really lush bar/resturant and had a healthy meal after the aboniation of a disgustingly greasy (but amazing and delicious) Kenny's Cafe burger the night before. we walked around Wellington a bit more the next day. say the 'Beehive' (the parliment building).

we got the ferry across to the south island which was fun! the sea was quite rough and even though it was like a British channel ferry, you could feel it rocking like mad when stood up. the ferry arrived at a place called Picton at about midday ish. we then drove to Nelson. our driver on the south island, Dylan, is an absolute Legend!!! so funny, sunch an ace guy!! in Nelson we stayed in possible the nicest and lushest Hostel. there a few photos of it i think. we did a free beer tasting sesh, of some local NZ beers. and waled around Nelson for the afternoon.

after nelson, i can't quite remember where we went. but we did quad biking somewhere, which was awesome!!! got so muddy and went fast and stuff!! so so so so coooool!! we stayed in another small town that night (though it was huge compared to Franz Josef). had some serious pizza (mine was pepperoni, mushrooms and chilli beans, and some chilli powder for good measure - $13) and we did some drinking to (not that we haven't most of the time anyway). we went to the local supermarket and got two 6packs for $9 each!! and sat on a bench drinking them (we checked, we weren't in an alcohol restriction zone).

next day we stopped in a large ish town at a charity shop to get oufits for the party that night at the 'Poo Pub' (no kidding!). the theme was Bad Taste, and we were thinking Diana, but it just turned into dressing as women. we bought dresses, shoes (i had 2.5 inch heels) and hand bags. we cut our dresses a bit to make them shorter and show more skin (!) and i have to say the outcome was surprisingly femine. worryingly so almost (check out pics). anyway, we were the bells of the ball and the night was filled with drink and dancing round the jukebox. awesome awesome night.

we then drove to Franz Josef, stopping a few times along the way. they have a 16people hottub here and we were in that yesurday for a while, very nice. ricky slipped on some steps getting out and has done his hip in, in some sort (it'll be alright! lol). didn't do that much that night. i had popcorn for dinner, ricky and charles bought and made pasta (i cba'd). i've been eating lots of fruit though (mum), so its ok, haa.

and that brings me to today, we got up, and it was pissing it down, so like i say, they called off our glacier hike, which is a real shame, but whatever. we now have a day to do sweet F-A before we leave for somewhere tomorrow. after that finish up in Queenstown for about 5 or 6 nights.

bring on the 140m bungy and a canyon swing....