Morning everyone!

We have had quite an action packed few days since we last wrote. We arrived in Franz Josef on Sunday and spent a miserable rainy afternoon and evening watching DVD's in our van (that wasn't quite so action packed but it gets better!). On Monday we climbed part of the Franz Josef glacier which in total was about 7hours of walking/climbing up and down the ice. We were given lots of warm clothing and had about 5 layers on as it was rather chilly and were given some sexy boots which looked like builders boots and were too big so we had to wear loads of socks. We also had spikes/talons which were meant to stop us slipping over but weren't foolproof! On the way up the glacier we had to climb through small crevasses and blue ice caves which was rather exciting. The guide had to cut steps for us the whole way up and down with his ice axe in order for us to be able to climb. It was hard work at first but we soon got the hang of it and started to enjoy the views and the experience. We reached our high point after about 4 hours of climbing (although this was only about 1/8 of the way up the glacier), but we had to keep hanging around as the groups in front of us were being really slow which meant we got a little bit chilly. It was harder to walk back down the ice as the step were starting to melt which made the path a tad slippy - Becki managed to fall on her bum and soaked her gloves by landing in a stream! Jen feared that Sam was going to take her out from behind at any moment, she had little faith in Sam's stability! All in all it was a good but very tiring day, our legs were aching a lot by the time we reached the van at the end.

Tuesday was another driving day as we had to drive from Franz Josef to Wanaka, so a day of little interest. The main purpose of our trip to Wanaka was to do a skydive as it was meant to be the place with the best views in New Zealand. Unfortunately, although trying very hard Becki was unable to find insurance to cover her to jump, and even though she was tempted to do it without the rational side of her decided it would be too risky. We were scheduled to jump on Wednesday morning, but much to the relief of Jen and Sam it was too cloudy so it was postponed to the afternoon in the hope that the clouds would clear - which they did. We drove to Wanaka airport and got kitted out in some rather fetching brighly coloured jump suits and met our instructors who had done a combined total of 13,500 jumps - although Sam's had dfone 11,000 and Jens had done only 2,500!! Jen struggled to hide the look of worry and fear when she found this out!! We were then crammed into a tiny aeroplane and it took 10minutes to reach 12,000 feet. This time was spent continually asking if the parachute had been packed correctly and whether we were securely attached to our instructors! It was then time to launch ourselves out of the plane, Jen went first and as you will see from her DVD spent her final momments telling her instructor she couldnt do this and shouting 'Noooooooo!' - meanwhile Sam was waving and grinning in the background! The jump itself was amazing, we freefalled for 45 seconds before the parachute came out. Once it was fully up and we were safe again we could enjoy the ride and the spectacular views. It took about another 5 minutes to land on the ground and we were both relieved to be back on earth again! It was once in lifetime experience and we are proud that we managed to do it.

Thursday morning was spent wandering round Wanaka before heading off to Queenstown in the afternoon. Unfortunately Lola was experiencing some plumbing problems particularly with the toilet, although we are trying to block those memmories (and smells!) out of our minds! She had to go in for repairs last night so we got given a speedy little car to get about and spent the night in a cabin all expenses paid (having said that it was pretty much a shed with beds in it!). This afternoon we are off whitewater rafting, so we will tell you about that adventure soon.

At this point we would like to thankyou all for your lovely messages, our reminder obviously did the trick!

Lots of love to you all,

Becki, Jen and Sam xx xx xx