HI Everyone,It has been a while and since i have been SOO busy since i have got to New Zealand i haven't really got a chance. Also i Figured that if i dont write soon then the email is going to be so big that none of you are going to read it!!! i will try and keep this as short as poss, but it could be hard....... Well, arrived in Aukland after a little send off party from Rhino bar...(thanks guys :D) I only spent the day in Aukland so i didn't really get a chance to look around much as the next day i was getting on the stray bus to start my trip. First i was heading up to the bay of islands and to Cape Rianga which is the most northern tip of NZ. We were up there for around 3 days in the end stopping along the way to see lots of nice sights and waterfalls which was cool. Once we arrived we went out on a cruise around the bay of islands where we saw a family of bottle nose dolphins, cruised around loads of the different islands and did some sand boarding (which was awesome!) This was the place where the treaty between the Maori and the English was signed that put new Zealand and the Maori people under our protection (although by all accounts i think they were treated pretty badly by us..this was not really mentioned tho!!) this was only around 140years ago though so it shows how young a country NZ really is and with only a population of 4.1 million there is LOADS of space..there is something like 30 million sheep and 20 million cows though!!After doing the very North of the island we headed back to Aukland where i spent a couple of nights chilling out. The city is ok, but i wasn't a massive fan. The sky tower is pretty impressive so i went up there one evening to get some pics, but other than that it was just like all the other cities i have been to. We left Aukland heading south on our new bus seeing LOADS more nice views waterfalls, volcanoes, mountains (including mount doom from the L.O.T.R!) and some other places that l.O.T.R was filmed (think we went to the place where gollums brother died too) We also visited some geothermal sights along the way where the earths crust is only around 50 metres thick. This means that there are several bubling mud pools and water pools where the mud and water is literally boiling and steaming. These were pretty interesting, and there are several places where you can take a little dip (where the water isn't quite as hot!!) which was pretty relaxing. There is so much to see and do in NZ that it has worked out pretty expensive. Every day there is about 10 different options of things to do..all of which tend to cost money! I have been quite restrained not really doing too much due to lack of funding, but obviously being in NZ i have tried my hand at a couple of things that i wanted to do. In the north island i did some caving in Waikato caves. There is a massive caving system in Waikato and so they regularly take down backpackers etc to show them around the caves. Armed with all the safety gear, wet suits, gum boots and 2 guides for around 10 of us we started with a gentle 80 metre abseil into the cave. From there we crawled, walked and explored the caves for around 4 hours. There was 4 abseils in total 3 of which where down waterfalls which was really cool. They explained all about the stalagmites and tights, and when we stopped to look at the glow worms where we learnt all about why they glow; its basically there "waste" (or poo if you'd prefer) that attracts other insects to them as they think there stars..the glow worm then eats them!! This was a really cool experience and good fun. The deepest point we went to was around 80metres below ground, and after around 4 hours we were all pretty knackered (and a bit damp) and ready for some food :D. A couple of days later we also did some White water rafting ...sorry mum!! This was also awesome fun, and something that i have wanted to do for ages. I haven't got any pictures unfortunately but we did one of the biggest waterfalls your aloud to raft down at a drop of 7 metres! I was at the front of the boat and went totally under the water! The rapids where grade 5 so it was fairly hard work to negotiate in between the 3 waterfalls that we did on the trip but with 2 guides on each boat (one of which rafts for the NZ team) we were in safe hands. This wasn't really long enough for the money that we paid only lasting around 1 hour, but it was still fun! This was about it for the North island. There is lots of pictures of pretty scenery which are worth a look, but i am not going to tell you about every single one...still with me...good...time for the south island.... We Spent one night in Wellington where we had a couple of sociable drinks and headed to bed early..The next day was the England Vs France game which luckily they had on, on the ferry. With a decent crowd of English supporters we cheered on England to beat the French (which is always nice to see!) who'd a thought we get that far...certainly not me!! Once we arrived on the south island we headed to Abel Tasman National park for some more nice hiking and good scenery. We had a nice BBQ in the evening and a nice big fire which we all stood around and chatted and drank. From there we went to Barrytown; a small town where you can make your own knife or carve bone into a nice neckless or hunt for washed up Jade on the beach. I didn't do either unfortunately, but in the evening we all had a few drinks and used the 5 or 6 boxes of clothes in the bar to dress in some "questionable" outfits..take a look if you get the chance...scary stuff! More scenery and a possum pie later...(yes real possum meat...not bad actually!) we arrived in Franz Joseph which is home to one of the worlds few warm glaciers (where rain Forrest and Glacier are together). There is 3 of these in New Zealand. This one is 11k long, 6k wide and at the top is around 250 metres deep! For the small sum of $130 dollars we spent the whole day hiking and exploring this particular glacier. We had a good guide who carved the way along the ice building nice steps and putting rope lines in for us to hold on to. They were VERY safety conscious; a little too much so at some points with a bit of time waiting around for him to make steps etc, but i guess this is good. He also gave us all the interesting facts, and showed us all the cool stuff. We went up at around 9am and didn't get back till about 5pm so it was a long day but it was really awesome. They gave us all the equipment and warm clothes, spikes and ice axes (which were great fun to smash up the ice with when we stopped!) so we had a lot of fun. Since Franz i haven't really done much in the way of activities...I have done lots of nice walks and had some good nights out though. The group of us that i have on the stray bus have all been really cool, we have been collecting more and more people along the way and now have a good group of around 20 of us that all get on really well. Nationalities including dutch, Swedish, English, Kiwi, Norwegian, French, American and Irish make up our group and range from early 20's to early 30's. Luckily most of them have had the same short time in which to do all of the islands so we have all been able to stick together. The pass does last for a year though, and enables you to travel round the routes as many times as you want in that time. I am now in queenstown (adventure activities central!) but have restrained myself from doing anything crazy! I wanted to do NEVIS the big bungy (134m) but i am sure mum will be pleased to hear i have not had the money!! Its around $200 for 5 seconds of firstly sheer terror, then enjoyment (from what i can gather!) but i think that it would be an amazing feeling of achievement and adrenaline to do it, so i am a little disappointed...i am convinced i will be back though so maybe another time! We are leaving to do the rest of the south island tomorrow finishing in Christchurch on the 27th. I will then be flying to Fiji for a week and a half (cant wait!) where I will be celebrating my "year away" anniversary (30th Oct what better place). From there i am heading back to Sydney, then surfers paradise to do more pub crawl work (i think) as its quick easy cash in hand. Well better go..i am not sure if they pics will be online..its taking ages and the comps are crap! i only have 39 minutes left to get 250+ pics on so i think its unlikely. I will left you know as soon as there all on there, i will try and get them on there before i leave tho.