Friday 21st June: A couple of weeks ago the window cleaner at Oakridge went upto Mike and told him about a secret rave in the neigbouring town Lake Hawae. It sounded mint so we both booked it off work and hoped we would find some info about it before the night. Luckily we did and we had to call this number on the night to find out where it was. It was miles away, down dirt tracks, up and down gorges, through forests! Took us an hour to get there by car. We picked up Abby a girl from work, Gus was already at ours, bought some beer and headed to it not knowing really what to expect. We had a flyer which said to bring money, wood and water which we did, we got a sack of chopped wood from the house and it looked like a body bag in the boot, this big sack of wood covered in a blue bag! We got there and it was fantastic! deep in the woods, where you could walk to the beach, people had to wee in the forest as there was no toilets! There was an undercover tent where the D.J's were playing drum & Base, break beat music and everyone was dancing with their wooly hats and ski bubble jackets on! We were all dancing like that Black Dude from Human Traffic who worked in the CD shop! Bouncing around making some very strange shapes on the forest floor! I had poured my vodka in a big bottle of sprite and made it very week contrary to what I usually do. We all hadnt really fully thought of how we were getting back. It really was deep deep in the forest in the middle of no-where. I was a bit worried because as we parked the car in the middle of the trees we all looked at our phone and we had no signal! b*****, we all started drinking anyway. and then it kept coming to us in the night, how were we going to get home! You know what a worry I am! We kept shrugging it off and drinking somemore. We had all pretty much decided that we werent going to get totally wasted that night as we were a bit sick of that. Mike only had 4-5 beers. I only had about 1/4 bottle of vodka and a bottle of beer and Abby just had a bottle of cider! We went to the Absynth Bar and I think Mike and Gus had a shot, not sure I'l have to ask him. Then there was this Chill out tent with a fire in there and blow up mattresses etc! There was this guy selling all sorts of strange hippy like concoctions! Mike and Gus had a (Special tea) I will let you guys imagination take over as to what was in this tea, i'm not saying anything! Abby had a some kind of spicey thai chai tea with ginger biscuits, It was brewing in this too big huge pots and looked very murkey when he was pouring it her in a ladle, but we all tasted it and it was very very nice! There was all sorts being passed around in the chill out tent! Gus bought a herbal cigerette, I had a bit, it was quite nice actually it was like inhaling rosemary and herbs! (I only had a toke!) I was just happily okay, not really that drunk just enjoying everything around me. The guy serving all this weired herbal stuff looked like a guy you would expect behind a stall on Portabello Road. He was from london, had a trilbie hat on and a fag hanging out of his mouth all night and a weired gottee beared, with a wastecoat I think! The guy behind the Absythe bar was from London as well. Then a group of 5 lads came and sat down and they were all from Manchester. I found this all very strange, Million miles away,deep in the middle of a forest, at a secret rave with not tooo many people there and we were surrounded by people from our Country! All here for the same reason, to snowboard and have a good time at night. Everyone who went to the rave had got lost getting there including us. There was just cars following cars following cars like a big convoy! With weired signs on the way of this two cartoon heads to show you, you were heading in the right direction but no arrows or words! We enjoyed a proper rave on the dancefloor and exited the chill out tent before we sunk into a grimness. It was so nice all chatting and drinking next to the many fires people had made. We walked down to the lake and walked along the beach hand in hand all of us. Looking at the mountains and the scenery and random lights where people were having their own little fire and party. The moon was full, you could hear the water in the lake and the surrounding mountains just made it a moment to remember forever. Its times like that that I wish all my friends could have been with us to share it. Truly sureal and a proper travelling experience. It reminded me alot of Ibiza but much much colder, as it was very cold and icey but lovely next to the fires. Look at me getting all emotional! Wish we would have taken more pictures. Everyone was just speaking to everyone having a dance with people and just getting along. So how we got home? It was 4.00am we had been there since 11.00 and I was getting a little worried, didnt want to drink anymore and couldnt really relax as it was getting colder and later! So we discussed all the options Drink Driving: No way, we were talking about how it doesnt go on your liscence in the UK and who would do it etc. Well you all know my strong views on drink driving so I well and truly stopped that idea going any further!. We discussed walking but it would have taken us about 5 hours! The dirt track alone leading to the party took about 20minutes drive, then there was town 1, 2 and 3 to get through before we could get home. Plus it was pitch black.We eventually decided to walk until we had signal. This took about an hour in the pitch black, cold night and eventually the dirt track was over and we saw a road! We walked till we saw a road sign as we had no idea where we were and called the taxi to collect us. They said it would cost us $60 and we said that was fine. $20 each. We started walking back, no-one around us, pitch black FREEZING cold. being a bit drunk was okay though, warmed us up a bit! Plus we all had gloves, water, hats ski jackets etc! Fully prepared! The taxi eventually came and I fell asleep in the long journey back, climbed into our little house and made a bowl of Nutri Bites Cereal with plenty of milk to line my stomach for the morning!Saturday 22nd JuneWoke up bursting for the toilet as usual, okay so last night didnt count but in the week, we both go to the toilet before we go to bed. We try and not drink any water whatsover and ALWAYS have to get up in the middle of the night and go to the bloody toilet, disrupting our sleep! why??? We both had no further liquid inside us? I dont get it, its pi***ng us both off! We have a torch ready by the door which we both use so we dont have to turn the lights on. Anyway where was I? Ah yes woke up not feeling as grim as normal, no hangover really just a bit of the usual drymouth. Mike gets up and says that he is going to go and pick the car up. I said I would go with him and we could bike together for a bit of excersize but I think that I would have slowed us down, plus I would have had to get ready and stuff so he just quickly went. Cant believe how far away it was! Its like bikeriding from Blackpool to way past preston up hills and gravel parts! I think he was gone about 3 hours when he returned with the car bless him! Didnt even complain! He came back and I had cleaned the bathroom, washed up, updated my blog, made the bed, made my breakfast and had a shower! Oooops he told me to catch up on some zzz's! I was all ready when he got back so we went out for lunch together and went to Finchy's as it is lunch for $10. I'm so predictable I had the bacon burger and fries again, like I do EVERYTIME i go, never choosing anything else, never being adventurous! Had a walk round town as it was a nice day, but we were tired so we went back home and put the douvets on the couch and watched some T.V with a brew. Then it was time for Mike to go to work at Oakridge. I was asleep on the couch when he went. Got a call from Shelly, she is working in a british sweet shop in Queenstown. She like us is struggling with how expensive everything is over here. And until the snow comes its really really hard not to spend any money! I've just put some more wood on the fire and am going to watch Big Mammas House 2 and eat some ice cream. Supposed to snow this week so fingers crossed laters peeps x