After leaving Auckland via another visit to Mount Eden, Natalie and I made our way to Hahei on the Coromandel. The hostel we were staying at was ok and after dropping off our stuff we trekked along the coast to Cathedral Cove where we marvelled at the fabulous rock formations and took plenty of pictures. From there we caught the bus south to Hot Water Beach where, if you dig in the right place, and we did after several attempts, you can actually dig a hole which will fill up with hot water. The water is hot, blooming hot. So hot in fact that I burnt my feet and Natalie her back. We lazed around in the pool with our fellow travellers from the Stray bus before running into the considerably colder Pacific to cool down. We soon returned to the sanctuary of the hot pools to take catalogue pose pictures and relax in the idyllic surroundings.

Tea that night was fish and chips served on wooden blocks which looked like chopping boards, nonetheless, the food tasted delicious and that was followed by card games before bed.

The next day we traversed across from East to West and to the surf town of Raglan. It's a 'surf-mecca' as it has the largest left-hand break in the world. Jack Johnson has a home nearby, but we decided against sitting and waiting for him and instead headed to the waters alone. I was still suffering nightmares from my 'kissing the board' incident in Coffs Harbour, but decided to jump back on the board and give it a shot. Whilst everyone else had a lesson I decided to go alone and as I entered the water with trepidation, the warm waters of the Tasman Sea lulled me into a sense of security which saw me standing on my first attempt. Sure enough, it wasn't long before I was surfing into the shore standing for about 15 seconds in the process. My confidence soared soon enough I was turning left and right on the waves. I have now decided that surfing is not to be feared and look forward to trying it again at Scarborough in the summer!

The hostel in Raglan had a flying fox which had to be attempt when naked. I decided against scaring the local wildlife and kept my clothes on but still did it in the dark. It soon transpired that it wasn't best to do it with two people as my backside and feet would scrape along the ground whilst Natalie stayed safely higher up. We filmed our exploits the next morning for all to see.

From Raglan we headed south to Waitomo Caves, home to glowworms galore. The caves market themselves on the glowworms and they offer several different tour options. I chose the Tumu Tumu Tubing option which is more famously known as blackwater rafting. After wandering through the caves for an hour looking at the glowworms and swimming in the icy pools you jump in rubber tubes and then float along underground waterways, all the while admiring the hundred of thousands of glowworms which illuminate the ceiling. They are just like stars in the night sky and look so very beautiful. Our guide cemented his place in this blog by not only commenting on the Icebreaker top I was wearing, but also offering my a job back in Auckland working for the company that runs the abseiling trips down the Skytower. All I have to do is mention his name and the job should be mine, could be well worth it when I am back in May.

After our adventures underground we headed to Rotarua via one of only two places in the world where you can go zorbing. Zorbing for those of you who have no idea, is where you jump in a huge inflatable ball and roll down a hill. I did it as a three, and ours was full of hot water. It looked a long way down from the top of the 200metre run and indeed after nearly taking a fellow zorber's head off at the start when I fell all over the place, the three of us 'settled' in the middle and in hysterics. I can only compare it to being in a washing machine and can now fully appreciate the torture hamsters must go through in those daft balls.

Rotarua is the geothermal capital of New Zealand and I think the best way to describe it is, 'it stinks of sulphur'. There's not much more to say really as the sulphur gave me a headache so I spent my time cooking and watching Gordan Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares.

Unfortunately/thankfully, the weather was so bad on our way into Taupo that it was impossible to do a skydive. I consolled myself by playing football with some other lads before we headed to the cinema to see Hot Fuzz, a film which was much funnier when I saw it being advertised; the full thing was.......pants. You wouldn't get such films at the Bridgeway!

Owing to the bad weather, it meant we were unable to attempt the Tongariro Crossing the next day so I decided to get up early and take a stroll along Lake Taupo with Mike, a fellow Stray bus traveller. From Taupo we headed into Tongariro National Park and instead did a much less strenuous walk from a hostel which ranks up there with the best. It was obviously new and was deserted. We were the only people in it and made full use of the fabulous recreational hall which had two log burning fires, several huge sofas and a widescreen TV. We passed away the time playing scrabble and cards, watching films and just relaxing in front of the dancing flames of the fire. Heaven? I think so.

From Tongariro National Park we continued our journey south to the very tip of the North Island and the country's capital, Wellington. By the time we arrived in Wellington it was obvious we wouldn't be able to do all that was on offer, something I intend to correct when I pass through the city on my journey back north, and instead grabbed a bite to eat.

We put our glad-rags on and then made our way to the Wellington Observatory for a spot of star gazing, something which was scuppered by blooming clouds. Instead we sat through an informative planetarium talk and if I ever get lost in the Southern Hemisphere I will now be able to tell you all about Orion the Hunstman and his two canine followers as well as pointing out which was is south courtesy of the five starred Southern Cross. Our enthusiastic guide then took us to the see the telescope where he proudly announced that it had, just one week previously, celebrated its' 140th anniversary. What happened next could never have been planned; our guide broke the telescope. He was winding up some handle when there was a small crack followed by a loud bang. One of the wires he had been tightening broke under the tension and released the weight on the bottom which crashed in the basement below. My reaction was one of shock which, rather ashamedly, was followed by a snigger. I didn't know what to do and I just looked at Natalie who returned my gaze whilst the guide muttered and made his way to tell his boss. It was one of those situations which wouldn't have been out of place on Jeremy Beadle and I bet our guide wishes it was. I think I heard him cursing us as we made our exit and headed back down on the tram into the city centre. We met up with some friends from our tour and drank the night away.

I woke up bleary eyed after the big night out on the tiles in Wellington and stumbled on to the bus to the ferry terminal. The ferry across to the South Island took three hours and thankfully the crossing was nice and smooth. From Picton I jumped on to the Stray bus and headed across the Abel Tasman National Park. Once checked in, I went for a walk along the front with Natalie before we barbecued kebabs for tea and then played cards. It wasn't long before I was in bed feeling absolutely shattered from all of my recent exploits.

I woke the next day feeling fully refreshed and ready for the day's main activity; sea kayaking. Natalie and I paddled out along the rugged coastline under beautiful blue skies and in pearl green water. We stopped off at an idyllic cove for lunch before we headed around the back of two islands and to another stop for more catalogue pose pictures and a walk along the rocky coastline. Such a perfect day and I sincerely hope the pictures do the view justice.

On the night we cooked again, chatted to some fellow travellers before we played games with the rest of the people on the Stray bus.

From Abel Tasman we headed south towards the transvestite capital of Barrytown. The place is made famous as it is compulsory to dress up whilst there. The journey down was long and arduous but was broken up with many short stops to check out the fabulous views. One such stop saw us watching the sea crash through blow holes at Pancake Rocks. Sadly it wasn't a kiwi version of the awesome place in Sydney. There were no edible pancakes in sight, just rocks that looked like pancakes stacked up. Not wanting to be left out of the fun in Barrytown, I jumped at the chance to dress up as it guaranteed you cheap drinks at the bar. Barrytown compromises of a hostel/pub, a beach, a school and about four houses. I spent the night wearing a rather flattering dress which showed off my curves whilst I played pool with fellow 'female' Alan and drank Jim Beam and coke.

From Barrytown the Stray bus continued down the west coast towards Franz Josef. The journey was splattered with walks and short food stops before we arrived into Franz Josef in the evening. Sadly our hostel was also the one used by the Kiwi Experience which
>is a version of a mobile cattle-market. All I will say about it is that most of the travellers on board are aged between 18 and 21 and are still going through puberty and are suffering from a mixture of young man's and short man's attitude. Thankfully, those intelligent and well mannered souls on the Stray bus avoided any confrontation
with the peasants.

The following morning I was up early making my lunch before catching the tour bus to the glacier. Our trip was to take all day and would take us into the depths of the ice flow. Seen from both distance and close up, the glacier is an awe-inspiring sight. The walk there takes about an hour and after donning our crampons we began our journey up through icy caverns, crevasses and across ice plains. The views were stunning and the adventure was well-worth the money. We were allowed to grab an ice-axe on the way for that perfect picture pose and after taking one such photograph I waved 'adios' to my ice axe as it slid off the ice and into a watery cavern. It slowly sunk out fo sight whilst everyone looked on. I decided against speaking up and telling our leader on the basis that I would have to pay $500 if I lost my hat and gloves so I dared not contemplate the price I would have to pay for losing an ice axe. I guess losing isn't the right word, I was lending it to the ice, a gift to the ice god for allowing us to trample on the glacier.

Thankfully I wasn't the only one to lose their axe, and the second example did so in full view of the guide who just shrugged her shoulders and said that it would turn up eventually. I exasperated my camera's capabilities by taking as many pictures as it would allow, whether they do the views etched into my mind justice I'm not yet sure, but hopefully they will show just some of the beauty of the glacier.

Too exhausted to cook, I ate out on the night before spending an hour typing up my blog before the computer crashed as I was about to save it. I tried to remain calm whilst the owner searched for my 'essay'. It was never found so I decided to pack it in and head to
the pub to meet a few friends.

From Franz Josef we made our way to a mirror lake and a one-hour walk around it. The four of us, Rob, Anna, Natalie and I strolled around the lake chatting about this and that and made it back to the bus on time. Our departure was delayed by almost an hour by a
bunch on numpties from Team Scotland/Ireland who lost their way on the lake circuit. There was one way in and one way out and therefore I would like to say it would be impossible for anyone to get lost, but sure enough, they did. They didn't even have the
decency to apologise for being late when they boarded the bus. We made a quick detour to Fox Glacier on the way south to Makaroura. It was a long day and one that offered spectacular views of lakes and mountains. Our hostel was another one located in the middle of nowhere, this time in the 'karaoke capital of NZ'. Our two person,
three bed dorms were very comfortable and all the people on the bus congregated in the bar area of the hostel to enjoy free pool and karaoke. Not only did I grace the pool table but I also took to the mic to give my rendition of several songs. There are videos to prove it but thankfully they belong to Swedish guy who wouldn't dream of making them available on the Internet as I also captured him on film. Alongside Rob and Anna, we spent the night with Tommie and Katja (Team Scandinavia) Alan and Sam (Team South of England), Canadian Rob, Joff (Team USA) and a few other randoms who are unworthy of a mention. Our group gelled really well and well took to the stage at the end of the night for one final song before we hit the sack.

My sleep was interrupted by praying sessions to God, Jesus and just about every other religious figure both past and present as Friday was the day I was going to jump out of aeroplane. After making our way south to the town of Wanaka, several of us jumped off to stay the night and headed to the skydive centre on the outskirts of town. I had been talked into skydiving by several different people and decided to face up to my fear of heights. My tandem partner was a cheeky chappy who attempted to put my mind at rest whilst my stomach churned and I handed over a small fortune. Eventually it was time to board the plane and when I did, my fear disappeared. We made a rapid ascent to 12000ft where the door opened and my instructor strapped himself to me and we edged towards the door. A quick glance to the camera on the wing and...................................we were gone. You accelerate almost instantly from 0-200kph and it really does take your breath away. A quick thought of 'Oh my God' was replaced with one of jubilation. I put my head back and arms out and admired the view out over Lake Wanaka, Lake Hawea and towards Mount Cook as we fell through clouds on a forty-five second free fall. I really am struggling to describe what it was like as the patchwork of fields below edged ever closer but I think 'exhilarating' does it some justice. All of sudden we slowed down as our parachute opened and the instructor passed over the controls to me as he got us ready
>>for landing. A couple of sweeping turns left and right left my stomach somewhere far behind and I politely asked him if I could just take a more gentle descent. We did for all of five seconds before I passed controls back to him and he got us down quicker than I thought was humanly possible. We landed perfectly and I jumped up and shook my instructor's hand about three times and then keeled over fearing illness. Kindly, Katja had
agreed to take pictures of my descent and hopefully these will show you my fall to Earth. It was an experience that I would love to do again but I don't think I have conquered my fear of heights. I did love it though.

As soon as I was down it was the turn of Tommie and Natalie and they too made speedy descents, Tommie was the typical cool Swede and didn't look nervous once whilst Natalie could be heard screaming from the ground.

After buying souvenir tee shirts we made our way back into town and to our respective hostels before meeting up for lunch and an amble along the lake front admiring an amazing exhibition hosted by photographer Yan Narth-Bertrand. His 200 photographs from around the globe are aimed at evoking thought about the mass destruction man is doing to Earth and each one is accompanied by a short synopsis. There are facts galore but two of the best are that two-thirds of the world's population are vegetarian and that it takes 15000 litres of water to produce one kilogram of beef. Food for thought.

We decided to celebrate on the night and produced a cracking barbecue at Tommie and Katja's hostel which was accompanied by good conversation and great company. We then headed to my hostel where we sat in a chilled out room playing cards and eating chocolate before watching a film to round off a perfect day. A day I will remember for a very long time to come.

The next morning I met Katja and Tommie for a spot of brunch before another amble along the waterfront to admire the photographs. The morning was spent mainly relaxing and chilling out before we boarded the Stray bus south to the 'adventure capital of New Zealand', Queenstown.

Once checked into our hostel we headed for the world-famous 'Fergburger' where I indulged in what was on offer whilst trying not to think about the fifteen thousand litres of water that goes into producing every kilogram of beef.

From one legendry joint to another and we headed to a bar where they served cocktails in teapots. By now our group had increased to eight and included Sam and Alan. We all bought teapots, mine being called 'Illusion' to which I then commented "It's not real" whenever I offered it to anyone to try. The teapots went down a storm unlike my attempt at dancing. We ended up taking a mountain of photographs which I may allow you to see if I can edit them accordingly. After several cocktails and a couple of hours dancing and singing we headed back to our hostel for some much needed shut-eye.

The next morning and I was up early again to check out of my hostel and into another. From there we went to a car rental place and the five of us: Tommie, Katja, Anna, Rob and I set off for a day exploring the local countryside. Our first stop was Deer Park Heights where, I was reliably informed, they filmed sections from the second installment of the Lord of the Rings. After feeding the animals in the wildlife in the park on the ascent to the summit it was time to take yet more catalogue pose pictures as we looked out over Queenstown and towards the Remarkables mountain range. The views from the top were beautiful. From there we headed back into Queenstown for lunch on the beach before heading west to the town of Glenorchy. The drive took us along the shores of Lake Watakipu and once at our destination we embarked on a short walk that offered us 'beautiful' mountain views. After refreshments in a local tavern we headed back to Queenstown in time to return our rental car and do some food shopping.

That evening we all ate together in the hostel and, as we entered into great conversations we also found time to do the Tim Tam Challenge, with varying degrees of success. The evening was really good; there was great conversation, fantastic company and a relaxed atmosphere that saw us chatting away into the early hours. When I finally hit the sack I did so in the knowledge that the last few days had seen me meet some of the nicest people on my trip and people who had become true friends.

The following day and a bleary eyed James woke up early yet again in order to catch the Stray bus out of Queenstown and on to Milford Sound. I exchanged my goodbyes with Tommie and Katja before the bus journey took us through some of the most fantastic mountainous landscape I have ever seen. The drive was breathtaking and almost impossible to capture with a camera. Sadly I was less impressed with Milford Sound. Yes, it is good and it is beautiful but it failed to live up to the hype in my eyes. I can console myself in the fact that at least I have been. From Milford we headed south to Tutapere where we spent the night.

From Tutapere we continued to the very southern tip of the South Island. We headed through the town of Invercargill and onto the port of Bluff where we caught a choppy ferry crossing across to New Zealand's third island, Stewart Island. The crossing lasted an hour and I spent the majority of the time trying to sleep. In between having shut eye I spoke to God and when I disembarked at Oban, the only town on Stewart Island, I looked like the perfect specimen for a Daz Door Step Challenge.

Stewart Island is home to only 400 residents and it shows in the range of amenities that are on offer. Thankfully I was in a dorm with the driver of the Stray bus and thus we had Sky TV which meant an early morning showing of Champions League Football. The island really has not got a lot to offer, especially when it seems to rain most of the time and all walks out of Oban include going up hill. I did do one or two and other than that I spent the rest of my time eating, relaxing, watching DVDs and reading, not forgetting a lot of time spent sleeping. After two nights spent on the island and no sign of Aurora Australis, one of the main reasons to visit the island, I decided to vacate to the sanctuary of the mainland.

After just one night on Stewart Island it was time to say 'a bientót' to my long-term travel partner, Natalie. She was in a mad rush back to get to Dunedin and on to Christchurch to meet her friend. The past two and a half weeks have been really great and it was such a pleasure to travel with someone who held the same interests and thankfully, a similar sense of humour, as me.  As Natalie sailed off into the distance it was time for me to stand up strong and go it alone. No more high-5s, no more stupid games on the bus and no more hunting for wheat-free bread!

Therefore this morning saw me boarding the ferry back to Bluff and predictably the crossing saw me disembark the ferry looking a little worse for wear. Thankfully all my prayers to the Westpac God had been answered and I was able to get money out of the cash machine in Invercargill. So that's where I am now. This afternoon I watched The Bodyguard on video, ate chocolate and wandered around the small town of Invercargill. Thankfully I am only here for one night, any more and I think I would turn to alcoholism as a means of entertainment. There really is nothing to do.

Tomorrow I will head east and to the town of Dunedin, just in time for the rugby on Saturday. I have already bought tickets for the princely sum of $21 to see half a dozen All Blacks which will include Mr DC and Richie McCaw. I will spend the rest of the weekend visiting the free attractions on offer and of course the Speights Brewery where I will get to taste the beer for free! I will not be going to the chocolate factory on the basis that I have eaten so much chocolate in the past few days they may wrap me as a Crunchie and therefore I am on a fruit and veg diet for the next week.