After a really rough ferry crossing we arrived in the South Island!! Not much to do in Nelson...........lots of places in New Zealand are really quite! Had a great roast lamb and went for some wine tasting! Wed 29th Decided to stay an extra day to go kyacking in the Abel Tasman National Park..........Laura and Janine are running out of time in New Zealand so we had to say goodbye for a few days!!! so sad as its fun with those guys but i really want...

Mon 27th After an early night i woke up in Wellington ready for some action! Unfortunately there was none! Wellington was a lovely city but not much to do so me, Laura, Janine and Gigi visited the museum and took the tram up to the gardens...........where we spent ages playing in the kids playground! Got back to the hostel where we bumped in to murray........hes a master of physics! murray is sooo cool....we met him in Auckland and he has become a...

Sat 25th Finally arrived in River Valley after a very long bus ride! Was so desperate to go to the loo i didnt even make it to the lodge!.......had to go in the bushes on the way down the drive!! The lodge was amazing, it was down by the river........ but more importantly there were lots of comfy sofas and big tv screen! After enjoying a healthy roast dinner we spent the evening asking the rafting guys how many people die, are injured etc etc.......

woke early to watch the sun rise which was so beautiful! after returning to bed for a while we headed off to visit some local sights before heading down to our last hostel for the trip........a maori family's house! after the traditional greeting (touching noses!) we chilled out and took in the view!.......unfortunately their spa pool was broken so we caught up on the celebrity gossip on sky tv!!! yay !!! we had the biggest tea ever and even had some apple crumbl...

got up early to go for my very first surfing lesson! there were no wet suits in my size so i had to borrow the instructors one ( he is very skinny - called magoo!) unfortunately surfers dont tend to wear anything under their wetsuits! uurrgghh.........no choice unfortunately! well 2 hours later ( and lots of water up the nose!) i had mastered the 3 step method and was successfully standing up and surfing the green (before the wave breaks!) apparently i have...