Hi Everyone

Well, we have been here over a week now so thought it was about time that I updated this.

We first arrived at Christchurch on the South Island of New Zealand. We stayed in Christchurch for 3 nights (to get over the jet lag before we moved on). There isn't a huge amount to do in Christchurch but it is meant to be the most English like city in New Zealand. There is a really nice botanical gardens which we walked round on our first day - this is where I really burnt my nose as altho it was sunny and warm, I needed a hoody so didn't realise how much I was catching the sun! On the second day we went on a Gondola that had views over Christchurch and some of the surrounding towns. We walked down instead of taking the Gondola and walked to a small working port called Lyttleton.

On the Tuesday morning we started with the Kiwi Experience. We travelled to KaiKoura which is a small seaside town. Here we hired bikes and cycled to a seal colony where we saw 2 seals!! But it was a nice ride on the coast and was lovely and hot. In the evening we went to a local pub to do a quiz - it was horrible! The pub was run by a sleazy English man who is the type that gives us our bad reputation! It was awful!

On Wednesday we travelled on to Nelson. Nelson is really cool. We walked to the Centre of New Zealand which is basically walking up a large hill to get great views over the city. We stayed here for two nights. Unfortunately, we had to stay in a dorm room which was so cramped. But, we got through it.

Then we moved on to a place called Westport. Here we went on a Jet boat which is basically a boat on a river which does 360 degree turns. This was good but a little bit wet!!

On Saturday we stopped at a place called Greymouth where our task was to find a fancy dress outfit for the evening's party. The theme was 'p' party. You can imagine my joy!! Then we travelled on to Lake Mahunipa where we were staying and having the party. This place was run by an 84 year old man with a long beard who swears alot! The hostel was horrid but the party was good. I went as a penguin and Ant went as a playing card.

Luckily, Sunday morning wasn't a too early start and we mostly just travelled without stopping (usually we stop to look at Lakes and do short walks etc.) We arrived at Franz Josef at a really nice holiday park which more than makes up for the previous s***ty place.

This morning we have been in a helicopter ride up on to the Franz Josef ice glaicer where we hiked for about two hours. This was truly amazing!! Will hopefully get the photos up on to Facebook soon!

And that's what we've done so far. Tomorrow we will be moving on to a place called Wanaka and then we move on to Queenstown which is meant to be a really cool place and party town. And we arrive there on St Patrick's day which is really big over here! We move on to the North Island on 22nd March.

Hope everyone is well. Will update again soon.

X x x