Ki Ora here from NZ!

Well it has been a busy week here and we are well into our tour of the South Island before we head North up to Auckland. We arrived into Christchurch after a relatively stress free trip from Cairns (although was very sad to leave Australia). Stayed at BASE in Christchurch which was a fun hostel and we had some really fun roommates (however we have just found out from one of them that there were hoards of bedbugs planting eggs in our room - yuck!)! Met up with Mike Irving again who's just travelled over here from Brisbane, so we spent our time touring the city with him. It's a very English city, but there's not much to do. We took a walk about the city, did some winter clothes shopping - it is freezing out here! The most worthwhile trip was out to the Gondolas - which much to our surprise were cablecars and not boats! Headed up to Banks Peninsula where there were fantastic views of the city and of the ocean.

Moving North, on the Magic (AKA Tragic) Bus, we went to Kaikoura infamous for the whales which are habitant all year round in the waters offshore. We payed a small fortune to get the superfast boat out to get a closer look. We spotted 3 sperm whales and some dusky dolphins. Very impressive - another few creatures to add to our ever growing 'Wildlife Seen' list!

We then moved across to a town called Nelson, not a very exciting place but it was a base to travel up to Abel Tasmen's National Park where we spent half a day exploring the coast whilst sea-kayaking and then a fantastic bush walk! I surprised myself at how much I enjoyed the walk.

Now we are in Franz Joself, which is a small town which features an amazing glacier. It's very random having an ice hill in the middle of the rainforest. Yesterday we did a 'Glacier Hike' - we spent a good few hours climbing the glacier and exploring all the cracks anc crevices. It was fascinating. We had to be kitted out in all kinds of gear including these HUGE boots with attachable spikes! It was a proper adventure.

Today we are just chilling out and having some much needed recouperation! I've not been well the past few days :(, feeling better now and enjoyed a much needed film viewing and brewtime all morning.

The hostels in NZ are amazing value. We are paying almost half the price as they were in Aus and they all seem to have Spas and Saunas which are very useful after spending an afternoon on ICE! Can't believe how cold it's getting down here, especially after aclimatising to Aus temperatures and I don't even have a coat with me. Haha.

I hope that you are all well back home, that exams are going well and that the weather's bright and sunny! Missing you all, as always. Take care and I will see you in just over 6 weeks time. Love Lizzi xxxxxxx