Day 156- We made a quick breakfast before leaving and arrived at the check-in desk at quarter to, only to be told to come back at 9:30. The weather, as we already knew, wasn't great and there was thick cloud above us meaning the chopper couldn't fly. So we plodded back and made a coffee as we passed by the hour. Then at 9:30 we were again told the standards weren't safe enough for the chopper so we were now given a much more delayed time of 12:30. We stood around...

Day 155- Stray had organised a historic walk of the village for us all at 9am so we checked out and got our bags on the bus in time to meet a local lady who would give us the tour. She started by telling us about when it was founded and the glory days of the coal boom when the population was up in the thousands and there was lots of money to be made, she then took us for a walk past the social club and past a few houses until we arrived at the community centre wh...

Day 154- The bus was due to leave at 8:30am and as we waited we spoke to several others who were waiting. We discovered that most people already had problems with Stray so it didn't look good. The bus was late to get away as one girl had email confirmation that she was on the bus but the drivers list said otherwise and apparently that's the be all and end all. In the end he reluctantly squeezed her on, typically on the back row where we were sitting so we weren't...

Day 153- We arrived at the bus terminal and once again said our goodbyes, knowing that this time we actually were leaving them and packed our bags onto the buses finding a seat. It pulled out on time and swung around the corner as we waved bye and settled in to try and get some sleep. Eve was feeling a lot better but still had to take a cocktail of pain killers. The villages became smaller and the roads more windy as we edged further North. We finally pulled into...

Day 152- We checked out and drove to Nelson which only took about an hour and a half. It had now been 5 days and I was still Ill so we went to the pharmacy in Nelson to see if they could provide any further information. As it costs so much money to go to the doctors in New Zealand a lot of people go to the pharmacy for medical advice. They can't diagnose anything but they can give you recommendations. So after waiting half an hour I was told I could have Norovi...