Well I bid my final farewell to Queenstown last Monday morning and took the Stray bus up to Christchurch where I stayed two nights. Met a nice girl from Pennsylvania called Lauren and did some sightseeing with her (and some shopping at the biggest Mall in the South Island!) Stayed at Base this time which is really central although much busier than the old country house where I was for Christmas. Its nice to go back to the same towns though as it means I don't have to learn where everything is all over again. On Wednesday morning I left Christchurch to got o Kaikoura - a few hours drive up the coast. Theres a lot of Whale watching and dolphin swimming going on there - but the whale watch was cancelled because of rough seas. I stayed two days anyway but didn't go the next day as I'd already done it in Oz and I wanted to save some money! We went to the pub quiz opposite the hostel in a bar called the strawberry tree and won another bar tab 1st prize!!! Can't go wrong eh?!

Left Kaikoura on the Friday and went to Picton - Met two great girls who came from Torquay on the last night in Kaikoura so had some others to share with again...My pass was supposed to finish in Picton but I sweet talked the stray driver into letting me hitch a lift over to the Abel Tasman national park with his bus! I did have to be hostess Lucy and count all the people and collect money and give out forms and stuff but that only meant that I met everyone on the bus so that worked out well. We stayed at Picton for one night as there was no room on the bus on Friday afternoon - so we booked into a great hostel called the Villa. Had loads of hammocks and deckchairs (I fell asleep in the sun and got sunburnt!) and a gas bbq so we had a big bbq that night and got some beers in. Left for Abel Tasman on the Saturday lunchtime and tookin a Winery on the way :) Got to 'Old MacDonalds Farm', our accommodation for the next two nights at about 6pm.

On Sunday we'd booked in to do an all day sail on a Katamaran. We had quite a cloudy day which was a shame as Abel Tasman is spectacular in the sun but we had fun and when the sun came out after lunch we all jumped in the sea! My first New Zealand swim and it was bloody freezing!!! Took our boxes of wine so had some drinks to warm us up and got back to the farm at about 5pm. Our accommodation was nice and the farm had lots of Llamas, Alpacas and sheep as well as dogs and ducks! Had a big free for all football game outside our huts and us girls beat the boys which finished off the day nicely :) Got a fair few bites from all the creepy crawlies but was a lovely place to go to. Monday was Robin's (a lovely lad from Sweden) 20th birthday so we stayed up till midnight to help him celebrate but then crashed out as early start on Tuesday.

Tuesday saw us heading down the West Coast to Barrytown where I'd already been. We passed the pancake rocks which is a pretty amazing rock formation just north or barrytown (photos to follow) I didn't actually intend on going down there as again it was a full days drive that wasn't on my pass and i'd seen it already but we were having birthday drinks for Robin so it seemed rude not to! It was as crazy as last time and we all ended up till the early hours in the dressing up clothes again! Someone split open their chin falling down the steps and we all had bad headaches the next day!! I had to catch the coast to coast bus back over to Christchurch yesterday as I hadn't got the time to do the bottom of the west coast again - although i would have loved to stay with Pip, Sam and Robin as we had a giggle :) So i spent a very hungover day travelling over Athurs Pass again to pick upthe bus north again on Wednesday morning.

At the moment Christchurch is hosting the World Buskers festival and so theres lots of street performers about. Saw a fireshow and some acrobats and knife performers which were great. Then headed to the cinema as its about all I was feeling up to and Tuesdays are always cheap here for the movies. Watched 'Four Last Songs' which was nice but a bit girlie! Headed back to Base at 10 and had an early night at about 11pm. This morning my driver turned out to be Taxi again (who I last had in Barrytown anf Franz Joseph) which was cool. So we just arrived again into Kaikoura and its Pub Quiz night again!!! Tomorow we go back up to Picton and I finally get the ferry over to north island at 13.15 :) Sad to be leaving the South but who knows what adventures lie ahead! Matt and Aaron arrive in 6 days so I'm getting real excited about that now :) update you all soon xxxxxxx