We found ourselves back in Queenstown, only a few days after we'd left, and yet almost everyone we knew had moved on. Because of this, we decided to stay in a much smaller hostel called Adventure Queenstown which was famed for being particularly nice. As soon as we arrived we knew we weren't going to regret our choice: with spacious rooms, real towels, two pillows on each bed and free bikes for hire it's easily the best hostel we've stayed in and for pretty much the same price. However this is possibly a bad thing because it quickly became hard to leave. We spent our first day using the free internet to skype our families and hanging out in the beautiful lounge watching films on the huge tv. There we became friends with the hostel staff who when not on shifts seemed to live on the sofa.

On Thursday we decided to be active, so got up early to climb a nearby peak called Ben Lomond. We had yet to talk to anyone who had done this walk so were a bit worried it might not even exist, but while making breakfast at the hostel we talked to a guy who'd done it and really enjoyed it. We started out feeling confident; having done the Tongariro Crossing and Mount Doom, we thought it couldn't be that hard. Within fifteen minutes we were proven wrong as we began the steep climb through thick forests. Both of us could feel our feet rubbing, but having learnt nothing from our previous walk, we'd forgotten to bring blister plasters so had to push on through the pain.

It was about three hours of straight uphill before we got to the top. The last hour was spent scrambling over rocks along the mountain ridge towards a seemingly non-existent summit. In many ways the view when we got there was more incredible than from Mount Doom: a 360 degree panorama of Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu and the Southern Alps (still covered in snow). The clouds parted just as we reached the summit so we sat in the sun and ate lunch on top of the world.

After so much adventuring we felt it was only right that we retreat to our safe haven of a hostel, so nursed our blisters back on the sofa, having completed the walk in two hours less than the average time. That night we went out with some people who would be leaving the next morning, so yet more goodbyes. About half an hour before going to meet them, our first spontaneous haircut happened. Sofia had been in need of one for weeks, but kept putting it off, then a guy we'd just met offered to do it, someone else appeared with an electric razor and suddenly it was happening. Out on the balcony of the hostel we let him shave the back and sides, and it came out a lot shorter than we'd hoped, but no tears were shed and Sofia just decided to go with it. What else are gap years for?

Our last two days were again lazy ones: we went shopping and took bikes from our hostel to cycle along the lake to a ledge nicknamed Little Thailand. However, bad weather discouraged us from swimming, that and the famous 13m drop below us. On our final night we went out with a mixture of people from the kiwi experience and those who worked in our hostel, ending our stay in Queenstown the only way suitable - with burgers at three in the morning.

We finally left, two weeks after we'd arrived, on the day of the cricket world cup final. Driving us to our next stop, Lake Takepo, was an incredibly avid cricket fan and loyal kiwi named Mac. He invited the entire bus to come watch the game in his room, just so long as we didn't ask him any questions to do with the kiwi experience. The mood was tense all evening and at one point Mac even announced that he was shaving off his beard for good luck. Sadly this didn't work. We managed to stick it out for several hours, and to our pride both pretty much understood what was happening, but eventually exhaustion won out. We left about two hours before the end, giving our condolences to our bus driver as it was already clear New Zealand were going to lose.

We spent the next day relaxing by the beautifully clear lake, and even went for a quick swim in the freezing water. Tekapo is also famed for its incredible star gazing and is one of five registered "dark sky" spots in the world, so that evening we decided to climb up the nearby hill, Mount John, to watch the sunset and wait for dark. Clearly we were the only people crazy enough to do this and we found ourselves completely alone in gale force winds looking down on the lake and surrounding planes. Sheltering behind a rock from the wind, we sat for more than an hour entertaining ourselves until the sky was completely dark and the stars appeared. Not only could we see the milky way in a long strip across the sky, we also saw two shooting stars. Afterwards we battled the wind and stumbled down through the forest with our torches, to crawl into bed before our bus to Christchurch the next day.