Hello All

Sorry it's been a while but I am finally back to update on the latest progress.

Please bear in mind teh following is all from memory so may not be exact! After Taupo we headed south to River Valley to a nice country hostel where we were all in one dorm room together and basically sharing a bed with three others! We also had a great roast dinner and I indulged in some horse trekking which produced some amazing views! Then we moved down to Wellington where we enjoyed a night out in the hostel bar before moving on to Nelson the next day with the ferry crossing between the two Islands. This also involved a trip on a shutle bus after confusion with the Kiwi bus but it was free so it was ok! In Nelson we stayed in a really nuice hostel which was almosta hotel and celebrated Zaks (one of the other guys) birthdays with another night out this time in Nelson. We then continued south to Westport and the scenery is really breathtaking - its all so natural! There we went quad biking and it was awsome a great off road track which involved some bush encounters at high speed! In the evening we enjoyed a BBQ and some movies (Happy Gimore and I know pronounce you Chuck and Larry).

Then we went on to lake Manihupa? something like that which was a pretty isolated area but we had a good night of bin-bag dress up there and an amazing meal of steak and venison! Went as peter pan with a costume made of bin bag, bath mat and leaves! Good times!

Then today we headed of for Franz Josef stopping at teh bushman centre for some information on the dear farming in the area followed by a cooked breakfast! I am now looking forward to a day out on the glacier tomorrow which should be great although its meant to rain! So fingers crossed!

R x