Hello everyone!

I have finished my bus tour of New Zealand and now I am Queenstown, currently trying to recover from last night which included a trip to a bar where they serve cocktails in tea pots!

New Zealand has been really good so far. Although when I firsted started my bus journey in Auckland I wasn't quite sure how it was going to be because it was cold, wet and the bus was half empty. However, as I have travelled further south the weather has improved, the scenery has improved and I have really been enjoying New Zealand.

The first activity I got involved with was black water rafting in the Waitomo caves. This consisted of getting dressed up in a wetsuit and hard hat, going down into some pitch black caves and floating down a small river in a rubber ring in the dark and cold. Thats right, I wondered what I was doing there at times as well. It turned out to be good though and there were some really funny moments. We also got to see the glow worms that line the ceiling of the cave. Luckily we didn't see any of the giant insects or eels that apparently go down there as well.

That day we ended in Rotorua where I stayed the night. This place is built on ground with geothermal activity underneath so throughout the town there are areas where you see gas rising from the ground and it smells really badly of sulphur/eggs.

The next day we went down to Taupo where I planned to do a sky dive. However, the weather was really bad so it was called off and I decided to stay there for another 2 days in order to do it. The next day I woke up to a bright sunny day and was thankfull I decided to stay there. The Skydive was really good and I honestly wasn't that nervous about it. I enjoyed every moment of the freefall and the plane ride up was an experience in itself. In Taupo I also went for a walk up one of the mountains there. I thought it would be a fairly easy walk but it turned into a big trek. I got to the top and there was snow on the peak of the mountain. It was worth the walk for the view from the top though.

From Taupo I headed down to Wellington where I stayed for a couple of nights before getting the ferry to the south island and then the bus to Nelson. Nelson was a small town (like most of the places in New Zealand) and from there I headed to Greymouth, another small and very quiet town. We went on a Montieth brewery tour there which was quite good but the bar we went to after that was really bad. At 9:15 they decided to close the bar without even calling time so we were basically forced to drink up and leave!

After Greymouth we went to Franz Josef which is a town of about 300 people which serves as a base point for people wanting to go to the Franz Josef Glacier. I stayed there for 3 nights during which time I went kayaking on one of the glacier lakes nearby and did a full day hike of the Franz Josef Glacier. The hike was really good and quite surreal. We first walked to the start of the glacier and then put on crampons so that we could start hiking up the glacier. It was a really warm day so we were walking up this giant block of ice, in winter in shorts and t shirts. The guide who was with our group would go ahead of us with a pick axe and create steps in the ice for us to climb up or down.

From Franz Josef I went to Wanaka which is a small ski town near Queenstown and stayed there for one day. From there I went to Queenstown which is where i still remain. On my second day here I did the Nevis bungy jump which is one of the biggest in the world and the biggest in New Zealand. It is 134m high compared to the original which is 43m high and has 8.5 seconds of freefall. I was very nervous about this and when it came to my turn to jump I almost didn't do it. Thankfully I got talked round though and I really enjoyed it. Tomorrow I am doing a Canyon Swing which is similar to a bungy jump but instead of just going down you swing across a canyon. After that I am going on a jet boat down a river which does 360 degree spins and gets really close to the rocks...should be fun!

On Saturday I am picking up my car and further exploring the South Island and then before I know it I will be flying to Melbourne to get a job.

Bye for now and thankyou for my messages

All the best.

Ryan