So now we are in Queenstown where we r staying put for a week (o my god we can actually have sleep-ins again!!!!!!! It’s amazing!!!!)

Last time I wrote was last week in Westport and again a lot has happened. As I said we left Mar’s bus and were so lucky because our friends (we call them the 18 year olds) were on the bus behind us so they caught up with us and we all set off together (with our new bus driver Buzz) to Lake Mahinapua.

On the way there we did the Cape Foulwind and seal colony walks (the seals were very cute!) and a walk to see the Punakaiki Pancake rocks (limestone stacks that have eroded over 1000’s of years to look like a stack of pancake-hence the name) and blowholes (huge holes in rock formations where water spurts up in high tide and heavy weather).

We also stopped off to get supplies for our dress up party that night in Lake Mahinapua (the theme was cross-dressing and bin-liners. Some how I don’t think any boys will be seeing any action that night wearing dress’ and lipstick!!! (Unfortunately at this point we lost chip/welshy/andy who just wasn’t feeling it anymore and wanted to go home. Sorry u had to leave Andy. We miss u!!!)

The hostel was wicked and owned by Les…possibly the oldest man in the world!!!! We were fed a delicious steak dinner and then had the party which was a lot of fun. Only 2 boring people didn’t dree up and all the costumes were fab- to be honest though If I have to see another bloke in womens girls I think I’m going to scream! Anne, Faye, Matt and Steph went as cave people and won a prize for one of the best costumes. I went as cat women, and the other girls wore dress’ they’d made using bin-liners.

The following day we headed to Franz Josef. On the way there we stopped at the bushman’s centre where we saw how people make a living on the coast doing such things as helicopter deer recovery and possum trapping. There was lots of dead animals there (I ate possum pie. it was yum!) and lots of live ones too- like a huge pig, deer, a possum and eels. After that strange and very interesting tour we headed onwards to spectacular Franz Josef which holds over 60 glaciers. The views in this town are unbeatable!!!!

That day I did another skydive (spur of the moment decision- def do not regret it!). It was amazing to do it over the glaciers and I enjoyed this one loads more!! My man was very funny and we did lots of spins when we jumped out of the plane, I also was allowed to fly the little plane on the way up which was wicked as I’ve never flown a plane before...Jess was with me and I think she was a little frightened when they let me fly!!!!

That evening we went out for Emma’s birthday (one of the original girls from Mar’s bus) which was a good night and we actually had sleep-in the next morning as we had previously decided to stay in Franz for an extra night.

We had another chill out day the next day which was beneficial as we were going to need all our energy for the glacier walk we had the next day!!!

It was an 8 hour walk and we went up Franz Josef glacier, round and down again. It was a great day and definitely worth the bruises (we fell over quite a lot!!). Even though we had spiky things on our boots it was still very slippy and we had to climb up and down vertical edges of ice and through little caves, it was hard but really good fun at the same time!! Definitely slept well that night!!

The next day we moved on again to Wanaka with another new bus and another new driver Andy- he’s quite fit but we hear he’s a bit of a man-w****! Hmmm…

On the way to Wanaka the scenery was beautiful! And Wanaka was fab- especially as we had a bath in every room…that’s only the 3rd bath I have even seen since I’ve been traveling!!!!! And a TV in each room too…love it!!!

Faye and I were good though and decided to do a walk rather than sit and watch tele. I only wish Andy had warned us that the walk was nearly two hours long and up a mountain….a very high mountain!!!

That night we went to “the best pub in New Zealand” (apparently) and got to know our fellow travelers a bit better on our new bus.

The following day we made our way to Queenstown but stopped off at Puzzlers world on the way there. Puzzlers world is a crazy little place with a labyrinth maze and weird rooms that make everything backward and wonky (not the place u want to be if u’d had a couple too many the night before like some of the folks on our bus had!!)

We then went to Kawarua Bridge where some people were doing a bunjy jump. Its only a small one (43 meters) and I wasn’t going to do it as I’d already paid to do the Nevis (150 meter bungy) in a few days time…but I decided to upgrade and do all 3 jumps in Queenstown instead of just the Nevis as Anne was doing it too!!

I LOVE BUNJY JUMPS!!!!!!! I swear I could do them all day long! They are so much fun and it’s amazing how u feel after (you can see the videos on this website- check out my awesome swan dive!!!). Anne really enjoyed it too!

Our hostel here is nice and has a really good bar so we went there on our first night here and met up with Bonzo and Wes (from Chang Mai) and all the people we’d met on our various buses. Yesterday we didn’t do much during the day except check out the place and then went out again to our bar for karaoke and then to world bar (where u drink your drinks out of teapots- very strange!

Today Anne and I did ‘the ledge’ (another Bungy). It was off a mountain that we had to do get a gondola up to, so although the cord was still only about 60 meters it looked like a much higher jump as we were about 400 meters up! It was a different feeling as you were attached with the harness round your waist and not by your feet- which meant u are able to run and do crazy jumps. Anne and I both did backward dives. It was good but I preferred the other jump. The girls, Matt, Wes and Bonzo all came to watch and then we all went luging. Which is where u sit in 3-wheeled carts that u can steer and basically race each down the hill- trying not too fall off and lose half your skin! I don’t know y things like this scare me so much more than things like bungy jumps and skydives…I think I just don’t trust myself!

Luckily I have kept all my skin and am going to have an early night so I’m all fresh for the big bungy tomorrow!!!!!!!