Been in New Zealand a week and three days now. We flew into Chrsitchurch, which was pretty and quite English. We had a little ride in a punt down the river with tartan blankets over our legs, old before our time! More exciting was our adventure white water rafting on the Rangitata River, where the city of Rohan is filmed in Lord of the Rings don't you know. We braved the Grade 5 rapids and managed to stay in the boat the whole time, yay! We were also invited to jump off a 10m high cliff into the river, which Alyson leapt at the chance to do. One minute we were sitting nicely the next minute Alyson is fearlessly throwing herself off the cliff, hardcore. Not to be outdone Em and Ju trudged to the top and also jumped. Ju managed a beautiful jump straight as a arrow and was so proud that she looked down to admire herself just as she hit the water. This resulted in one black eye and a fat lip that made her look like a botox patient gone very wrong. All in the name of fun! Back in Christchurch we picked up our car, we call him Dave. Dave has taken us to Lake Tekapo, which was absolutely beautiful. It was a startling blue and had a back drop of snow covered mountains. We climbed a mountian (sincerely) and took some cool photos, including a very dramatic one with Alyson throwing herself back down. Evenings were spent reading and doing jigsaws in front of a log fire, its all go!! Next we went to Mt Cook, very big and white. In the hostel we watched Lord of the Rings and admired the scenery. Next stop on Dave's tour, a town called Oamaru. Not great but we did get to see cute small penguins waddle out of the sea into their nesting boxes. Now we are in Dunedin where we have been on a Cadbury's factory tour and a brewery tour, needless to say i felt sick as a result of both of these!! Today we went horse riding on the beach. Katie was given the bully horse and generally had to stay well away from anyone else or her horse gave them a hefty kick. We all managed to stay on the horses so a good time was had. Tonight we are planning on going to some student bars as this is a university town, bring it on!!!!!!!!!