On the morning of April 15th, after our final night in Queenstown, we gingerly walked out of the Nomads Hostel at 7am to catch our Kiwi bus to Christchurch. Despite out ticket taking us to Wellington with an overnight stop back in Kaikoura, the ferry crossing to the north island would have cost us just less than a flight, so we decided to take the plane from Christchurch to Wellington in order to give ourselves an extra day in the north island. Soon after leaving the hostel, the upbeat Queenstown atmosphere on the bus soon made way for a more sedate and sleepy vibe. The 8 hour drive took us through the rolling Canterbury countryside and a number interesting towns including Twizel and a place close to Dave´s heart, Geraldine, a small, old fashioned and historic town. After another short stopover at Lake Tekapo, we finally made it to Christchurch for our short flight to New Zealand's capital, Wellington. We arrived into 'Welly' in the rain, which unfortunately would continue for the duration of our stay. After checking into the hostel, we had a quick bite to eat before heading to bed to catch up on some much needed sleep following the antics of Queenstown.

The next day was a bit of a non event. After a substantial lie in, Ant and James headed onto Welly town centre for another glorious Chicken Katsu Curry courtesy of Wagamamas. The rest of the day was spent chilling in the hostel and appeasing our blogging fans.

Following two days of inactivity, we were desperate for some culture. Given the awful weather, we decided to head to New Zealand's Parliament building for a free tour. The parliament is a modern, purpose built, cylindrical building, constructed to withstand earthquakes, using the latest in anti-seismic technology. The tour was barely interesting, giving us little useful information. Fortunately the tour was short, giving us enough time to visit the Te Papa museum, New Zealand´s national museum. The museum had a large variety of exhibitions ranging from a feature on giant squid to an exhibit on Maori culture. It was here that we first discovered that our planned skydive would be taking place over an active volcano. The museum was well worth the visit and we only left because we were kicked out as the staff were closing up for the day. After all that culture, we decided to check out the night life in Welly, only to discover it was dominated by a much older crowd than we had been accustomed to in the rest of New Zealand. However we did manage to meet up with another one of our Kiwi bus mates from the South Island, Jo.

Following two rather uneventful days in a sodden Welly it was time for us to hop back on the Kiwi bus and head to the adventure capital of the north island, Taupo. With a mixture of overcast conditions and blue sky, our plan to skydive immediately on arrival to Taupo was in the balance, leaving Dave in particular feeling more agitated that if our afternoon's destiny was certain. However, on arrival to Taupo, the clouds parted giving us the perfect conditions to jump out of a plane. When we arrived at the Freefall Skydive Centre, James hit a slight snag. Despite his intense exercise regime and rigorous dieting, James exceeded the generous weight limit afforded to passengers, so as to ensure that the reserve parachute would be guaranteed to open. Following a nerve wracking wait, one brave/foolish instructor agreed to accompany him into the sky. After a short video and briefing where we signed our lives away, taking full responsibility should any disaster occur, we were left to contemplate what we were about to do for an hour. Each of us passed the time in our own ways; Dave took comfort in throwing pebbles aimlessly, James took solace in thinking of a genius message to write on his hands, whilst Ant went back to basics with the stereotypical pacing up and down.

Finally it was time to don our blood red jump suits and harnesses and meet our dive instructors before walking out to the small, rickety, unstable looking plane. 5 jumpers, 5 instructors and 5 photographers crammed into the plane and we began our assent to 15,000ft. At 12,000ft, the plastic roll door opened, sending a rush of cold air into the cabin as the other 2 jumpers left the plane. It was then that the nerves really set in as the irrationality of what we were about to do became obvious. Dave was first up and as he shuffled towards the edge of the plane he had a momentary scare as one of the straps appeared to come undone. After assurances the strap was merely decorational, Dave exited the plane shortly followed by Ant, with James bringing up the rear. What followed was an adrenaline filled minute of freefall followed by relief when the parachute opened allowing a 3 or 4 minute float down which offered spectacular views over Lake Taupo. As discussed at great length, this made the top of the activities list for New Zealand by majority verdict. We left the centre buzzing and with our heads and wallets significantly lighter.

After a crazy afternoon, we checked into our hostel in Taupo, Urban Retreat and headed to the Costco-esque, Pak ´n´ Save to stock up on supplies. After a typically large portion of 'spag bol' for Ant and Dave and the hostels own chilli con carne for James, the Banjo Chords reformed their strong quiz team with some additions from a dip into the transfer market. Continuing their stunning form in pub games, the Banjo Chords once again emerged victorious claiming the $40 prize, swiftly spent at the bar. One of our finest answers was to identify the only league football club in Britain which does not contain any of the letters in the word 'FOOTBALL'. Answers on a postcard (message board) please.

With nothing planned for the next day, Ant decided to take the opportunity to visit the glowworm caves in Waitomo and to go black water rafting. However, to have rafting in the name is something of a con, as the activity requires little to no rafting at all. After donning the fetching black skintight wetsuit accompanied by bright white moonboots, the group made their way to the start of the tour which was given the friendly name of ¨The Black Abyss". The trip started with a 40m abseil down into the caves, followed by a 25m zip line through the caves with thousands of glowworms providing spectacular illumination. After the zip line it was time for the 'rafting' part of the trip. This involved sitting on an inflatable inner tube and trundling through the waterways of the glowworm lined caves. This provided an incredible backdrop, however the illusion was slightly spoilt after being told that these worms were in fact spiders and the glow was merely a by-product of their excrement. After half an hour of 'rafting' we ditched the tubes and took to the freezing water to wade through the rest of the cave network to the exit, which could only be accessed by climbing up two waterfalls. After drying off, Ant headed back to Taupo reflecting on a great day out. Returning to the hostel at around 5.30pm, Ant was astonished to enter the dorm room to find that James was still asleep. However, he had maintained his basic survival instincts and arisen for an hour at lunch for soup, a baguette and lashings of Pringles before returning to his pit. That evening, little time was spent in the bar other than to see Dave maintain his unbeaten record and collect his inevitable winnings at the pool tournament.

Having been closed due to adverse weather the first day we had arrived in Taupo, we decided to spend an extra day in order to do the Tongariro Crossing. The crossing itself is described as the best one day hike in New Zealand, offering views of sulphur lakes and a hike past Mount Ngauruhoe, better known as Mount Doom from the Lord of the Rings films. Our day started at the ungodly hour of 5.40am in order to catch the bus for the hour journey to the start of the hike. En route, the driver/guide told us to expect there to be a light dusting of snow on the ground and in turn to expect very cold temperatures which would be aided by a substantial wind-chill. Following the helpful brief the driver inexplicably came to the conclusion that no-one knew what wind-chill was. To resolve this issue, he decided to stage an impromptu meteorology lesson. This involved opening all the windows of the bus as it travelled down the road to allow the freezing old air to rush through the bus. It was only our tiredness that managed to subdue the rage of this pointless and uncomfortable lesson.

Shortly after this episode we arrived at the start of the hike and stepped outside into the sub-zero temperatures. Wrapping up in as many layers as we could get our hands on, we began the hike in buoyant mood. Soon after starting the walk it became apparent that the two key pieces of information provided by our driver in the morning were wrong. Firstly, the "light dusting" of snow on the route was in fact knee deep in places. Secondly, having wrapped up in a multitude of layers to battle the cold and the "wind chill", we all soon became desperately hot and resorted to walking in shorts and t-shirts. Despite these unfortunate oversights, the trek was a spectacular. We had great weather, allowing us great views of Mount Doom and the surrounding area. The highlight, however, was the view from the summit of the second pass. Here, we stood above a large volcanic crater and several emerald green sulphur lakes, beautifully juxtaposed against bright white snow and blue skies which provided us with probably the most stunning view we had seen anywhere in New Zealand. On the way to this second pass, Dave, taken aback by the remarkable scenery, philosophised and provided us with one of the quotes of the trip suggesting that "the orks had it pretty good". After just over 6 hours of walking, we finally made it to the car park where our bus was waiting, ready to take us back to Taupo. It was here that we soon realised that blue skies, a powerful sun, the hole in the o-zone above New Zealand, UV ray reflecting snow and no sun cream was a pretty wretched combination. This allowed Dave and Ant to add New Zealand to their lists of countries in which they had been sun burnt and surprisingly James was also able to experience the sensation of being lightly toasted.

After arriving back in the hostel it was time for a Christ Church C of E school reunion. James Rose was in town as part of his tour of the North Island, sandwiched in between his extended time in Queenstown. After a quick trip in Rosie's car to the impressive Hukka Falls, it was time to hit the bright lights of Taupo for the evening. After a civilised pre-drinking session, we headed to a typical New Zealand Irish Bar, before going to Element Bar, the bar attached to the Base Hostel in Taupo. Unfortunately, despite being the only club in town open, it was about as lively as a kipper. Despite this, we still managed to have a slight disagreement with a group of Kiwis whose best mates happened to be the clubs bouncers. Unfortunately, this combination of angry Kiwis spelt the end of our night and we headed back to the hostel in preparation for our bus the following morning to New Zealand's smelliest of towns, Rotorua.

Ant, Dave and James