Good morning everyone (will be late at night for most of you)

In typical fashion its been almost two weeks since my last blog so once again I apologise. I am currently in the town of Christchurch and have a fair bit of spare time on my hands for once so can update you with all my pictures and blog completely up to date. I start off on Saturday 12th May (oh so long ago)-

On the Saturday I woke up and prepared myself for the full day glacier hike on the Franz Josef Glacier, arriving at the Glacier guides centre at 9-15am. I met up with everyone else, got all the gear needed (jacket, gloves, boots, crampons) and got into the bus for the short ten minute drive to the glacier car park. We (more than 40 of us) walked down to the valley floor and split into two groups to go the 45 minutes to the face of the glacier itself. Once there we looked up in awe at it then spent a while trying to put the awkward crampons on our boots. The first group was split into a fast one and a slow one (guess which one I went into.lol) and would stay that way for the duration of the day. Just after 11am we commenced the long climb up the glacier and as it was a sunny day with no wind most of us took layers off (I ended up spending most of the day in just t shirt and shorts). Climbing up a glacier was a surreal experience and didn't realize quite how high it was but eventually it leveled out so we could get out of being in single file and look around the ice more taking in the breathtaking views of the mountains, up the glacier and down in the valley where the glacier once was many centuries ago. We picked up some pick axes then had a break on the ice where I almost had an argument with my guide as he tried to tell me global warming didn't exist (I did a paper in it in geography getting 85% so weren't going to back down). Soon after we had to navigate through? a very narrow crevasse some 5 metres high for about 50 metres squeezing past the extremely wet and cold ice; loved every second of it (couldn't even turn around and almost got stuck). Once climbed out we carried on moving up the glacier and climbing into and through some ice holes before having some lunch (had a massive pizza bread thing- a guy from another group said it was the biggest sandwich he had ever seen). I ended up being at the back as I was exploring a bit more and taking photos of really cool stuff we were going through. On the way back down it was really hard to take proper steps and I slipped a bit but enjoyed all of it as it felt so natural and out guide kept on cutting the ice to make it easier for us (almost lost the camera case down a hole). The climb down to the valley was hard but we got there at 4.30pm after an amazing day on one of the worlds fastest moving glaciers. Back at the hostel I had a nice shower and relaxed a bit before going to the bar about 7.30 for a number of cheap drinks with everyone.

The day after consisted mainly of driving to the town of Wanaka. After waking up only 15 min before the bus and rushing we found our driver Manama had slept in so waited around for over half an hour for him (he didn't even apologise) before leaving for the short drive to Lake Matheson. Here I ate breakfast with a sound guy from New York called Tom and two girls he knew then we walked up to the lake to get the most amazing and perfect reflections of Mt Cook (tallest mountain in Australasia) and the highest of the mountains in the Southern Alps. An hour and a half later we arrived in small town of Haast (had a break on a beach full of annoying sandflies and drove across the longest single lane bridge in the southern hemisphere on the way) where we had some lunch and I made an absolute mess of myself from eating a steak pie. From here the bus drove into the mountains and up the HaastPass, stopping at a tall impressive waterfall called ThunderCreekFalls and another lake for some more beautiful reflections, before arriving in the ski resort town of Wanaka at 4.30pm. We were staying at the hotel there which was great as they had TV's and was really comfortable. Me and Chris walked around the quiet pretty town and got some food before I joined some of the guys off the bus for a brief game of touch rugby on the soaking wet really cold grass (was in bare foot). I chilled out for a while watching TV and doing my journal then had a pint with a few of the others in an Irish Bar and ended up spending the rest of the night watching Anchorman and a surprisingly good film called Glass House.

On Monday we left Wanaka at 9am for a short drive up the road to Puzzling World which cost us 8 dollars and felt like we had to do it. Me, Patrick, Johan, Mike and Pete started the great 3D maze but even though it looked tame it was actually really hard and we ended up slitting into two groups to reach all 4 coloured towers then the finish gate. Me, Patrick and Pete finished it in just over half an hour and enjoyed it a great deal. We then went into the illusion rooms which were confusing to say the least especially the sloping rooms that made it look like water and pool balls rolled uphill (had a lot of fun). Before we left at 11am I bought the ultimate puzzle, The Rubik's Cube, but have so far spent all of 5 minutes playing it as those people that know me know I haven't got much patience; probably the worst possible thing I could buy then. A couple of hours later we arrived at the home of the home of the bungy jump- The Kawarau Bridge. Here we watched a video on the history of it and then some of the bus actually jumped off the bridge and if it wasn't for the money I would have probably joined them as it didn't look too bad (Mum would kill me though if I did it.haha). At 3pm the Kiwi bus arrived in the town of Queenstown (had waited a long time to come here) and dropped us all off at the Discovery Lodge hostel right in the centre. We had a group photo, spent ages checking in then went up to our rooms but straight away I joined some of the others in town for an enormous Fergburger; cost me 15 dollars and was the biggest burger I have ever had with everything you could think of in it (still finished it in less than 4 minutes though). I met up with Anaick then started drinking next door with the guys who I did the maze with. We stayed in their room drinking for hours eventually going downstairs to the Altitude Bar around 10/11pm for more drinks and an awesome night, getting to bed in the early hours.

I had an awesome lie in the morning till 11am which was well needed. I walked around Queenstown itself and the lake for ages before me and Chris decided to go up in the Gondola, to the top of the hill overlooking the town and area, and do a spot of luging (did it in Rotorua). There were only two tracks here so went on both a few times beating Chris everytime bar the last one as my luge was really slow; on one of them my brakes didn't really work so flew down quite scarily. After looking at the amazing scenery I met Patrick back at the hostel to go and buy some beer as well as chatting to Anaick again and grabbing a bite to eat. The beginning of the evening was once again spent next door drinking beer for a long time as well as a bit of vodka till going to the bar to find half the people there wearing toga's (we decided against it). I got drunk really quickly and have a big blank but remember going to another bar briefly, sitting outside somewhere then having some chips at Fergburger and getting to bed.

On Wednesday I spent the whole morning doing washing, sorting stuff out and doing my journal. Just after 2pm I got some food and met the Fly-By-Wire guy Elvis who took me and 5 others 20 minutes into another valley explaining on the way how the system worked and that it might not be on because of the wind direction so was quite worried. Once in the office we were told it was on and I volunteered to go first (just incase it got called off after me) so got into my black jumpsuit, gloves and helmet and joined everyone on the roof next to the flying machine that was attached to a wire high above. Elvis told us how to fly the thing before strapping me in lying down on the small propeller engined machine (look at the photos) and giving me some last pointers. I was raised 4 metres into the air and when the wind was right I got the thumbs up and pressed full on the throttle to go a bit forward then made a turn to go back the other way in a swinging motion. Eventually I got some great height and was going really fast across the valley as well as experiencing a bit of weightlessness at a couple of points as I almost went as high as the wires supporting me. When my 5 minutes were up the engine went off and I drifted back and forth till the motion stopped and was a good experience feeling the wind rush past your face just a few metres above the ground below; was well worth the 99 bucks I paid for it as it was so unique and interesting. I waited ages for the others to finish and as it was so cold I spent a while inside the building they had buying an awesome wooly hat in the process. On the way back to Queenstown we saw what looked like 2 sunsets in front of us due to the colours and what was even stranger was that the sun was actually setting behind us. Back at the hostel I ate delicious beef nachos and spent a few hours on the internet, ending up in the bar after 10pm completely sober (oh no!). I had a relaxing evening having a few beers and playing pool with Tom and a number of others then walked up to the Red Rock Bar for a couple more drinks. We stayed for a while chatting before I said goodbye to Tom, Naomi, Amy and a few others who were going to Christchurch in the morning. I got to bed still feeling pretty sober at 2.30am! Crazy.

Bottom Bus (4 day trip around bottom of the South Island)-

Thursday 17th May- Queenstown to Dunedin:Me and Chris woke up late so rushed to get to the Bottom Bus minibus just after 8am to find it half empty. Our driver's name was bloke who took us to Dunedin about 4 hours and two short breaks away. Upon arrival in the Scottish Uni town of Dunedin we drove through the main streets, getting commentary on the way, ending up stopping at the foot of Baldwin Street- the World's Steepest Street. All of us got out and started walking up it and I tried slow jogging but soon enough my legs were dead and it was far too steep (basically a 45 degree angle). Whoever built the street is crazy as you need a powerful car to make it up there and it kills to even walk up it although the view was good and it was certainly something I won't forget. After a quick look at a lookout and a drive through the university area we stopped at the impressive main train station then checked into our hostel which was really new and above a pool hall. Me and Chris looked around the town centre for ages getting a haircut and food in the process as well as saying hello to a girl (Sarah) I met in Queenstown who was on the bus in the morning. At 5.40 me Chris and two others walked up to the Speight's Brewery for the brewery tour which lasted about an hour taking us through a museum and the various ways beer is made. At the end of it we got in a line and walked round doing beer tasting of 6 different beers so was at the front as could have more beer; my favuorites were the original Speight's they sell in most pubs and Distinction ale which is a bit fuller. Afterwards I had food in the hostel then me, Chris and Sarah went into town and had some drinks at a couple of university bars and ended up going to bed about 1am as we sat about talking.

Friday- Dunedin to Invercargill (The Catlins):

Got up feeling quite tired at 7am and was at the bus just about on time 45 minutes later for an hour drive to Kaka Point with our new driver Earl (fell asleep on way). Further up the coast we got out and walked towards the lighthouse at Nugget Point to see some seals resting below as well as the big rocks jotting out into the sea (could see why the light was needed); I found it fascinating the lighthouse was controlled by a computer all the way in Wellington. Not too far away we stopped again to walk along the beach in the gusty wind and rain in search of some sea lions but all could find was really large seaweed until we walked over onto the sand dunes where we found a young male resting and a big daddy sea lion as well but he never lifted his head (would have been huge). After lunch in the Catlins caf?me and Sarah just sat in the bus eating our own lunch) we had a quick walk through some forest onto another beach where Chris found a beautiful Paua shell but I couldn't find any. A bit later we did a walk past interesting vegetation up to an interesting waterfall called McleanFalls then made it to the last stop of the day at CurioBay. Here we looked out over a big beach with sets of waves coming in then had a guided walk from a woman who owned the local campsite. She took us to Curio Bay itself to look at the many rock platforms there with 180 million year old preserved forest in parts of it as well as waiting around for the yellow eyed penguin. There are only 12 penguins on the bay and we saw both parents of one of the nests as they swam to shore and waddled up the rocks to their nesting area. Waves were crashing down very powerfully on the cliffs as we were virtually at the most southern point of the entire country where the next land would be Antarctica. Earl drove us the two hours to one of the world's most southern cities, Invercargill, in which time most of us slept and listened to music on the minibus. Once in the centre we checked into the very nice Tuatara (name of a type of lizard) hostel, got food from the local Pak n'Save supermarket and made dinner. We lay around doing our journals and finally went to the Speight's Ale house next door for a couple of drinks (had some Distinction Ale) then I watched some TV and got to bed just after one.

Saturday- Invercargill to Te Anau:

Woke up to say goodbye to Chris who was popping over to Stewart Island for a couple of days then lay around for a while and slowly got ready to get on the bus after 10am. We had to wait around for some people coming off a plane so spent a while in the I-Site and accompanying museum looking mainly at information on New Zealand's sub-Antarctic islands (very interesting about shipwrecks there); we were currently over 46 degrees south so therefore closer to the south pole than the equator (weird). After picking the people off the plane we drove to Riverton to look at some Paua shells and had lunch on a cool surf beach not too far away. We left the coast and drove north towards the mountainous Fiordland Region arriving at the Waiau Downs Farm about 2pm (saw some strange bent trees beforehand due to the wind and salt). Here, myself and 5 others did the ridiculously cheap 10 dollar farm tour which began with feeding a very hungry and wooly pet sheep then giving bottled milk to some noisy lambs and patting a sedate donkey (quality). With out boots on we headed to the main farm on the back of a trailer to meet the two working dogs Nell and Jill who amazingly herded the sheep like clockwork from the field and into the main shed. Jill then proceeded to bark a lot at the sheep and run on top of them repeatedly at the command of the farmer. Each of us had a go at herding the sheep into wooly and shaven through a gate but was a lot harder than it looked and I ended up hitting one in the head with the fence (only got that one wrong). The main event of sheep shearing came next so the farmer gave us a professional demonstration first shearing the whole sheep in a matter of a couple of minutes then it was our go. As we were beginners 3 of us did one sheep with me going very last so got to do a fair bit but slightly cut the sheep with the shearer's; was quite tough to do and so hard to get the right angle but a lot of fun and well worth doing all the same. I drove the quad bike and trailer bike then we left and before entering Te Anau stopped at LakeManapouri for some stone skimming. It was getting dark when we checked into very homely different hostel (rooms felt like a boat in a? way but were well equipped and comfortable) so me and Sarah got a quick photo of the lake then made dinner and chilled for a few hours doing journal and postcards. We ended up going to the main local pub called Moose for a couple of hours and must have been the only tourists in there.

Sunday- Milford Sound day trip and back to Queenstown

Although I got up to my alarm I had to rush in the rain down to the bus as had to have some breakfast. The Milford Explorer coach (had come from Queenstown) picked us up at 9.30am to spend over an hour driving into New Zealand's largest National Park- Fiordland. The weather wasn't great so got wet everytime we stopped for some photos down the glacier valleys but managed a great photo of a rainbow as well. Further along Highway 94 the road became very mountainous and due to the rain there were countless waterfalls pouring down the sides of the valley's making the area look awesome and like nothing I have ever seen before. It was like this the whole way down to Milford Sound on both sides of the quite steep downhill Homer Tunnel and you could see how much water was coming down at the Chasm (narrow gorge and waterfall). At the ferry terminal we boarded the Encounter boat at 12.25 for our cruise around the sound but straight away you could see the views would not be that good because of the low cloud and constant rain but the waterfalls made it something completely different entirely. The boat went round to Sandfly Point then headed North up the fjord (sounds are drowned river valleys so technically the name is wrong) stopping at a few places for pictures of the waterfalls. We spent a while around a couple of non permanent waterfalls (are only there in heavy rain- the area is one of the worlds wettest getting over 6 metres of rain a year) going right underneath them so getting absolutely drenched in the process which was a lot of fun. We reached the narrowest point soon after where the wind picked up considerably then headed out into the Tasman Sea a little bit to encounter some big rollers that made the whole boat move loads. Going along the otherside of Milford Sound we stopped underneath one of the permanent waterfalls (over 150m high) as well as the 700 metre high cliff of Lion Mountain (twice height of EmpireStateBuilding) before seeing some adolescent seals on some rocks. The boat dropped most of us off at the Underwater Observatory to take a look at the unique marine life situated 9 metres below the surface including rare black coral (actually white) and a large star fish and many kinds of weird fish. Another bigger boat picked us up (other side the cliff was completely full of waterfalls in one big line) to take us back to the ferry terminal. On the way back the clouds lifted a bit and you could get better pictures of Milford Sound but still couldn't quite see the top of MitrePeak (the famous mountain in all the postcards). The cruise finished at 3pm and I thoroughly enjoyed it even if the weather wasn't perfect to say the least. The coach left soon after for the 4 hour drive to Queenstown, stopping in Te Anau briefly for a food stop; could see the lights of the town miles away across the massive s-shaped lake so was really pretty. At 7.30pm me, Sarah and another girl checked into the Discovery Lodge again, had dinner and a shower then started on finishing off my vodka bottle which I had carried around for ages. I met Mark, who I met in the Bay of Islands, in the bar later so drank with him and his mates for ages having a laugh. We ended up going to World Bar for a couple and finished off the night in the classic way- having a Fergburger.

I left Queenstown early Monday morning on the kiwi bus but had a sore throat and missed breakfast so didn't feel the best. We spent a few hours driving to a place called Twizel where you can se Mt Cook across the lake but there was cloud around it today so couldn't really see much. We had lunch in a place called Geraldine (had another massive pizza bread thing) then for the remaining two hours of driving (500km from Queenstown to Christchurch) we watched the entertaining but not so great film White Chicks. Finally at 4.30pm I reached Christchurch and in doing so made it to the last official stop on my Kiwi experience pass. We checked into base backpackers right on the main Cathedral Square then spent a few hours lying in my room and writing in my journal before going out for a pizza and a pint at the Holy Grail Sports Bar with Sarah; was full as had half her pizza as well. Afterwards I found a bar that was going to show the Champions League Final and had a couple more drinks in the bar below the hostel, managing to get to bed around 1 as went on the net again.

On Tuesday I got up early and waited outside for the bus to Kaikoura (had paid an extra 20 dollars to do so) with a guy called Larry who had been on my buses for a while but had never really spoken to him; he is doing accountancy in September so chatted about that for a while. Our driver was Manama who I didn't think much of and in typical fashion he was twenty minutes late. We drove for a couple of hours to the coastline south of the Kaikoura peninsula and the last bit of the drive was just around the coast looking out to sea and I ended up seeing dolphins jumping out the water in the distance; a nice welcome. We quickly stopped at the lookout in the middle of the peninsula and checked into the Top Spot hostel, had lunch then walked into town with a Scottish girl who was doing whale watching with me (she was very excited as she was going home in two days after over 14 months away). I checked in then at 1.45 we had a briefing and got on the bus for a ten minute drive to the other side of the peninsula to the whale watching boat Tahora. The whole thing was obviously very touristy and not what I had been used to but didn't mind too much. The Maori crew took us out the harbour and sped past into the ocean at over 28 knots and looking at a big screen in the middle you could see there is a deep canyon just off sure (is why there is so much marine life here including the whales). Not to long into the trip and we had our first encounter with a sperm whale; was my first viewing of a whale ever so was very happy. We stopped to the side of the 18 metre long Tiaki (is the local sperm whale having been here 16 years) and watched him for a few minutes as he constantly blew water out his blow hole before he took one last breath, arched his back and dived down to the depths with the classic tail in the air. We sat back down for a few minutes till we located a transient sperm whale (just passing through) lying on the surface gaining air; about 5 minutes later he too dived down magnificently. We spotted a massive wandering albatross sitting on the surface after a feed then slowly moved back to land using a clicker to find out if Tiaki was coming back to the surface again so could stand out on deck the whole time. He appeared to the right of the boat and we got really close to him and just watched the graceful whale with the mountains in the background so got a great picture when he finally dived (just amazing to watch). That was the last whale we would see so sped towards land where we encountered a huge pod of dusky dolphins who surrounded the boat, swimming through the water and doing various acrobatics all around us. This went on for a number of minutes due to the size of the pod then to finish the trip we quickly looked at some NZ fur seals lazing about on some rocks. The trip was totally worth the money I paid and such a great time I would do it again any day just to see the sperm whale. Back at the hostel me and Larry went into town for some delicious and cheap fish and chips then after watching some TV a lot of us walked to the Adelphi pub for a drink then the quiz night. My team consisted of just me and Larry but we ended up coming 5th out of 14 teams (half the teams were local as well) and having a lot of fun; my geography and history knowledge as well as my pool skills were key (one of the rounds was killer pool). Soon after it finished I walked back and went to bed.

The day after started with virtually everyone leaving at 9am to get on the Kiwi bus to go north up the coast. I had breakfast then packed my bag and started my walk to the seal colony which took about 50 minutes along the coast road east to the end of the peninsula. I saw seals the moment I reached the car park as they were just lying about everywhere and you could get within a few metres of them to get a good view of the wonderful creatures. I saw a group moving about on the rock so watched them for a few minutes then headed up to the top of the headland to see the rock platform the colony was spread out on. Back in town I got some chips then met the Inter city bus at 12.30pm for the drive back to Christchurch, arriving on time at 3.15. I checked into a smelly 10 person dorm, spoke to Anaick for a while then after dinner sat in the bar for a while with a couple for drinks watching the State of Origin rugby league game between Queensland and New South Wales; Queensland won 25-18 and it was a very good game. I had an early start so was in bed shortly after midnight.

Yesterday I got up to my alarm at the insane time of 5.20am, had a shower and spoke to Tom on the phone then walked to the Bard on Avon pub to watch the Champions League Final match between Liverpool and AC Milan. The atmosphere was great and it was packed int here as it was the only pub in the city to be open. Unfortunately we lost so wasn't too happy and neither was my Dad who I spoke to on the phone afterwards- he was watching it in Berlin. I spent 4 hours on the internet in the hostel doing loads of photos for you guys to look at then walked around the city for a while looking in chops and soaking in the very British nature of the place. I got food from the supermarket and cooked a not so tasty pizza bread before watching TV for a few hours and finishing off this blog (you guys better appreciate all the time and money I put into this.haha).?Well there you have a fully up-to-date blog.

I leave here in a couple of days to fly back to Auckland then a week Monday I fly out to Vancouver to start my North America part of this trip (will also be two-thirds of my way through my trip) so will do a blog when I am there in about ten days or so as I ain't really likely to be doing too much before then.

Speak to you soon

Ant