So having gorged ourselves on chocolate phoebs went home for an early night and i found myself in another irish bar sadly bidding goodbye to the sweedish girls we'd made good friends with and observing the similarities between english and new zealand undergraduates...it seems drink is a crucial part of the curriculum all over the world! A friend of ours from england who we had ended up travelling with us for a bit was shocked to hear his name from the other end of the bar and see a friend from home was here...the world really is a small small place!

Anyway the next day we moved on to Lake Tekapo...words cannot explain how picturesque this place was but i will try anyway as photos are still being as awkward to upload as ever(but the photo for this entry is it)! The Lake itself is an unbelievable turquoise colour apparently because the minerals from the mountains are caught up in melted glaciers and carried down into it. The water reflects the mountains and trees which surround this lake ad on the edge of this oasis of tranquility stands a tiny stone church where apparently a wedding takes place every hour (beautiful as it is i can't say it would be the ideal spot for a wedding as during the day the church itself is often surrounded by coach loads of tourists...predominantly japanese tourists trying to gatecrash the weddings so that they can get photographs of the inside). Our hostel sat on the bank of the lake a little further along in a gap in the trees. Even if the weather had been rubbish i cant imagine this place could possibly look ugly but as it happened the sky remained clear and deep blue all day and into the evening when the stars started to pop out we felt we could have stayed there for ever-it was just so gorgeous! We(our group had shrunk to being just us 2 and the 2 american guys - Shane and Todd but we'd adopted a couple of german girls along the way too) decided that it would be a great spot for a bbq and whilst we preparedcthe salads Shane followed the advice of a local woman in the supermarket and rubbed kiwi fruit into some lamb chops! It felt like we had our own little family as the 6 of us sat looking out at the lake and tuckked into our, slightly green coloured meat and salads. When the temperature dropped we all went inside to watch a film and eat the homemade cookies which had been the german girls contribution to the meal! (It had been more fun to watch them try and make the cookies as they apparently had never cooked anything before and there was a point where the dough resembled glue more than anything edible but the end result was impressive...possibly the best cookies i've ever tasted!just goes to show the type of skills you learn whil ebackpacking but enough about food its making me hungry)

Me n pbs left Lake Tekapo unwillingly the next morning greatly envious of the others who were staying in paradise an extra day! The bus journey was long and sheep filled (i swear the bus driver could win a guiness world record for longest time talking about the lifestyle of a new zealand sheep...however if anyone has any interest in this topic please ask me as after an hour lecture on shearing, grazing and mating i believe myself to be somesort of an expert on the topic...especially if it envolves the emotional damage being a shepherds son brings) but it was sad to know that this would be our last voyage on the magic bus which we had grown rather attached to over the month and we proudly thought of ourslelves as part of the tragic magic crew..an end of an era some might say! We arrived in Christchurch early afternoon and spent the rest of the day exploring the very english looking city and dodging the trams before getting an early night ...we had big plans for the next day!

Today Phoebe was going to fulfill what she said to be her one and only dream, life ambition and what had been her only answer when i had asked what she wanted to do in new zealand...i was pretty excited too! Today we were going to swim with dolpins!!! It was in a place called Akaroa we would be swimming with Hector's dolphins (new zealand dolphin)which have a fin that looks like one of mickey mouses ears instaead of the usual point. After a bit of a struggle we zipped ourselves into the rather sexy looking wetsuits and imagined ourselves to look like cameran diaz and lucy lui from charlies angels - that was until we saw a photo... we were briefed on safety of the animals and asked politely not to drown. Then we were told that we should realise we were ther for the animals entertainment not the other way around and so should pretend we were at a 2 year olds birthday party and had to keep them entertained! Me n Phoebs were obviously the first in when we found an interested pod and preceeded to sing, blow bubbles and click until they decided to come play! suddnely there were dolphins appearing everywhere meters away from my head they would just appear in 2 and 3's it was amazing, some would swim straight towards you before diving under you it was incredible to be so close to such intelligent creatures...who incidentally prefer twinkle twinkle little star to any other nursery rhyme! i understood why phoebe had wnated to do this so much i didn't want to get out (secretly i hoped that flipper would appear and carry me off on his back but sadly this only happens in films - getting sprayed by dolphin spit is almost as exciting though!) a couple of hours later we were called out of the water. i dont think either of us stopped grinning for the remainder of the day!

A little souvineer shopping and a hard decision about whether or not to buy the possum fur socks for phoebes brother later we headed back to christchurch where we were once again joined by todd, shane and the german girls who decided to cook again after their previous success of the cookies..tonight we were treated to panckaes! 2 boxes of goon later(a traditional wine from down under) our last night in new zealand went in a bit of a blur of goodbyes and dancing!

The next day after packing we explored the Botanical Grardens and the markets before Phoebe returned to the hostel and I joined the Dutch couple who were on the same flight as us to sit the night out anywhere free...we ended up watching a rugby game in a bar and heading tortoise like to join the other backpackers/hobos which occupied the floor of the airport departures terminal fro the night!

And that was New Zealand...it had been a whistle stop tour of the most beautiful country I have ever seen. I could have spent another year there..i wanted to spend at least another month! But at the same time I looked forward to Australia. One day i will return to this amazing place but for now it was Kia Ora kiwi land and Gooday oz!