** WARNING_THIS BLOG CONTAINS BUNGY JUMPING!!!!!**

Hey everyone!

Again, sorry for the delay in writing- as you have probably guessed it's been a pretty manic week and a half! When I last wrote I had just finished my East As pass and so when Mali and I got back to Taupo we had a spare day to chill out! Luckily we were in a lush hostel which had a quiet tv room so we enjoyed catching up on some films! Also bumped into a couple in the post office that I met in Surfers Paradise over 2 months ago! They were almost at the end of their trip and just happened to pop in to send things home! It really is a small world!

So Wednesday, we jumped back on the big green bus and met our new driver Lauren who was awesome! Unfortunately it was a completely full bus so no lounging around and having two seats to spread out over (not easily when you have a day bag plus food bags!!)! We headed out of Taupo and stopped in the Tongariro National Park! Here we did a short walk down to a waterfall which was apparently used in the Lord of the Rings films!! Have to admit, they would have had plenty to choose from as everywhere you go in NZ has waterfalls! Anyway, we soon headed down to our overnight stop at River Valley which is basically in the middle of nowhere! We arrived at a beautiful lodge set next to a river and inside, there was a huge log fire in the middle of the room with sofas, tables, small bar and kitchen! We sorted out our rooms and got introduced to the strangest dorm room that we had seen! Basically on one side of the wall was a continuous bunk bed running from one end to the other! On it were 8 small mattresses and 8 pillows, and that was it! In the evening, we all headed down to the communal room to have a massive roast dinner made for us! We had roast chicken, potatoes, pumpkin, cabbage, peas, green beans and stuffing and there was soooooo much food for us all!! Attempted to get a reasonably early night but due to the dorm situation, it wasn't the best nights sleep!!

It was an early start the next morning as we were heading off to do some white water rafting! The river we rafted on was a grade 5 river (I did grade 4 in Oz)! We got changed into some super sexy wetsuits with thermals etc and got a mini bus up to where we started the rafting! We got into our groups and Mali and I were put with Ants as our guide!! We soon headed down onto the river and headed through the rapids!! We spent about 2/3 hours on the river and had some wicked rapids!! Some were a bit dodgy so we had to climb out the boat and clamber over the rocks at the side!! Luckily none of us fell out for the whole trip!! We finished the rafting right outside the lodge and were very grateful for the hot showers!! We didn't have much time before we were back on the bus and heading down to Wellington!! Unfortunately we didn't get to see much of Wellington as we didn't arrive until about 7pm!! However, Mali and I did manage to get an upgrade to a twin room as they messed up our bookings, which was a bargain!!

It was another early start on Friday, ready to catch the first boat across to the South Island! The crossing was a bit rough but not too bad!! Managed to sleep for pretty much most of the trip, which took about 3 hours!! We had left Lauren in Wellington so when we got to the other side, we were picked up by another driver, Toddy!! He took us the short distance to Nelson, where we checked into a really cute little hostel called Paradiso! It had a hot tub, swimming pool, free breakfast and soup for dinner!! After a quick trip into town to sort out a walk for the next day, we had a chilled out evening! Mali and I were in a 4 bed dorm with a couple of guys from our bus so we spent the evening watching films in the room together!

On Saturday, Mali and I got picked up early to head out to the Abel Tasman National Park! It was about an hour journey so we managed to get a bit of sleep on the bus! Once there, we checked in for our walk and waited for the Water Taxi! The check in place was about 400m away from the beach, but we all got on the boat at the check in place and got towed down to the beach!! We headed out on the water taxi and saw the Split Apple Rock before heading into the National Park!! We got dropped off at a small beach and had a 14km walk back to the check in place!! It was a beautiful walk along the coast with not too many hills involved and passed a ridiculous amount of waterfalls! We were really luckily with the weather and only got a very short rain spell when we were finishing lunch! We managed to get back to the check in place with a couple of hours to wait before we got the bus back into Nelson, so we were slightly cheeky and asked to go back on the boat to picked up some of the others!! The boat driver was really nice and showed us the seal colony just off the mainland and told us a bit about some of the different bays that we stopped at! Once we were back at the hostel, we had a chilled out evening with one of the guys in our room, as the other had left!

We got picked up on Sunday by another new driver, Briggsy, and headed to a beautiful lake in the Nelson Lakes National Park! It was a 25min walk to get to the lake but the walk was so worth it once we got there! There was a jetty which faced out over the lake and onto the mountains!! A few crazy people jumped in the lake, but I decided against it as a) it was freezing and b) there were a horrible group of eels under the jetty!!! Later in the afternoon we had another stop at a small café which did the most amazing ice cream!! We soon arrived at our overnight stop in Westport and checked into a small hostel called Bazils!! It was really cute with a lounge full of bean bags and sofas with a log fire!! Needless to say, the evening was spent curled up in the lounge watching plenty of films!! The boys had chosen the first couple but decided to head out for a beer run so us girls had the chance to get Bridget Jones on!!

It was a bit of a lie-in on Monday as we didn't leave until 9am, well that was when we were due to leave but unfortunately some people hadn't washed up so a group of us had to do that, plus we had 3 new people who were oblivious to the fact that 30 of us were checking out while they sat and had breakfast so we had to wait another 20 mins for them to sort themselves out! Finally we were on the road and headed to Tauranga Bay to see a seal colony!! Then we stopped at a place called Pancake Rocks and we got to see some awesome rock formations and even some blowholes!! Then it was onto Greymouth and time to prepare for our night out tonight! The place we stop at is called Poo Pub and it is only used by the Kiwi Bus! Each bus that goes there has a fancy dress theme and ours was ABC- anything but clothes! We had a 2 hour stop in a town which had a huge Warehouse (equivalent to Wilkinsons/Matalan) and some $2 shops!! I decided to get a couple of rolls of duck tape and make a shirt and top out of them!! Once we were at the hostel, everyone started organising our outfits!! After an amazing steak dinner made by the owner of the pub, Les, a 87 year old guy, we started getting changed and by 8pm all of us were in the bar with some awesome outfits!! Some people had used shower curtains, sleeping bags, their backpacks, towels, leaves, bin bags, cling film, etc!! It was a wicked night in the pub, made even better by the fact that the music was from a duke box which we got to choose!!

Safe to say there were a few sore heads the next morning as most of us didn't get much more than a few hours sleep!! We stopped at a little museum/café place shortly after we left but most of just opted for the full breakfast option!! It was then onto the beautiful Franz Josef!! We checked into my favourite hostel by far, although it did help that some of us got a slight upgrade as we had literally 5 minutes before we were heading out to kayak!! We got put in a beautiful wooden lodge with ensuite and the hot tub (that holds 27 people) literally right outside our window!! I was in a room with Mali, Lucy, Dominik and Michiel! We had a very quick change before we got picked up by Greg, aka Grisly Bear, who was our guide for the kayaking! We soon got out on the water and realised Michiel was in the Dutch national team for kayak polo!! The lake we kayaked on was lovely although at 3km across it was hard work on the arms!! We kayaked straight across the lake and then headed down a small estuary! In this lake, and many of the others around Franz Josef, there are some nutrients from the surrounding trees which make the water very black! Although this doesn't sound great, it actually means that when the water is completely still, it gives a perfect mirror image! We stopped a little way up the estuary and Greg showed us some natural foods, such as the pond weed, which just tasted like salad and also a chilli plant, which was pretty hot on the tongue!! We then headed back the way we came but a few minutes apart so we could all get the mirror image from the still water!! Then it was time for the dread stretch back across the lake to the bus!! Luckily on our way back the wind was behind us, but it didn't help that much!! Once we were back at the hostel, we all jumped into the hot tub!! It was pretty full when we got in but it soon emptied so we could enjoy the relaxation!! In the evening, we headed to the bar to hear the winner of the fancy dress competition from the Poo Pub and have some food!! It was only meant to be a quiet night, but got a bit carried away and ended up being some of the last ones in the bar with our driver!!
So the next morning was slightly interesting as I wasn't feeling my best!! However, I was soon feeling my normal self as we were going on the glacier hike!! We got kitted out at the check in place with jackets, trousers, boots and crampons then had a short drive to the base of the glacier! Unfortunately we had a 3km walk to get to the actual ice but the way the valley has formed it makes it look a lot less!! Once we were there though we strapped on our crampons and headed up the ice!! We had a great guide Simon, who took us up another 3km through some awesome ice caves!! All the guides carried pick axes as they had to make the steps for us as we go!! The glacier moves so often that what they have carved out before isn't always still there!! Unfortunately the weather wasn't great so we didn't have the best views from the top of the glacier but it was still amazing to see!! Again once we jumped into the hot tub once we were back!! This time however we got a bit of time when it was just 4 of us!! Went down to the bar again this evening to watch the State of Origin game!! I managed to get a free drink for changing into my Queensland shirt (cheers Dad!!) but unfortunately we lost the game!! I did however end up winning a 2 for 1 skydive over Franz Josef but as we had to leave early the next morning, I couldn't use it!!

So another early start, to head down to Wanaka!! It wasn't long before we stopped at Lake Mathieson which is another black lake but has some even better mountains around it so the reflections were amazing!! We had a 45min walk around the lake and then enjoyed breakfast with a beautiful view of the mountains!! The views just got better as well on the bus as we were driving into Wanaka!! Only downside was the lack of snow which meant the lack of open ski resorts!! Once we got to Wanaka, we caught up with James, Geert and Andy who we had met earlier on the buses, and met two girls, Laura and Jenny!!! We went for a walk around the town, but it's pretty small so didn't take too long!! There is a really cute cinema there though, which has sofas instead of chairs so in the evening a group of us went to watch Pirates of the Carribean 4- very funny!! And so nice to be comfy in a cinema!!
Friday meant one thing- hello Queenstown!! Safe to say, we were all pretty excited to get there!! Our main stop for the day was just outside Wanaka to Puzzle World!! It's a small place full of illusions and a huge maze!! We managed to get to all 4 corners of the maze however, we were with Michiel who is 2m tall and could see over the fences!! We arrived just outside Queenstown about 12pm and popped into the AJ Hackett Bungy place to watch a short dvd of the history of bungy!! To be honest, I wish I hadn't watched it as it just made me more nervous!! However, as from my group of friends only Michiel was doing it, I decided to do my bungy jump that afternoon! We also managed to persuade Andy, Jen and Laura to do it as well! The downside to this was that because there were so many of us, they changed our jump time to 1pm which gave us 20mins to check in and be ready!! We got a bus up to the bungy place and got harnessed up! We then got a cart halfway across the canyon to the ledge for the jump!! I was jumping third after the boys and they both loved it, however when I started to walk to the edge I started to panic and wasn't sure if I could do it! My big mistake is that I kept looking down!! But, the guys were brilliant and gave me the countdown and after a couple of waves of my arms I jumped!! It's the scariest thing I have ever done but by far the most amazing!! You don't feel a huge jolt at the bottom and after the second bounce you pull a cord to be sat up!! Infact, it was so good that when I got back up, I did another one!! In the video you can hear me ask to do another one before I'm even standing on the platform again!! The second one was even better because I knew what to expect!! This time however, instead of diving out, I dove down with my hands behind my back!! It was awesome and I got to build up more speed and get further down!! It was absolutely brilliant and I was gutted to leave!! Me and Michiel then headed back to our hostel, which is more like an apartment, full of adrenaline!! One of the other boys, Dominik, cooked us all dinner and we all headed out for a brilliant night out in Queenstown!! I also got to catch up with Bexx who is still here!!

Yesterday was spent recovering by heading down to a place called Fergburger!! They do the most amazing burgers which are huge!! I could hardly finish mine and felt so ill once I did!! But it was worth it!! After a lazy afternoon wandering around town and watching a local rugby match (we had met some of the visiting team the night before) we got ready for another night out!! Yet again, we had a brilliant night, with all of our new little family staying together and Lucy almost winning a limbo competition!!

Well that's about it for now!! Relaxing today but Lucy and I are currently cooking a roast for everyone, although we have been told to boil the meat that we brought so will let you know how it goes!!

Sending lots of Nevis Bungy love

xxxx