You always know you're going to have a good weekend away when you get to sit next to a team of ice hockey players on the plane. Well it's probably not happened to many people but Tess and I reckoned it was a good start to the weekend.

Friday

We arrived in Queenstown and headed straight out to explore! Queenstown is like a little European ski village with loads of shops, cafes, bars and restaurants but you can walk from one side of the "city" to the other in about 5 minutes! So there's a lot crammed into a small space. Surrounding the town are loads of mountains and the town overlooks a massive lake. It really is quite something.

Friday was Bungy day. Tess decided she'd come out to the bungy for the ride and to watch and on the bus I was starting to get a bit of a racing heart. I decided to do the Kawarau bridge bungy - the world's first ever bungy standing at 43m high above a river. The moment I stepped onto the bridge, I started to feel a bit wobbly but with a few deep breaths I walked over to where the ledge is. I got my harness on and then had to wait a few minutes until it was my turn. I'm not sure if it was comforting or not to watch other people. In some respects i was thinking, if they can do it I can, but then also watching them teeter on the edge and seeing the fear in their eyes did make me slightly unsteady. I got my ankles wrapped up and strapped in and shuffled out to the edge of the ledge. The guy there to sort my harness etc out went to Salford uni so we had a nice little chat about Manchester. As soon as I reached the edge, I began to feel really dizzy! Really dizzy!! He shouted 1, 2, 3 but by this point I was still a bit goggley eyed and needed to just sort myself out. I took a few deep breaths and announced that I was ready. 1,2....and I was off. Taking that leap is the most bizarre moment. Your head is just screaming at you not to move and it's so hard to overcome it and take the jump.

I was suddenly falling and it took me a split second to realise that I'd actually done it. AMAZING!! The first bounce brought a bit of relief and confirmed that yes I was attached to the bungy rope and no, I was not going to die. The constant bouncing at the end is probably one of the worst bits about the jump. To get off the rope I had to grab a pole from 2 men in a dingy who dragged me in and detached me and then pulled me to the side. I can't tell you how satisfying it is to have done it!!

So I went back up to the top and got myself my hoody, pics etc and then Tess announced that she was going to do it! Right there and then! The girl who is scared of heights and said she could never do it. So Tess went through the whole getting onto the bridge, waiting around, getting strapped up and going on the edge. She probably spent about 2 seconds on the edge because she said if she looked down, she wouldn't be able to do it. I was so proud watching her do it!

We went to watch an ice hockey match Friday night - Botany Swarm (the lads off the plane) v Southern Stampede (local team). The rink was quite small compared to other ice hockey games I've seen in Canada and England but the atmosphere was just as good! Had a couple of mulled wines to keep my circulation going as it was FREEZING! Botany Swarm won 4-1, obviously because of our excellent cheering and support!

Finally we rounded the night up with a FERGBURGER! This is the most amazing burger I've ever had in my life. We shared a normal cheeseburger and a sweet bambi (deer burger) and they were MASSIVE and tasted amazing!!

Saturday

7am start to go skydiving. Arrived at the skydive place and felt really relaxed. Sat around for a while and then got called through to get kitted up. Jumpsuit, harness, helmet, goggles and gloves. The lesson in skydiving was about 2mins long and basically said "jump out of the plane like a banana" with your legs back behind you. Not like a pineapple - whatever pineapples do!

I jumped out at 16200ft after witnessing stunning views on the way up from the plane. The weather was beautiful too! I didn't feel scared for one second - being strapped to someone probably helps a bit though!

This is simply the best thing I've ever done in my life! If I weren't close to finishing a medical degree, I would do this as a job. You don't get that same falling feeling as with bungying. More like floating above a really powerful fan. When you're free falling you can barely move your face, but once the parachute is realeased you get a gentle descent down. The guy also gave me control so I could spin us round and see different views. I could see for miles - the lakes, the mountains with a fluttering of snow on the top, the city and all the landscape around!

In the afternoon I climbed up the hill to where the gondola (cable car) goes. A pretty steep ascent up 1000m. Again, stunning scenery down from the top looking in the opposite direction to what I'd seen from skydiving. We also had a go on the luge (like a toboggan) at the top which was fun, but an anti-climax after skydiving.

We went out Saturday night with some friends we'd met along the way and the ice hockey team (who had just won their second game 7-4 so were in pretty good spirits). The clubs in NZ are so small compared to at home, but it was packed with lots of other backpackers and I met loads of aussies and brits in there too.

Sunday

This was supposed to be the day we went to Milford Sound...but to cut a long story short, we were given the wrong pick up time by the company and the bus left early so we didn't get to go. So I spent the back in bed (a bit hungover and a lot tired) and then Tess and I just chilled out in the afternoon and I had a delicious ice-cream sat on the waterfront.

Sunday night was pretty chilled out with a pub quiz and then just chatted to people around the hostel.

Monday

Got up and walked up that hill with Tess on Monday morning. I think doing it twice was slightly insane! We got the gondola back down and straight into a cafe for a quick milkshake before heading off to the airport. By the time we got back to Nelson we were both shattered!

All in all a fantastic weekend and one I'll cherish for the rest of my life. If I ever get the chance to go back, I'll be gone in a flash!

Much love xxx