So here's what we've been up to in the past six weeks - I apologise for the wait!

So…we started to get a tad fed up with Auckland so were happy to be moving on to the Coromandal Peninsua, which consisted of hot water beach, digging pools in the sand to discover hot pools - however we couldn't quite grab the gist of this, as our pools were either freezing or too hot to sit in! So we ended up stealing someone else's pool to sit in for a quick photo and moved on! We also saw some stunning scenery, including cathedral cove, and decided to treat ourselves to some well-deserved fish and chips seeing as we missed the amazing ones up in Cape Reinga due to Faye's little incident, which I have now heard being explained a ridiculous amount of times (you guys know what Faye's like-gives her another story to tell!!! I may just have to record it and just play it to people every time someone asks haaa

Our next stop was Waitomo, which is renowned for its glow worms - we soon learnt that this in fact was the posh name they were given, basically they were maggots and the part that glows in the dark is their s***….so that was good to know!! We went black water rafting here, which involved going down pitch black caves in tubes, falling down waterfalls and admiring these feces of maggots!!

It was then on to Rotorua (you will soon learn that we visit a number of places in a short space of times, I will only mention the exciting parts to save you guys from boredom(or jealousy!). Here, I went luging with a few friends I've met, similar to go-karting but wayyyy more fun! The views from the top of the Gondola were amazing, and zooming down the hills was welcomed by a lazy chair lift ride back up to the top each time!

It was here that was home to our first proper night out in New Zealand!! And it was here I broke my camera…18 days in to the trip…goooooooood! Splashed out on a freeze/shock/dust and waterproof one, so there is no way even I could break this beast! And you will all be pleased to know that we are no longer boring old farts and in fact we have been out on numerous occasions now - mainly due to the fact we have made friends!! There are five of us at present who are travelling together, it's amazing how quickly you become close to people, it literally takes a matter of hours to become besties!

Next stop…Taupo - home to 'apparently' the best Skydive in NZ. So it was here we decided to casually jump out of a plane at 15,000ft. Some would say we were crazy but I can honestly say it is one of the best experiences of my life to date. I was surprisingly calm for this, nerve less and very excited, although my video would tell a complete different story. I got in to the plane last which could only mean one thing - I was up first. My tandem guy was awesome and we chatted the whole way down - after the free fall of course, where I look pretty much dead! Soo pale, ever more than normal ha, but after the initial 's***, I am going to die' I regained colour and loved every second, even more so when the parachute opened and I realised I had infact survived. If it wasn't for the money I would quite happily repeat this experience again in Queenstown - but I'll leave Queenstown for the bungy.

Here we also did the famous hike - The Tongariro Alpine Crossing. 19km of fun, starting at 5.30am, even better! This is home to Mount Doom - for all you Lord of the rings fans, I believed this to be its actual name the whole way until someone informed me it was actually called Mount Ngauruhoe. The views on this walk were incredible.

We cooked our first proper meal 22days in (by proper I mean which involved meat), a spag bowl and you sure appreciate meals more when you have them less often!!

We them moved on to River Valley - the name sums up this place. It was here we went white water rafting, three intense hours of fun and hard work! We rafted down grade 3,4 and 5 rapids, swam down calmer rapids and jumped off high rocks in to the river!

We then saw NZ's capital - Wellington. Well when I say we saw it, we saw a club, the bottom of a toilet, our room, McDonalds, and a few shops. Ha, but it had a lovely feel to it, my favourite city so far! We left the north Island and jumped on the ferry to Picton to discover the so called better Island. The North was pretty amazing to me, so it was hard to imagine how the south could top that.

Stops here included Nelson, Kaiteriteri and Westport. The weather so far has been mixed, more rain than sun, hence the poor situation with the tan friends. In Kaiteriteri we planned to discover Abel Tasman National Park, do a spot of Kayaking but a storm occurred so had to ditch these plans and move on swiftly to avoid the worse of it. It was Westport we did Jet boating, hitting speeds of over 100km per hour, I saw my life flash before me on several occasions, as we were literally cm's from the river edge amongst the rocks - one wrong turn and it was game over. Ha - I think I'm being a little over dramatic but at least I've painted a picture of some sort! Google it if you are still unclear!

Lake Mahinapua was our next destination, literally a lodge in the middle of nowhere with the beach one end and a lake the other. This is where the famous 'poo party' happens. Not sure why this name was given, but basically the driver just thinks of a fancy dress theme, ours was tight and bright, I always avoid this theme in the UK, but there was no getting out of this one. We dressed up and got drunk. That's pretty much how that went.

It was then Franz Josef time, and the weather was on our side so we were able to do the glacier hike up Franz Josef Glacier. It had rained the previous day, to our favour, as the ice was clear and blue, we had been kitted out in gear including crampons, and walked through confined spaces, in little ice caves and saw amazing views from the top. All in all a cracking day! Whilst here, we also experienced 38,39 and 40 degrees hot pools, which is the closest I'll be getting to having a bath on this trip!!

We them moved on to Wanaka, one of my favourite places in New Zealand so far. A beautiful ski resort town (minus the snow this time of year of course), with a lake (as if this is new, pretty much every town in NZ has a lake), and a few lovely shops and bars, a very relaxed place. We went to a cinema which involved lying on sofas and eating warm homemade cookies at half time - perfect! This relaxing time was very much needed before we hit NZ's 'party capital' Queenstown.

So yes, you guessed it, next stop was Queenstown. I'm sure you've all heard a fair bit about this place - but basically to sum it up - you eat a lot of crap food and get drunk and participate in activities which could involve you jumping off a 134m ledge. Oh and apparently people get their nose pierced (haha, sorry Dad, but just think I could have got a tattoo!!)

But before I get into all that, after a night in Queenstown, we went on a little trip to Milford Sound. And of course, it was raining. However, this meant that we saw literally a thousand waterfalls, which can only be seen when it rains, and whilst on the boat trip it cleared up so we were lucky enough to see this beautiful area in the rain and the sun (well, sort of). We also saw a school of dolphins showing off and jumping, which was definitely a highlight, and some posing seals which was a funny sight.

We then headed back to Queenstown for a certain birthday - yes you guessed it my 22nd. This was the first time in my life I got to celebrate my birthday before Jonny's, due to his constant reminders for the previous 21 years about him popping out 16 minutes before me!! So yes, it was a very weird birthday being a million miles away for the twin, tom payne, family and friends, but it is certainly one birthday that I will never forget. It started with the bungy jump. Originally there was six of us girls that had planned to do it, however, on the day everyone bailed and it was just me and Faye standing there. I had wanted to do it from the start, however, Faye was very apprehensive, and I basically, being the lovely friend that I am, forced her to do it with me. She couldn't let me experience this on my birthday on my own!! So at one point she hated me for this, but was very thankful at the end! Jumping off a 134m ledge is actually easier than you may think. It was done in weight order, which of course meant out of our group of 10, I was last and Faye was second from last - and there was nothing we could do about it!! Watching everyone coming back with a smile gave us a glimpse of hope that we were going to survive!! Faye came back alive so it was then my turn. You walk over to what appears to look like a dentist's chair (great, so not only was I about to jump 134m, I was also about to sit in a dentist chair which is a fear everyone has!!), they strap you up to the harness and tie your legs together, you then hobble to the edge, wave to the camera, and before you have time to think or time to poo yourself, its 3-2-1 and boom you have jumped the 134m Nevis Bungy. You literally did feel like you were committing suicide!! Once you reached the bottom you bounced a few times, and on one of these bounces you needed to pull a red strap to ensure that you came up sitting up and not feet first which we witnessed a few girls do. I was adamant that I would enjoy the journey up so I pulled this strap with all the strength I had, and took in all the views on the long way back to the top! An incredible experience, but I was thankful when my feet were back on solid ground. I think the worst part of the experience was the cable car over to the pod - definitely did not feel safe! This jump gave me such a buzz, and I continued this buzz for the rest of my birthday.

Me and the girls did a spot of shopping and then went for a sit down meal, which is a huge treat for travellers, we chose our restaurant wisely and the food was amazing and the wine was even better! It was well deserved!! They had also spoilt me by buying me a cake, a top I had wanted and a new Sudoku book because I have already been through an entire book - Steph Jones I'm a changed woman compared to our Crete holiday! We then all went out in the evening and yes that's about all of my birthday I remember!! I had a perfect day; the sun was shining so I really couldn't have asked for much more. Well of course, that all you guys at home were with me, but you can't have everything! It certainly beats your day Jonny of the gym and uni work! - love you!

Whilst in Queenstown, we had many nights out, experienced a minus 9 degrees ice bar, met up with friends Jess and Ian from home, and my Godmother Jenny's son Matt, bumped into an old school friend out of the blue, climbed up the Gondola route to see amazing views of Queenstown from the top, celebrated St Patricks day, ate a lot of food including the best burger you will ever experience - a fergburger - and a fergpie! I learnt the hard way with the burger, I pulled a Louise Eyles and asked the girl what they would recommend; a single burger or a double, obviously she was going to say double so I found myself with the most enormous burger I have even seen and it definitely defeated me, as I bought it at lunch time and was still trying to finish it at dinner time!

Since being in New Zealand you'll be pleased to hear that I think I have discovered a hangover cure - to start the day with a banana milkshake. Okay, so this has worked on only two occasions but I believe it's a start!

Queenstown is where most people separate, so saying goodbye to all the amazing people we met on the way was difficult to say the least, and being hung-over made it that little bit worse!! Before we knew it, it was just me and Faye again tacking the world.

My time in NZ ended in Christchurch, spending it with my Godmother Jenny's sister Gill. Despite the recent earthquake, C'church still has a lovely atmosphere and we very much enjoyed our time here. Just to add - me and Faye both woke one morning at 4.20am, to a shake, so we believe that we both experienced a mini earthquake, and with the thousands of aftershocks they have been having, this was probably exactly what it was. C'church still had an upbeat atmosphere and it was easy to imagine how beautiful of a city it was beforehand. We were treated like her own by Gill, providing us with proper towels, a double bed, fish and chips, carbonnara, internet, Skype, a powerful shower, wine, a fire, a lovely dog Jesse, (which took an instant liking to Faye, despite her little fear of dogs!!), a washing machine, a proper duvet and pillow - everything a backpacker should experience but doesn't!

This was the end of our New Zealand adventure and what a way to end. This appears to be a very long entry, just over a 2500 word essay as Microsoft word tells me, I wish it had been this easy to write whilst I was still at Uni! Sorry for the long wait for this and the ridiculous length, but you guys know I like to talk, I hope you think it is a good one - stay tuned for the Aussie entry.

(Oh and I hope all is okay with everyone at home, missing you all.)

:)