Arrived in Christchurch with our new found bessie (Deirdre) in tow to discover a very beautiful man in our room in the form of Joe, the most stunning adonis the world has ever known. After much ogling we headed out in search of a hangover cure in the form of a KFC, Burger King and several whiskeys. Clare retured to the room under the pretence of 'dying', however we were wise to her ogling plans and went in search of our own ogle-fest....we found it in the form of the Holy Grail which played host to the vistorious Crusaders rugby team. Unable to control ourselves we mauled the all blacks captain Richie McCaw....

Hopped onto our first magic bus with the legend that is Karl the bus driver and were distinctly unimpressed to find we had not yet broken the curse that had plagued us all down the east coast as we discovered twas a bus full of girls!! However we were lead to the lovely Trish form Ballymoney and haven't looked back since!! First stop was Kaikoura where we discovered the distinct unattractiveness of seals, this was to be our first of many such encounters....Next day and yet another early start we headed to Nelson for two days. Foolishly signed up for what we thought would be a mere walk in the park but what in fact turned out to be a 13km mountain climb through Abel Tasman NP. Cursed Karl for not informing us what we were getting ourselves into. After much huffing, puffing, almost crying and praying for death we found our inner tramper and hi-hoed our way to safety!

Next stop was Greymouth where we visited the Monteiths brewery with our magic crew and new bus driver Colin, aka Mr. Bean. Cursed ourselves as we boarded the bus at 8am for having not learnt from the Sydney episode....a mere 5 days previous...how soon we forget. A gold panning stop along the way perked us up somewhat, we had high hopes of funding the rest of our trip this way but alas found merely specks of gold. Clare in desperation sneakily tried to pilfer the fruits of Charlene's panning but was caught out, much to her dismay.

Arrived in the beautiful alpine setting of Franz Joseph where we signed our lives away, clearly not in the right frame of mind, signing up for a full day glacier hike and a sky dive! Made our way to the glacier, Indiana Jones stylee, climbing walls, trudging through river beds and sliding down boulders. The actual glacier was an uncompromising she-b**** which refused to yield to our advances. We almost lost Vicky in a giant crev-ass. Plodded along, contemplating setting up home on the glacier or, failing that, commendeering the heli-hike, tossing all the OAPs into the cold, smug b*st*rds!!

Our arrival back to the hostel saw us collapse with exhaustion and a sense of accomplishment. Not a lot of sleep was had that nigth, as the skydive we had been putting off for months loomed ever closer, quite literally scaring the s*** out of us! Having psyched ourselves up, mentally prepared to meet our maker, we were bitterly disappointed to find the dive had been cancelled. We hurriedly tracked down our bus driver to book a dive for the following day over Lake Wanaka enroute to Queenstown.

Due to technical difficulties yet again Charlene was handed yet another 'get out of jail free' card and retreated to a corner sobbing and frantically trying to equalise while Clare, Vicky and Deirdre got suited up in some very fetching attire. Vicky drew the short straw as she was fitted with a dunce cap, missing only a propellor on top. Gleefully found out that hurling oneself out of a plane is actually a delightful experience, despite what our dvds may show, just don't ask us to ever repeat it!

Stu, one of our fave bus drivers, decided it would be Clare, aka Monicas, 21st birthday in order to score our bus free drinks. She was presented with several shots, complete with chili peppers, and a cake in front of everyone, the horror!

Spurred on by the survival of her 3 comrades, Charlene yet again signed her life away...3rd time lucky....and lived to tell the tale! Great success!! Any excuse for a piss up, celebrated survival with another night on the town. 4 days in Queenstown had us sick of the sight of alcohol and all laid up with the flu. Unable to break the habit of a lifetime, another dodgy bus journey ensued, complete with greasy sausage roll eatage....we our beginning to see a pattern emerging!

An overnight stop in Dunedin before heading to Lake Tekapo where Deirdre and Charlene found their inner Torville and Dean, attempting ever more dangerous stunts at the ice rink.

Finished our time in the beautiful south island with a night in Kaikoura and Christchurch before heading to Picton to catch the interislander ferry to the north!