Hey, claire, sarah and I had a fab time on our last night in Franz Josef- we went to a very posh spa and sat in the three different temperature hotpools that they have there, surrounded by tropical rainforest and they had the grey and white glacial boulder rocks in the pools. So so nice! We just got into the hottest pool and the lady came to get me for my massage, I was first, and bless her she led you to the spa holding an umbrella over you (it was raining, still lol, the pools were mostly covered but it was fine- it just turned to steam!). I had the most amazing massage ever, half an hour of the lady sorting out my back- I had plenty of knots and some spasm bits, which she sorted out no problemo. You could even choose what music you wanted to listen to- I chose NZ music :-)

I went bk in the pools with claire while sarah had her massage, then claire had hers and me and sarah chilled out. It was so nice, we really needed it!

After we went bk to our hotel, in the now pouring rain, went straight to the restaurant with its big heaters, and ate there.

Next day we got our bus with Q again, a smaller bus this time as the last one needed to be taken away due to overheating. We went to the town by lake matheson, unfortunately the heavy rain meant we missed the views of the beautiful lake, and we headed up the steep slopes to Haast, for a quick break here and on through the Haast past through the mountains, with a stop to see some waterfalls (one good thing about all the rain- waterfalls appearing everywhere). The mountains were stunning, very misty, and the grey rivers (grey sandy clay rouund here, rock ground up by the glaciers), were bursting and good to watch. There were loads of multicoloured streams too- orange, black, bright green and brown- due to the Tannins washed out of the beech leaves by the rain. It was a really beautiful drive.

We got to Wanaka in good time and we went to see the lake, it was a little cloudy but still so beautiful.

We walked around the shops, explored the town a bit and had a meal in our Base hostel bar, Mint, which is a really nice bar (they had a 6 dollar barbeque). Then we walked across town to see their theatre- so cute, with a really nice cafe where you get freshly baked, hot cookies and take them in with you onto your sofa :-) Us three got a big red sofa at the front, there was even a car in there with two seats init if you liked! We watched Revolutionary Road, with an interval in the middle, and all 3 of us found it a bit sad but really interesting. First time weve sat down and watched a film in a long time!

That evening, after the film, me and claire remembered that our bungi jumping is tomorrow- I wrote our names down for it on the bus to Wanaka, though we werent sure whether we would do the bungi or the canyon swing- Bungi seemed way scarier! I spent a while imagining everything that could go wrong before we went to bed!! The next morning on the bus we were a bit quiet, claire more nervous than me though she had the idea of bungi jumping first, and sarah had her mind made up that she wasnt going to do it. We stopped off at Puzzle World outside Wanaka, a strange and fun place to confuse your mind with slanting rooms, mazes, puzzles, scary holograms and water running uphill, generally wierd stuff like that. Got some funky pictures.

We then drove a very scenic route over the mountains to Queenstown, the first snow has just fallen and it looks amazing. We stopped at the AJ Hackett bridge where the normal, original bungi is done. People were very nervous, everyone hesitated before jumping, but it looked way tame compared to the videos of the Nevis bungi, which is from a cable car suspended over a river canyon, and is about 3 times higher! We went to our Base hostel in queenstown, and then me and claire went to the bungi centre to be taken to Nevis. It was the steepest drive Ive ever seen- the van seemed to go nowhere, and I thought some of the roads in OZ had been steep. When we got there it was very cold but clear. There werent many other people doing it, and no spectatures unlike at the other bungi jump. We were put into like a wish mesh box, see through floor, and went along the cables to the cable car itself. Then we got attached and took it in turns to do our bungis, heaviest first in the group. I was 2nd last, claire before me, and it was AMAZING! We felt ok when we were in the cable car, everyone started to get excited. Claire was nervous but jumped fine, only one in our group hesitated- a guy, who ended up falling off the platform, didnt look nice. When it was my turn I was relaxed, as I got to the edge (little wooden platform you walk out onto) I looked down (not supposed to do that!) and joked 'you have got to be kidding me!' but didnt pause, I went out and did a big leap straight out when he got to the number 3 :-) I was so chuffed with myself, didnt even plan on bungi jumping when I thought of travelling, but so glad I did it! I loved the sensation of falling, and the bungi is so smooth, plus awesome views of the river way below! I saw Karearea birds of prey too in the valley, my fav birds in NZ and there are loads of them around queenstown in the hills and canyons.

After you jumped you bounced a couple of times then pulled on a strap to bring yourself up into a sitting position, and then you were slowly brought back up again after sitting there swinging for a bit. The views were incredible, and when I came up me and claire were so happy that we'd done it! We jumped in our NZ hoodies too lol- we brought them in town just before we had to catch the bus to Nevis. Theyre fab- have stuff like 'watch a maori haka, say sweet as, I reckon and Ay, jump off a bridge, learn the many differences between Kiwis and those australian b******s..' lol, all the things you do in NZ! And when we got bk to queenstown, we took them bk to the shop to get a print of 'sweet as' in big writing on the back, above a person doing a bungi jump. Love it!

Sarah had spent her time doing some shopping while we were gone, and we all went out for a chinese meal and a walk round some shops, then we got bk and ive done my blog before we hit the pillow. Weve got a long day tomoz- going to Milford sound, the Fjordland in the south, and its a good drive there n back plus boat rides when were there, get bk around 8pm hopefully, cus we want to go out tomorrow night. Claire actually leaves the morning after, cannot believe how quick the time has gone! Shes been with us for weeks but its passed so fast! Me and sarah will be staying in queenstown for another day then off to Christchurch, up the east coast, back to the north island and get to see Taupo, Rotorua and auckland again, and then up north to the bay of islands, and then home to england!! Via Thailand for a few days. Hope it doesnt pass too quickly, I love NZ! xxxx