Hello once more...this time from Christchurch. Yipykaiyay, that's right, we have arrived at our final destination in New Zealand, and are preparing ourselves for the handing over of Brains on Friday 12th, and then our flight to Sydney on Sunday 14th. However, we're not going without a bang. Heeeeeellllll no. So last time I updated was in Queenstown last Saturday, and I'd just booked my bungy. Before I go into details about that, you'll all be happy to know that Farida made it back with the van without too many problems - she didn't get arrested trying to use my bank card or anything, mainly because I even had that too. Fortunately there was enought petrol in the tank though. Lucky girl. Saturday night was a bit of a large one with a couple of Scottish guys we met, Vish and Deep (cool name), who were booked onto the Nevis for the Sunday morning - I think the rum and cokes we consumed were imbibed in an attempt to forget what they were going to be doing in 12...11....10 hours time. But enough of that... Queenstown is a wicked little place to go out in, and during the ski season must be absolutely amazing - once again, this is another place I'll have to come back to. On the Sunday morning, having been told first thing by a council worker that it was illegal to camp in residential areas in Queenstown, we moved the van to our first proper campsite, and then went kayaking on Lake Wakatipu for the day. While lacking any rapids or any other kind of excitement, the kayaking was good fun - an idyllic location and paddling off with both paddles, leaving Farida stranded, floating on top of a 1 degree lake was highly amusing. For some of us at least. Sunday night boasted everything closing in Queenstown except one bar hosting a reggae night, so there we toddled before getting an early night so I could get my beauty sleep before the bungy. Oh yes, the bungy. 134m above the Nevis river, the bungy pod was suspended by cables between two cliff faces...to get there involved a half hour journey in a 4x4 up dirt tracks past burned-out cars and ramshackle houses on private land, and then suddenly we were atop the mountain and being strapped into our harnesses before taking the little cablecar out to the centre. In all honesty, there was only one moment when I felt nervous, and that was as the bungy cord was tossed out below me and I felt the jerk around my ankles as they took the weight. Then it was time to dive out and put my trust in the elastic. Which did indeed hold, and after 8.5 seconds of freefall I started bouncing back up. Job's a good'un. It was a fantastic experience, and as Farida and I drove past one of the other bungy sites in Queenstown I was sorely tempted to do that one too (you get a discount if you do them same day), but common sense prevailed when I looked at the old money situation. Still - well worth a go if any of you get the chance... (if it comes down to it though, I'd have to choose a skydive - solo next time :) ) I'll try and post the Picture code for y'all to look at the picture on the website when I'm next online... Okeydokey, bungy done, the F-meister and I decided to head outta Queenstown for Akaroa - a tiny little French town on the east coast, about 80km south-east of Christchurch, where we could go swimming with dolphins. We did so yesterday, and it was absolutely incredible - the dolphins in question were Hector's dolphins, which are peculiar to New Zealand, and that particular strain of the race can only be found around the waters of Akaroa. They're pretty small - smaller than the bottlenosed dolphins we'd seen in Milford, but beautifully coloured with a white stripe and various shades of grey, and one of the only types of dolphin in the world to have a curved dorsal fin. We were boated out of the harbour by our skipper Nigel, and then we floated for a while (in some pretty big swells) waiting for a pod to make a few passes of the boat, showing that they were interested in us. After about 5 or so minutes of waiting, we were lucky enough to attract the attention of a couple of pods, and the four of us (Farida and me, an Aussie dude from Melbourne called James and a slightly more aged woman from the States) jumped into the water in our wet suits, flippers and snorkels. We were then swimming around the dolphins, singing to them (apparently it gets them interested), racing alongside them and generally messing around for the next 40 minutes. The 40 minutes were over far too quickly for Farida, although I have to say that after regurgitating my breakfast and probably some of the previous night's dinner thanks to swallowing a little too much sea water through the snorkel, I was pretty much ready to go. An amazing experience though, and I can't wait for the Great Barrier Reef. I might just have to point out that one of the instances of me swallowing sea water may have been down to my realisation that breathing through the snorkel made me sound a lot like Darth Vader, and my attempts to recreate various scenes of Star Wars with my aquatic friends led to a little slippage on the mouthpiece. Anywho, we can only learn from our mistakes. Right, after 4 and a half hours on this bally machine, I'm about ready for some lunch. Hope you appreciate the photos - I've spared you from many scenic ones, which may be a little hard to believe given the quantity already on there :s Oh yes, one more thing...we will be off, on Friday evening, to see two of the southern hemisphere's best union teams playing in the closing stages of the Super 14s championship...should be a fantastic atmosphere and match, and if any of you are watching it back home, Jon, make sure to keep your eyes peeled for Farida and me at the Crusaders v Brumbies match. Good on ya! Lots of love to all of you, think we're going to go and do some kind of Lord of the Rings tour now...should be good :D Be good. xxx