Well, an early start out of Kaikoura (including beer for breakfast so as not to carry too many), and a bit of a drive on the old green bus back to Picton to get the lunchtime ferry back up to the north island again. This time the sea was much calmer, so with friends in tow, headed to the bar for a number of jars of beer, arriving several hours later and slightly worse for wear in Wellington. This time, it wasn't raining, yea-ha!! Being Halloween, we spent a good...

Arrived back in lovely Christchurch to find the YHA was full and had to go back to Base. Not happy. Bit of a sleep and down to the post office to send home all the bloody wooden rubbish from Fiji that kept holding me up in customs! Short shopping trip and a most disappointing kinder egg toy later, we holed up in the bar with some asian chick who seemed quite cool if a tad mental. Next day, back on the green bus for the first time in ages for a trip up north to K...

Friday - Another early start to catch a plane to the Cook Islands. Back past the international date line, so might be younger again. A quiet night in the hotel as missed the organised pub crawl round town. b*****. Saturday - Started peeling. A lot. So itchy. Avoided the sun and watched telly. In the evening, sampled the island life night, with as usual, a feast followed by dancing. At least his time there were women involved. Tried the local vegetable called Tau...

We caught a 4.30am flight straight to Nadi on the east coast of Fiji, a shuttle to the hotel and then a much needed shower and shave. The temperature was already about 15 degrees warmer than NZ! Had managed a couple of hours kip on the plane, but new country and all that, so with a second Canadian in toe (you can spot them all a mile off, they have the canadian flag on their rucksacks.. Live with it, you're basically americans!), Cole, we headed into town for a r...

And so another two days in Queenstown. First night was a quiet one as everyone was nackered. Next morning, six of us lads went luging off the hill in the middle of town. Basically speeding downhill on wooden go-karts with no brakes. After the first run, full contact was encouraged for a change by the stewards, even giving us push starts. Itty (Matt) managed to flip his cart completely, and we managed a few interesting poses for the camera... After all that excite...