After having a crash course in how to spend copious amounts of money at a breakneck speed in Australia I decided my 10 days here were going to be filled with activities. My old friend thrift seems to have gone missing somewhere - I think he got packed on the wrong plane to Cairns and I've not seen him since. Activity number 1 - throw yourself out of a plane at 12,000 feet and pay to be petrified. Yes I swallowed a promise I made to myself many years ago (not to jump out of a plane), went to the orthapedic section of the local hospital and stole myself a backbone. After inserting the new stronger vertabrae I hoisted myself into a tiny plane and was strapped to someone who I'd met 30 seconds previously. This is not enough time to build a rapport with someone responsible for your life I find. In the end it was all hunky dory and after I stopped shaking an hour after I landed I think I enjoyed it. I think. Activity 2 - Climb Mount Doom in Mordor like conditions. After meeting an English chap called Simon (we actually introduced ourselves to fellow trekkers by saying "We're Simon" at the same time, before realising this was nowhere near as funny as it sounded in the dress rehearsal), we became the only people to climb Mt. Ngaurahoe (sic) aka Mount Doom from Lords of the Rings on that day - due to the fact it was blowing a gale, it was brass monkeys and visibility was down in Mr Magoo territory. Activity 3 - Zorbing. Put yourself in a big spongey ball, throw in a bucket of water for company, and get pushed down a hill. Genius. Activity 4 - Luging. Messner took the podium against some cockney wideboy who was all mouth and no trousers on the luge track. I think the aerodynamic qualities of the full down suit I was wearing may have aided my victory. And so it was time to leave NZ - possibly my favourite country to date on the trip so far (I don't want to commit), and head onwards to another continent. I'll see you there. Transcontinental Messner