Day 50 Sat 13th May - Up early as only have a few hours to do a quick fire city tour of Christchurch before going to the airport. It was freezing, literally, as winter has just begun, but the sun was out and I knew it would be a lot warmer in OZ. Managed to ride on a tram, go punting, walk through the botanical gardens and main square and visit the highly modern and impressive art gallery, before jumping in a cab and getting on the plane for the short flight [3 h...

Day 49 Friday 12th May Up at 6.45am for the 4 hour bus ride to Greymouth to catch the Trans Alpine train back to Christchurch. Beautiful views of mountains, lakes and trees, especially as had just snowed for the first time this winter the day before. Met some lovely people on board the photo carriage. Paula from Argentina who gave me a great itinerary for visiting Argentina, Gina from England, who gave me a free haircut when we got to her backpacking hostel and ...

Day 48 Thursday 11th May - Rained all night so worried the glacier trip would be cancelled due to rain and poor visibility. After a massive breakfast of rolled oats with fruit and 4 doorstop slices of toast and honey, they certainly know how to feed you here :o), the rain stopped about 7.30am and we flew up by helicopter at 10.30am as planned, wow, great ride with the compulsory steep turns around the mountains. Met some really great people on my trip and the gui...

Day 47 Wed 10th May. Up at 6.3am after not having slept much, as was on such an adrenaline high from yesterday. Everytime I shut my eyes I just visualised jumping off the platform and plunging towards the ground into the darkness :o))))))))) Said goodbye to Queenstown :o( and had a long drive to Fox Glacier arriving at 4pm, but saw some amazing scenery on the way including beautiful waterfalls and trees. Fox Glacier is a very very small town, so from the buzz ...

Day 46 Tues 9th May. You may have heard about the Queenstown 'Awesome Foursome' well I decided to make up my own 'Fab Five' #1 Up at 6.30 for helicopter ride through the canyons. The pilot was crazy as he flew low level in between the rocks and at one point turned and dived so sharply that he turned the helicopter virtually upside down, so a great way to start the day :o) #2 Whitewater rafting [the river was 4 degrees], I was at the front and loving it, especiall...