We had to leave our nice chalet in Punakiki and head off in the direction of Franz Josef. We stopped off in Greymouth which really wasn't too exciting but we picked up some new recruits on the bus, 5 more girls which meant we now has 9 girls and 2 boys, pretty ridiculous! We got to Franz Josef and checked into the rainforest retreat which was going to be our home for the next two nights. The hostel had a massive hot tub and we got to mingle with some people from the kiwi experience bus which is one of the rival tour buses but we've met some great new people from there. That night we played bingo for a chance to win a ski pass which sadly none of us managed to get but if was nice to be out as a group after a few quiet nights in together.

The next day was pretty significant for me… I decided to face a massive fear and do a skydive. It was quite early in the morning which I think was ideal as I didn't have to sit and think about it all day! A nice British guy picked me up and I had to sign my life away on the ride over. I decided on 16000 feet which was the highest, thought if I was going to do it I should do it properly… I got suited up and met Francois my tandem instructor who had done over 8000 jumps so I felt a little bit reassured by my decision. The plane up was pretty scary, as you know I'm really not the best flyer especially the higher we went and I had to wear an oxygen mask! The view from the plane was stunning though. The plane door opened and the 5 seconds when you're shuffling to the outside I literally wondered what the hell I was doing but there was nothing I could do about it at that point, I had no choice but to go through with it..

So out the plane we went and I had a 64 second free-fall, which was such an awesome feeling, it didn't feel like you were plummeting to the earth at all which I thought it would, it was more like floating. When he pulled the parachute and I saw the camera man falling below me it hit me how fast we were falling! Once the parachute was open we could have a conversation and Francois said to me 'welcome to my office' and then handed me the parachute controls to steer it. Pretty damn good office if you ask me! The view was so beautiful, the mountains and the coastline all in one, I was glad I picked this spot to do it. We landed and I was on such a high I just kept hugging everyone!!! I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

I got back to the hostel and Kate and Manon had just got up so we drank some tea and decided to go for a hike to the base of the Franz Josef glacier. The walk took a few hours and was pretty cold, so when we finally got there and realised how long it was going to take us to walk back we weren't too happy about it… so decided to be lazy and hitch hike, so a lovely aussie couple picked the three of us up and took us back to the town. Lifesavers!! That night was bus war against the kiwi bus and the game of choice was musical chairs. I'm not going to lie, it got a bit violent at times.. We were hugely outnumbered but Ryan managed to stay in till quite late for the stray team but sadly we were defeated.

Up early the next morning we were all in a bit of a hungover state for our journey to Wanaka, which is a small town outside Queenstown. We stopped off on the way and saw some mirror lakes but the weather wasn't the greatest and neither really was our states after the night before. We headed into Wanaka and went for a wonder around exploring, usually there is snow everywhere but there isn't anywhere that low at the moment.

That night in the bar there was yet another bus war, involving killer pool, twister and musical chairs. We were once again beaten by the kiwi bus but Ryan managed to be victorious in musical chairs this time and this turned into a lot of shots to celebrate. It was fair to say Wanaka was a messy night for the stray bus..

Gollum once again collected a very hungover bus load of people, a sick stop and a fry up stop was needed on the way to Queenstown. We made a few stops including the first ever bungy site in the world, and watched a couple of girls who must have been about 12 jump. We all decided there was no way in hell we would ever do anything like it… this wasn't going to last too long!

We arrived in Queenstown, checked in and headed straight to Fergburger. If you didn't know this place is legendary as the best burgers in the world. I won't lie; it was pretty damn good even if it was the size of my head! We did a bit of exploring and then decided a night out was needed to recover from the night before. With our two new roomies and some of the kiwi bus we headed to world bar, where you get cocktails in teapots. Safe to say a few of these went down well!! Before we knew it we had been to five different bars and were stumbling into the hostel singing Rihanna at about 5am. Queenstown didn't take long to show us how it rolls that was for sure.

After so many late nights and early starts we decided the next day we needed a lie in, and that we did. After festering for a while we headed out in a hungover state and decided we should actually book something productive to do whilst in town. Chloe and I in a completely random decision decided to book a canyon swing as it 'didn't look too bad' for the next day. Seriously I have no idea what possibly made us think this was a good plan!!! Ryan decided if we could do it, so could he, so booked himself in too. We decided a night in was needed, obviously this didn't happen… we ended up gate-crashing the hostels cowboys and Indians bar crawl and once again another late night was on the cards. Seriously getting too old for all this!!!

So the morning arrived and Chloe, Ryan and I were in a bit of a sweat about what was coming. We headed up to the canyon and Chloe and I decided to do a tandem jump as there was no way I think we could have done it on our own. The canyon swing is a bit like a bungy jump, except once you reach the bottom you swing the whole way through a canyon. The three options for a tandem jump were jumping forwards, backwards or gimp goes to Hollywood, which is where they hang you upside down and let you go. Even though this had the scariest rating of them all we decided it would be the best option as it wouldn't involve us having to make the decision to actually jump. Again I have NO idea why we thought this was a good idea. We were the penultimate jumpers from our group and by the time we got to the platform we were terrified… the guys who worked there were winding us up saying they'd put on the wrong cables and just making us more and more scared. Did not help! We got winched out and when they turned us upside down I think that was the most scared I'd ever felt in my life, hanging upside down over a canyon!!! Was TERRIFYING!! The moment they let go and you plummet towards the earth, I can safely say I'd be happy not to do that again! Once we were back to being upright and swinging it was actually quite enjoyable but we were both shaking!! Once again I've got some good photos from this… Ryan was mental and went twice!!!

So now I'm back at the hostel and actually having a night in for once which I'm very excited about! I might have extended how long I'm in Queenstown for so who knows what else I'm in for…

Hope all is going good at home, miss you all!!! Keep me updated on what you are all up too!!

Lovelovelove xxx