Ok so since the Sky dive over two weeks ago we have travelled almost the whole length of NZ (well the main parts anyway) We made our way from Taupo to Wellington, New Zealand's capital city, took a ride up the tram and that was as much of Wellington as we could bear! Then we crossed on the ferry to Picton and then caught our Magic bus on to Nelson with Louisa who we'd met on the Magic bus in Auckland. Anyway Nelson is said to be the sunniest place in NZ and luckily it was because the day after we arrived (friday 5th) we had a four hour walk around Abel Tasman to go on. The walk was around a mountain cliff top and we had to first get a boat over to where we were to start and on the way we saw about 10 dolphins diving in and out of the water which was really nice. The views around the walk were stunning too and me and Hayley both said they could rival that of Whitsundays in Oz! Myself, Louisa and Hayley then recovered from our walk with pasta on the way home and weren't long out of bed after that because the next day we were off again heading for the west coast and Greymouth with a nutty lady driver who drove like a maniac and left the microphone on the whole time so we could hear her conversations with other people and the noises she groaned as she tried to get the bus up hills! There wasn't a lot to do in Greymouth except a brewery tour and free beer tasting and so the next day we were off AGAIN and on to Franz Joseph to do a glacier hike along with Louisa, Darren and Jackie. It was a long hour walk just to get the the front of the glacier let alone another hour clambering up it! We had all the appropriate gear though... dodgy looking jacket, waterproof fisherman trousers, trendy walking boots with extra trendy green woollen socks and some metal spikes to be attached to our boots for the climb! We looked fab! The views and endless waterfalls all around us made sure our outfits weren't the focus of the pictures though, thank god! The next day surprisingly we decided not to move on and so lounged around the whole day boring videos from reception because for the first time ever we had a TV and video player in our room! We thought we needed a break from all the adrenaline activities of late! So after our video marathon, we did some laundry - sorry thought you should know that its not ALL fun and games! Anyway back to that... so next stop Queenstown which was even more picturesque than Franz as at the end of EVERY street and turn we faced with huge snow topped mountains, even from our bedroom window we couldn't escape them! From here we travelled to Millford Sound on Thursday 11th for a day trip. We passed through the area by boat marvelling at the many waterfalls pouring down the sides of the mountains as we passed through. After the two hour boat though it was a further four hours drive home! We almost missed the trip altogether mind you because of the dopey woman in the shop arranging for us to be picked up when really we should have been at the store. Luckily a different tour company turned up and took us instead but it meant we weren't with the rest of our Magic tour people! We caught up with them all the next day though in Dunedin a little town modelled on Edinburgh (Louisa was pleased, being Scottish and all) here we just had to visit the Cadbury's factory and got some free chocolate for our trouble too!!! This came in handy for the Saturdays bus ride to Lake Tekapo, which would have been really pretty had the weather not been really crap! Before we left Dunedin though our driver made sure we took a walk up the steepest street in the world! What a walk that was! At Lake Tekapo we had planned to go horse riding round the mountains but, as i said, the weather was crap so it wasn't on so instead we all stayed in and watched Greese! The next day (Sunday 14th) it was on to our final Magic bus stop Christchurch where we had planned to swim with Dolphins on Tuesday, but this time it wasn't the weather that let us down it was the wildlife itself as lucky, (or unlucky depending on which way you look at it) for us there were a family of Orcas (Killer Whales) out that day. Six to be precise! And a baby one! But obviously their presence had scared away any dolphins we might have been able to swim with. The excitement on the boat made the trip worthwhile though as the guides say they see them maybe twice a year and never so many so close. Some came litterally 10 meters from the boat and were slapping their tails and fins onto the water something the guides had not seen in years! There was a film crew with us on the boat too, from National Geographic channel who said they were going to have to change the whole script of the show because of the extra footage they got. We got our money back of course for not being able to actually swim with the dolphins but seeing the Orcas made up for it any way. I got some really good - if a bit wobbely - footage of them if anyone can be bothered to watch any of the 12 hours (we calculated today) of footage I already have!

Anyway we flew back to Aukland today (Thurday 18th Oct) ready for our flight to Fiji on Saturday - cant wait for some beach time! (and time to practice my Spanish - I fly to Santiago in 10 days! Adios Amigos!