Hi everyone thought I hadn't written an email for a while and as I happen to have a free afternoon this would be the perfect opportunity. Well last time I wrote I was in Oz and on my way to NZ. New Zealand is an amazing country the people are so friendly and a little crazy. There are so many things to do and I've tried so far to do them all. Ok so to start with we landed in Auckland in the north Island and headed up to the top of the North Island and the bay of Islands which is absolutely beautiful. We went to where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meet which is quite cool. We went sand boarding again which was even better than last time seriously fast!!On our free day we went in a Waka (a Mauri kayak) for a paddle around all the islands. It was really cool. We dived off the boat to collect mussels off the rocks which our guide then cooked for us 2 mins later on one of the islands. He also made a bracelet for us out of reeds and shells which according to mauris is supposed to protect us on our travels (all good).From the top we headed back down to Auckland and over to Mercury Bay which was a really cute little town. This is where we started to make friends with all the people on our bus. The whole way from Auckland down to Queenstown where we are now I've been travelling with an awesome group there are now 13 of us in total mostly English with 2 Canadians and a Dutch but they are all so much fun and we all get on really well.From Mercury bay we headed down to Rotarua which is the geothermic capital of NZ and you could smell it as soon as we arrived. We went luging here with is like tobogganing but on concrete which was seriously good fun. Then in the evening we went to a mauri village and were welcomed into the village and given a show and a traditional mauri hangi (a meal cooked in the ground) which was so delicious and being backpackers we really made the most of it!! The show was brilliant they did a haka for us and there was other singing and dancing. It got very emotional towards the end as one of the tribe had been killed in a road accident that very day and they wanted to dedicate the last song to this person which was really beautiful.The next day we headed over to the Gizahs which is where all the geothermic activity happens. There was boiling mud and water spurting out of the ground all over the place very cool. We were also taught a mauri dance here which we weren't very good at and just beat each other up with the balls that we were given to dance with.From Rotarua we headed to Waitomo which literally means water hole. This is where we tried our hand at black water rafting. This is where you go inside caves with rivers inside them with an inner tube and float down the caves in the dark. It was so much fun but freezing cold even in full wetsuits. In these caves is where thousands of glowworms can be found as well so whilst we were floating down the rivers it was like staring up at the sky with thousands of twinkling stars.Next stop on our big green bus was Taupo which is pretty much sky dive capital of NZ. Unfortunately for us we had 3 days of really cloudy weather which meant we couldn't jump at all. We did manage to get up to the hot springs which were really cool. Apparently the river is warmed up in Rotarua and the water flows all the way to Taupo where it comes out in this little stream which flows into this huge river. The water was boiling I had to keep getting out it was like being in a really hot bath really strange. Unfortunately the bad weather meant that our friends couldn't go and do their shark dive either however that worked out to be the best thing that could happen as we have travelled the whole way down together now. From Taupo we carried on down to a place called river valley which was a gorgeous little ranch next to the river. We had 2 glorious days of sunshine jumping of rocks into the river and just generally relaxing.From the quietness of river valley we moved on to Wellington for a very fleeting visit. We arrived in the capital at 6pm and left at 7am the next morning. We caught the ferry across from the north to the south island. The trip takes 3hours!! longer than the English channel. Our first stop in the south island was a place called nelson which is next to Abel Nelson national park. We went for an amazing walk through the park on our second day and saw some beautiful beaches and loads of seals and things.Unfortunately this is where me and gem stopped travelling together as she is heading back home and I am carrying on with the original plans. After 2 beautifully sunny days in Nelson the weather changed for us as we headed down to Westport somewhere I would really not recommend to anyone. We went on a jet boat down the river which was pretty cool and ended up getting soaking wet which was even cooler but the town itself was like something time forgot!. Me and my friend Zoe ended up having to pay full price to have 1 bed between the 2 of us as there weren't enough spaces in the hostel and then it ended up raining all night and carrying on in to the next day when we were supposed to be going on a horse ride which never happened.However the weather couldn't dampen our spirits as we headed down to a place called Lake Mahinapua. We never actually got to see the lake as the pub the bus stays at throws a huge fancy dress party every night which happened to coincide with my friend Zoes bday as well. It was a bin bag party so we all made outfits out of bin bags it was so much fun and everyone seemed to have a really good night. The following day all feeling a little worse for wear we headed down to Franz Josef and to the glassier. We did our hike up the glassier the following day which was just stunning walking on the ice was really difficult even in all the gear the company gave us. Surprisingly its not that cold on a glassier we all walked up in shorts and even stripped off to just t-shirts at some points. The views were just spectacular with huge mountains surrounding this giant ice block and a clear blue sky to top it off.The next morning the good weather continued and I managed to do my sky dive over the fox glassier. What a feeling jumping from 12000m we free falled for 45secs reaching 1200kpm which is terminal velocity apparently. It was a tandem sky dive which meant I had an instructor strapped to the back of me thank goodness because there was no way I could have dangled myself out of the plane that high up but we were in and then out of the plane in 2 secs. It went in a blink of an eye and then the parachute opened and we started our doom rolls with my friend dee how had jumped just before me. She ended up walking on my parachute as well which was cool. The floating down lasted about 10mins but with such spectacular scenery I could have stayed up there forever. The feeling of just floating down is so amazing. I've got the bug now and have only just stopped smiling from it. From the skydive we drove through the most amazing scenery down to a place called Wanaka which has another huge lake and is surrounded by mountains. The landscape in NZ has to be seen to be believed its all so beautiful. We left Wanaka this morning and headed to the adventure capital of the world Queenstown! I left Wanaka adament that there was no chance every I would do such a stupid thing as a bungee jump who in their right mind would want to through themselves off a bridge tide to some elastic not me!!. Well I must have some seriously good negotiators as friends. The bus dropped us off at the original bungee bridge where the first ever commercial bungees were done so that everyone could pay for their jump off the Nevis (the 143m bungy jump). I was standing around waiting for everyone to finish paying and watching some other people jump off the bridge which is 43m and started thing that actual looks quite good fun. and before I knew it me and my friend landon were booked up and paid for a tandem bungy off the bridge ahh. I was so scared but it was amazing we did it over a big river and just went for it. The bouncing up and down after was wicked fun!!So now I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Queenstown wanting to phone home to break the news to mum that I have done a bungy but I cant as its 3am over with you!! so this will have to do,.Ok that is definitely enough rambling from me. I'm in NZ fro about another 10 days and then flying off to Singapore my first bit of solo travelling which I really looking forward to .Speak to you all soon.Loads of loveJo