Hi everyone,

I would say sorry it's been so long since my last entry, but i'm not that sorry....i'm on holiday :) wohooo.Here's what i've been up to.....

I flew into Auckland airport on the Saturday before Christmas and spent the Sunday just chilling out with my dorm buddies. Early on the Monday I headed up the road to the Scenic Circle Hotel to join my tour.Initially there were 8 of us - me, Lisa, Jess, Sophie, Michal, Anya, Alex and Thomas (you'll get to hear about these characters later). We headed out of Auckland towards the Bay of Islands stopping along the way to see some Kauri trees which are over 800 years old and at a bakery in Warkworth where Dave (our tour leader) introduced us to the kiwi pie (no it's not made from the kiwi bird or new zealanders!)Our final stop before arriving in Paihia was at the Haruru Falls where we did a walk before lunch.We spent a few hours chilling out in Paihia, getting to know each other, soaking up the sun and indulging in ice creams before getting on our House Boat, `The Rock` which was to be our home for the night.Once on the boat we had a go at some fishing (unsuccessfully) and shooting a fake duck on the back of the boat (also unsuccessfully)!After dinner we headed out to sea on some kayaks to see the glow phosphate things in the water.The next morning we braved the cold sea and attempted some snorkelling and then got a small boat over to an island and walked up to a view point where we could see lots of the islands and even saw some dolphins.After the cruise we headed for our backpackers where a few of us made a big chilli for the group.After dinner we went down to the bar where we participated in a game of bar olympics which involved a limbo competition, musical men, and a game of coin in the bum (don't ask).We won courtesy ofthe limbo skills of myself and the underware model (Alex), and a german woman (Anya) who was quick to drop her trousers in order to procure our victory!!!!

The next morning we headed back to Auckland to pick up a new member of the group.Spookily it was Art who I had met briefly in Vegas back in March (although he didn't remember me!).Our destination for the day was Waitomo but we stopped in Hamilton along the way so we could all buy secret santa gifts in preparation for Christmas Day.Once in Waitomo most of the group headed off for black water rafting while Michal and I went for our cave tour where we saw loads of stallingthingymabobs and millions of glow worms.We had pizza for dinner and a few drinks to finish the day off nicely.We next day we headed off to Roturua stopping along the way at the Arapuni swing bridge (which flows over Nz's longesgt river) and the zorb centre.Once in Roturua Thomas and I headed for the hot pools which are down by the lake side.It was very enjoyable and relaxing apart from the smell of sulphur!In the evening we went to the Mitai cultural evening which was one of the highlights of the trip.We saw a cultural performance which included a Waka and a Haka, went for a walk in the forest to the sacret spring and had a Hungi (food cooked underground for 3 hours).The food was the best i've had since I left home and there was enough to feed an army!In the morning (Christmas Day) we had a guided tour of the Te Puia thermal pools where we saw mud pools and geysers as well as a Maori village.We then headed off to the Huka Falls which are an amazing blue colour and then to the natural hot springs where we sat soaking up the sun while everyone at home froze in the snow!We hit Lake Taupo for lunch and went for a bit of a swim before heading off for our destination of the day - Whakapapa (pronounced f***-a-papa) village in Tongiraro National Park.We stopped at Tawhau Falls which double as Gollum's Pools in the Lord of the Rings films before reaching our backpackers.Our Christmas celebrations began with some jagerbombs - we all cooked together a nice roast dinner and veg lasagne for the veggies in the group.The food turned out to be delicious and we spent the rest of the evening chilling out, drinking and chatting.Knowing that we had a 19 km hike the next day you would have thought we'd have all been in bed early that night but somehow I ended up with 1 hour's sleep and Lisa not much more!

Nevertheless we decided the give the crossing (which heads over a volcano) a go and were suprisingly successful, finishing the walk in under 7 hours and with plenty of energy to spare.The walk was quite an experience though - it was incredibly windy at the top and on the way down it was all loose volcanic ash which meant we spent most the time on our bums until some nice bloke showed us how it was done!Boxing Day evening was inevitably a quite one so we treated ourselves to an Asian buffet and an early night.In the morning we heading for the capital city, Wellington stopping at in Bulls for some ice cream and a look at the funny signs (see photos) along the way.In Wellington we spent a rainy afternoon in the Te Papa museum which is absolutely massive and has loads of interactive things to see and do.In the evening we headed out to Base Bar where a few too many jagerbombs and vodka, lemonade and raspberrys were had!There was an unpleasant early start the next day to catch the ferry across the Cook Straight to the South Island but the views along the way made it slightly more bearable.The ferry ride was followed by a scenic drive past the Marlborough Sounds and lunch on the beach and swimming in a water hole.Some serious napping was done once we had arrived in Nelson before gorging on some bbq food.

The next day we spent the day with the other tour group (who were doing a parallel tour) sailing along the coast of the Abel Tasman National Park.After lunch 6 of us jumped off the boat and did a coastal walk from Torrent Bay to Bark Bay while everyone else fell asleep on the boat!In the morning we headed out of Nelson to Kaikoura where we lost the nice weather.Our whale watching was cancelled so we spent the afternoon around town while the boys made us some margaritas which went very nicely with the mexican feast they cooked up!In the morning a few of the girls went swimming with wild dolphins while the rest of us headed down to the coast where we saw dolphins swimming just off the shore and I got scared s***less by a scaryass seal that crept up on me as if from nowhere!After lunch we did a cliff top walk to the peninsula seal colony before going wine tasting and finally whale watching!Thanks for the sea sickness tablets I slept all the way out to the whales and all the way back but still managed to see 3 sperm whales and loads of dusky dolphins which swam alongside the boat.Once we were back of dry land we headed straight for Christchurch (for New Year's Eve celebrations) having a few drinks along the way!New Year's Eve was a great night - we had some drinks in our hostel before heading to the Base Bar for a few more.Then it was the countdown and fireworks in Cathedral Square and I tried to do Auld Langs Syne with some random guy which was fairly difficult considering I don't really know the tune or the words! I mastered the cross-armed dance though!At 3 we staggered out and Art and I attempted to find the hostel - we had to ask at least 3 different people where it was even after we had found our tour bus parked on the street!Turns out it was right around the corner!

We had a bit of a late start the next morning before heading out of Christchurch.We stopped in Springfield and then headed across Arthur's Pass to the west coast stopping at Castle Hill and Cave Stream for some photo opportunities and walks.We did some food shopping in Greymouth before heading to Punakaki which was a beautiful place on the coast.We had an early dinner and a sunset walk around the blow holes and pancake rocks.Unfortunately the weather turned miserable in the morning for our journey to Franz Josef but we made the best of the weather by stopping at the Bushman Centre in Pukekore (population 3) to watch a film about deer farming and to check out the bushman's toilet among other things!It was quite an interesting place with fake cockroaches in the toilets and little tricks (one of which resulted in me getting a wet head) and funny signs.Thomas especially liked the weather one - i.e. if the stone is wet - rain, if the stone is dry - sunny, if the stone is gone - hurricane! We then drove on down to Franz Josef and as our sky dive was cancelled we attempted one of the local walks called Tartare Tunnels.It was an interesting experience - we walked barefoot through a really long tunnel with ankle deep water only to find the next tunnel was blocked off so we had to walk all the way back through.By this point our feet were hurting so much we all put our shoes back on and ended up with wet trainers for the next few days!After dinner the lads headed out for a few drinks - I followed later on but couldn't find the bar so headed back to bed!Probably a good thing considering the state of Dave the next day and the stories of drunk men falling in bushes in the way home!Unfortunately the weather got really bad over the night and our glacier hike was cancelled leaving us with a free day.We made the best of it with movies and hot pools but it was a big disappointment for everyone.

We headed off in the morning, stopping at the Fox Glacier for a few photos and to give us a chance to see one of the glaciers.On the way to Queenstown we also stopped at Knights Points, the Haast information centre, Makarora and Lake Wanaka.We also stopped for a drink at one of the oldest pubs in New Zealand - the Hotel Cardrona (well I had a drink while everyone else ate cake!).Burgers were on the menu once we reached the backpackers, followed by a couple of drinks in town.It was an early night for most of us though due to the fact we had a sky dive booked the next morning.We headed out to the air field in the morning and were 10 minutes from jumping when the clouds rolled in and all jumps were called off.That afternoon the whole group (apart from Sophie who was crazy enough to dothe Nevis bungy) went jet boating.The trip included a 4 wheel drive experience across Lord of the Rings country to Skipper's Canyon where we donned some sexy raincoats and zipped along the river missing rocks by inches (or so it seemed) and spinning through 360 degree turns!We spent the evening feasting on Sue's (other group's tour guide) roast dinner and chocolate brownies and playing some rowdy games of spoons!

In the morning Lisa and I popped into town in search of some new shorts for Dave who had ripped the previous pair by catching them on his handbrake!We then took the gondola up out of town for some great views of Queenstown and the surrounding area.Lisa made it right to the summit of Ben Loman while Michal and I wimped out half way up and walked right the way back down into Queenstown.The next day we left Queenstown for the night to head into Fiordland National Park stopping at the Mirror Lakes, k*** Flat, Eglington Valley, Holliford Valley, Falls Creek and Monkey CreekWe saw some keas (alpine parrots that are really intelligent and destroy cars' sunroofs and wing mirrors) just before we drove through the Homer Tunnel and the Valley of a Thousand Waterfalls to Milford Sound (which is actually a fjord rather than a sound).We boarded the Milford Wanderer for the night where we were treated to some soup before some crazy people (Sophie and Anya) went for a dip in the icy water!Once they had dried off and warmed up (hairdryer down the jumper worked for Sophie) dinner was served (I was pretty happy as it was cheesecake!) followed by some further games of spoons and a half-hearted attempt at monopoly.In the morning we awoke to blue skies and a fresh layer of snow on the mountain tops which made for some incredible photos as we made our way out to the Tasman sea.We stopped by Sterling Falls where some of the ladies tried to get spray on your face as it is thought to make you look 10 years younger (Sophie and I avoided this as we don't particuarly want to look 13!).Once back on dry land we headed back to Queenstown in the hope of being able to sky dive - unfortunately the weather stopped us once again so we spent the rest of the day wandering around town and gorging on some indian food.

It was an early start the next day for those of us hoping to sky dive.We were disappointed once again due to the bad weather so we headed out of Queenstown for the last time to head for Mount Cook (the highest mountain in New Zealand - 3754 meters).We drove across the Lindispass stopping at Omarama and the Westland Salmon Farm where we fed the fish and watched them jump out of the water.We took a drive and short walk up to the Tasman Glacier which is the longest glacier in New Zealand.Most of the group braved the bad weather to do a long walk while Art, Dave and I made amusing videos for a documentary most of which involved spying on Dirty Uncle (Thomas) talking to Elke.For those of you who know how messy I am you will appreciate the video we took of my bag explosion in the dorm (the bag explosion has now replaced the floordrobe).

Our final day saw us head to Christchurch via Lake Tekapo and the Church of the Good Sheppard where some lesbian proposals were made!We all went to our separate backpackers/hotels once we had reached our destination.A power-nap was followed by a jagerbomb (for the benefit of Dave's documentary) and a Chinese after which we lost Jess who had to fly back to Wellington.I have now temporarily turned my back on the backpacker lifestyle and am living the life of luxury in a hotel for a few nights before I head to San Francisco on Friday!