Ok....................so we headed off from Franz Josef to a little town called Wanaka which is about an hour north of Queenstown and absolutely beautiful. Good for skydiving - or so we were told! We picked out a nice little hostel which overlooked the lake and settled in.

That evening we nipped to the local Shooters for a couple of beers and then had a bite to eat at Subway, we are living the high life for sure!!!! Got back to the hostel and due to the severe lack of tv, we had a nice game of scrabble and then we decided it would be great fun to start a 1000 piece puzzle (crazy) - well this saw us up at 1am trying to finish the b****** thing!!! good one!!!

Up and out the next morning and off down to Queenstown. Well Papa Ainsley really pulled out all the stops and booked us into a lush hotel on the lake front with big double bed each, sky tv and big fluffy bathrobes!!! oh yeah -?a backpackers dream!!!! Queenstown is absolutely gorgeous and surrounded by snowy mountains and has a real cool vibe to it. We spent the afternoon exploring and went up the gondola and got some great views of the town.? That night (Thu) we took full advantage of our posh surroundings and got a big KFC and ate it in bed!!!

Next day John and Luce went to get some souvenirs to take home and then we drove across to Glenorchy which was really pretty and saw some of the places that they filmed for Lord of the Rings. Had?beer o'clock?and then headed back to the hotel for an afternoon nap!

In the evening we got all dollied up and went for a really nice meal at Winnies and a few bottles of wine later we surprised John and took him to Minus 5 degrees as a treat. Not sure if any of you have ever been to one but it is basically a bar where everthing including the glasses are made out of ice and you have to get all wrapped up to go in.? You can only stay in half an hour coz its so chilly but we loved it and had a couple of vodka cocktails before hitting the sack!!!

Up next morning and time for Daddy Ainsley to head back home!!! Before leaving however he surprised us with another 2 nights in the hotel and the car for a few more days so we didnt have to move into a hostel!!!!!!!!!!! woo hoo!!!!!.......................yet! Dropped him at the airport which was v sad but it was so nice to see him.

The next 2 days pretty much consisted of us being lazy gits, watching movies, parading around in our bath robes, eating and sleeping! Monday soon arrived and we were thrown back into reality and had to check out and move into a hostel around the corner. We assumed we would be here for the next 7 weeks or so, so got settled in and did a massive food shop.

Well...........next day we hit town with our CVs and ended up having a slight change of plan. We decided we didnt want to do bar/restaurant as we had slogged out guts out at Coyotes for far too long and were completely over it! Most places told us (and every other b*****) that they weren't hiring until mid June when the snow comes so back to the drawing board. We came to the conclusion that we didnt want to stay there and be paying for rent etc.... with no job so had a huge brainwave, resulting in us changing our flights and leaving NZ in a month, then having 2 weeks instead of 9 days in Fiji and then having 7 weeks in the USA and working at Laura's camp for 3 weeks!!!!!!!! The only problem left was how to fill the next 4 weeks????????????? To cut a long story short the next day we were on a bus for 7 hours and up to Christchurch we had a big get together with the guys from work, spent the night at Emily Drivers house and then set off on another bus the next morning for a 2 hour journey to a little seaside town called Akaroa (where we swam with the dolphins and met Brendan Cole's mum!!!!) We have a job at a BEAUTIFUL hostel called Chez La Mer, ran?by an american couple, it??where we are working for accommodation etc......................... It has a lovely garden, open fire, very cosy!

When we say working we mean cleaning for just over an hour a day and covering reception which entails carrying round the phone and checking people in - nothing to strenuous. Not a whole lot to do in the town however we are so happy and are taking the time to chill, read and relax!!!!!!!!!!! Think we will be very content here for the next 3 weeks until we set off for the last leg of NZ and up to Wellington.

Thats all for now...........love and miss you all lots xxxxxxxxxxxxxx