I was blown away by the beauty of Wanaka and tasted some lovely home-made ice cream. I thought I was ready for the sights of Queenstown, but the drive over the Crown range was spectaculour, if not a little scary at times .

It was the perfect way to arrive into the place I'd heard so much about and has become so famous due to the plethora of ways you can kill yourself, sorry I meant enjoy yourself with extreme sports.

Sadly I didn't manage to make it to Fergburger as the wait was too long, but I did sample a few lovely restaurants and cafes.

Happy drinking

Saturday I ventured out on a wine tour, we visited 4 wineries and got to sample a fair few glasses.

We started at Gibbston, they've got a nice reisling. We then headed to waitiri creek and they had a really tasty pinot noir. We then moved onto Mt Rosa which is a tiny vineyard, but they have a really good selection of wine, by this time I couldn't quite remember what I liked, sorry. We ended the day at Chard valley.

Thank god we'd drunk quite a lot by then as the road is like something off of world's most dangerous roads, we were all pretty hammered so didn't mind our driver swaying across the road. Anyway I think the wine was nice...

Searching for gold, jet boating and spa relaxation

Sunday I took the advice of James' dad Jim and spent some time in Arrowtown which was made famous by gold miners. It's a lovely little town and has some fab shops and cafes.

The weather was glorious so I took advantage of that and had a wander round the town's historical sights.

I did feel as if I hadn't really done anything extreme so I booked myself onto a jet boat experience over the shotover river. It was great and I kinda wanted to do it again but I'd booked myself into have a spa bath over-looking the river.

Thanks to Nikki for the tip, it was a very relaxing way to spend an hour and what an amazing view!

Doubtful sounds

Up early the next day I headed out on my trip to doubtful sounds which is one of the fijords, it's a slightly less famous and less busy version of milford sounds.

It was absolutely fantastic and our three hour boat cruise also saw us take in dolphins, penguins and a variety of other wildlife including the dastardly sandfly.

It was a cracking trip and one I'd definitely recommend. Thanks to Jim & Katie for talking me into doing one of the sounds.

Geraldine and Christchurch

With only a few days left in NZ I had to make my way back up to Christchurch to fly up to Auckland.

I left Q'town for Geraldine and enjoyed the drive, past various bright blue lakes (you really can't believe the colour of them) and also a great view of Mount Cook from the other side.

I also really liked the quaint little towns I passed through, some with icons (statutes) demonstrating what they're famous for (sheep shearing, gum boots or growing giant fruit & veg).

I've never been somewhere as friendly as Geraldine, which is where I stayed on Tuesday night - plus the pub had good beer and very tasty arancini .

Christchurch was a shock . I've read how the city is being rebuilt and how roads are closed but I don't think I'd really registered the damage that was caused just over two years ago.

I really liked the vibe of the city and the spirit exhibited by everyone to get on with it, I think that really is the NZ spirit.

In fact the shopping centre with lots of nice cafes (including one that serves a mean leek and cheddar tart and potato rosti) is made up of shipping containers, but it works really well.

I'm just doing the final packing before my flight up to Auckland and then onto Fiji tomorrow.

NZ has been a fantastic experience and one I'd defo like to repeat. What an amazing country with some truly tremendous scenery & genuinely friendly people!