Just thought i'd let you know i'm still alive and kicking. The working thing totally didn't work out, so i've been travelling to random places with random people and i have to say its been bloody good fun!

So as you know i headed straight to the South island as i had already been to the north a year or so ago. I made my way to the fruit picking capital of the south, Nelson, but turns out no one, including farmers, wants to hire you when you're only in it for a few weeks and without a visa!! Who would've thought?! So i settled into a hostel where i worked for accommodation. I decided if i stayed in that little town any longer though, i would go completely mad, as luck would have it i met a nice Scottish dude, Rick, who had a car and was commencing a 4 day road trip down to Queenstown, so i hitched a lift with him, not really having a clue what i'd do when i got there. And i admit it was an exciting feeling.

We stopped at various points along the way to check out the gorgeous west coast beaches, lakes and mountains. We saw the black sand beaches of Westport , the pancake rocks and seal colony at Punakaiki, stayed a night at Greymouth and then carried on down to Franz Josef, where i was given the opportunity to fly over Mount Cook and the glaciers in a helicopter for a third of the price! Thanks to Rick and 2 others paying the full whammy! It was so amazing being in the air and i seriously thought we were going to crash into the mountains the way the guy was steering it! The glaciers were beautiful and luckily we had beautiful weather to top it off. I experienced some serious ear popping on the way back down though! The next day we trekked up to and around the Franz Josef glacier taking lots of pics on Ricks camera (i really must stop relying on other people for pictures!), making sure Wilson, Ricks giant yellow hand made an appearance. The beautiful Wanaka was next and with the nice weather continuing we trekked up Mount Iron and once at the top we opened our coke bottle filled with cheap chardonnay to celebrate, true wino style. We nearly got shot by farmer joe and his dogs on the way back down though, for trespassing on his land! Whoops. A few hitchhikers later we eventually arrived in Queenstown and went out that night to the Altitude bar where Rick lost his camera and our entire road trip and his whole New Zealand experience was gone, luckily i still had my crappy camera to rely on though. I met some Irish guys the next day, Tommy and Dermot, and went on some walks with them. Somehow that night i managed to get pleasantly drunk without spending a dime, thanks to the free drinks offer at World Bar and the password "Spongebob".

My new plan was to hang around here or there and spend as little as possible, which meant i couldn't do the bungy i'd hoped to or other attractions but i could live with that. My new roomies were a group of Welsh lads and a strange French man on the bunk above me, who had his head hanging down staring at me every time i opened my eyes!! I woke up to a note asking me to email him! I don't know if that was his idea of making an impression but it certainly freaked me out! On St Patricks day the hostel was going crazy. I went out with a group of British students i'd met, we drank beers in the room before heading down to Altitude, where we sang karaoke and danced on the stage to the cheesiest tunes of all time, then finished the night with a hardcore dance session at World Bar. I hopped onto the Kiwi bus the next day, and with 20 other hung-over passengers headed to Christchurch. I spent an entire day exploring the city and other than the cathedral, square and parks, there wasn't all that much to see. I met up with the lovely Andy from Ko Phangan and hung out with him in the city for a few days. Somehow when i was innocently minding my own business in the square, i managed to get roped into assisting the street performer with his tricks and spent an hour of my time running around dancing like a freak and sticking fire torches down a man's throat, in front of hundreds of people! But i'm not going to pretend i didn't enjoy it! And poor old Andy wandered by looking for me and got dragged up too! We decided to go and watch the England v New Zealand cricket match in Napier and spent a few days there. The atmosphere was really good , we sat with the Barmy Army and i now know all the songs and rhymes chanted at cricket games! Despite Andy's frustration at my lack of cricket knowledge, he filled me in enough to know that we were whipping their arses! I'm surprised at how much i enjoyed live sport and my new aim in life is to retire and join the Barmy Army. I even nearly caught a glove that one of the players through into the crowd and if only Andy had taken the camera from me in time i would've got it!!!!!!

Andy left for Australia and i headed back to Wellington where i'll finally meet Nikki. I tested the Welly nightlife last night with my roomies Steve and Philippa, after drinking the famous backpackers beverage 'goon' (extremely cheap wine!) in the room, we headed to Basement Bar and then The Establishment, where i met a group of guys who acted as my bodyguards the whole night, scaring of approaching males and interrogating the ones i chatted to, it was quite amusing and i actually appreciated their help, bless 'em!

It's been an exhilarating journey through New Zealand, not having a plan or itinerary, just taking opportunities as they came along. Not knowing where i'll go or what i'll do has been refreshing, a life i could get used to!