So... we set up camp in Queenstown in the most central campsite we have found so far to where everything's going on! Queenstown is a great little town where everything is in easy walking distance. The only downside was that it wasn't cheap! As a result, we took our tent down, checked out, checked back in and put the tent back up again 3 times while we were there, because we kept thinking we would find somthing cheaper a bit further outside the centre but no such luck. The 6th of feb was probably my favourite day so far; we forgot our poor backpacking state of affairs for one day and spoilt ourselves a little bit. Firstly I did a tandem sky dive! Which was brilliant!! And I wasn't even scared which I realise might be a bit strange but it really was great fun. I jumped from 15,000 ft which was the highest option, I thought if you are going to do it you might as well do it properly! This means I was falling for 65seconds, reaching terminal velocity, before the parachute opened and the paragliding began. The scenery was stunning I couldn't have hoped for anything better! Did a few spins in the sky aswell which were pretty cool!! Later that day we got some refreshments (wine and beer) and took ourselves off to the reggae festival that was going on for Waitangi day (not sure if thats the right spelling). It marks the day that the English signed the treaty with the Mauri's for peace, but it is also Bob Marley's birthday. Everyone was just lying on the grass or dancing by the stage havin a great time it was a brilliant atmosphere! Later on, a little worse for wear, we headed for nourishment...but on the way watched a really funny street act (magician/comedian). The nourishment, well if you can call it that...we had a lovely curry!! :-) Expecting a hngover the next day, but fortunatley we were disappointed..curry must have done the trick! We went white water rafting on the shotover river which wasn't as good as we expected, it was meant to be grade 5 which is the highest you can do without any training. The white water parts were good but the rest of it (which was a looooong time) was just us rowing down the river in beautiful surroundings. Can't complain really but thats not what we paid our money for. We didn't even get thrown out, we did jump out once but that doesn't count! When we eventually left Queenstown I was sad because I liked it there but must move on... we headed to a DOC site; Lake Paringa (West Coast). On the way we stopped off in Arrowtown so we could search for gold in the river... needless to say we were unlucky. Anyway..Lake paringa... was horrible!! Flies were everywhere!! It sounded like rain was pelting down on us all night but really it was the flies bangin against the tent. We were imprisoned in our tent. And worst of all I had the worst craving for chocolate ever!!!!!! Even Liam has been craving chocolate lately and he doesn't even have a sweet tooth. The next DOC wasn't the best either. This time there was a massive wasps nest so there were wasps around our feet wherever we went. i much prefered this to the flies though as we have been bitten to death by the flies whereas the wasps were relatively harmless! This place did give Liam a chance to make a fire again though so he was like a pig in s.h.i.t. lol Next we drove to Kaikoura, where we had our last food shop whilst in New Zealand (really tight on the purse strings now finances are not great considering we have so much further to go). We got up at 5am to go Whale Watching here and it was amazing! We saw 2 sperm whales, 3 sightings but we saw the 2nd one twice. We also saw some hector dolphins and a load of dusky dolphins! It was great expect I was nice and sea sick :-s oh well,it was worth it. We visited a seal colony and saw a few seals, so cute! Whilst in kaikoura we changed our ferry date back to the north island to the 12th Feb. Then we headed to marfells beach (Blenheim) and spent the night there. Next day we drove to Picton and got the ferry over to the north Island,we stayed at upper hutt again for a nice free shower. Next day we did the marathon journey to Taupo to stay at Reids farm again for free. That extra bit of driving on my part took us a day ahead of schedule and made us a nights accommodation richer so I negotiated a chocolate bar out of it for my efforts ;-) . Whilst in Taupo we had a swim in the lake which was very nice indeed. We got a free chocolate heart off a random lady on behalf of taupo council! Wouldn't get that at home lol. We had a very nice valentines day indeed ; chocolate, wine, spag bol and a secluded spot of camping by a river for free. what more could we ask for?! Next day we headed to another DOC; it was only at this point we realised we could've been getting away with saying Liam was a "youth" at 17 and only paying half the price per night. So from here on we started doing this. Better late than never lol. From here we went to The Coromandel Hot Water Beach but we were a bit late for low tide so we decided to stay over near here in Hahei and go the following morning (We also had no bottled water left or power in our ipods so couldn't go back to a DOC). The beach at Hahei was beautiful and we had a lovely moonlit walk along there. Next morning we finally got to experience the Hot water beach it was amazing. we rented our shovel and dug ourselves a spot on the beach and boiling hot water came up. a lot hotter that we had anticipated!! Eventually with a little help from the sea and the people next to us saying we could join our two pools we had ourselves the perfect temperature mineral spring on the beach. Was beautiful. We left the Coromandel and headed back to where we are now; Auckland. We did have to take a detour to Manakau to find a campsite for last night, but now we are back here at BK hostel in the centre, at the end of our tour of New Zealand!! It's been emotional. E noho ra!! (Goodbye in Maori) :-) See you in Australia xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

PS. We took our little sunny back to the rental place today and were pleasantly surprised to find we got a wee refund for our early return so instead of paying $250 in excess for the chips we received $45 for early return. So we are happy chappies :-)