Hellllooooo!!

Wow haven't written on here in a long time...apologies. Just been so mega busy. After a fantastic end in Australia watching the play at the Opera house (so funny i actually cried with laughter) we flew on over to Christchurch in NZ. Lovely little city...very English actually. Here we spent time in the Botanical gardens, Punting on the river Avon (yes very English) looking round museum and just generally chilling and enjoying some sunshine. We then joined the Kiwi Experience bus...where the madness began.

Our first journey was up to a little place called Kaikoura. Very quite fishing town by a huge trench (only two like it in the world) with an abundance of marine life. Whales, dolphins, seals, albatross etc. So after a nice evening at Topspot hostel i got up at 5am to go swimming in the Ocean with dusky dolphins. The start of one of the best days EVER!!! Despite the sea being so cold i almost had a panic attack we jumped in with snorkels 3 times to be surrounded by over 300 dolphins!!! I cannot explain how amazing this was. For every one on the surface there was 5 more below. Because they were wild we couldn't touch them. But they came so close the brushed against you anyway. They were so playful too. Anybody above water would think we were all lunatics hearing strange noises coming from our snorkels and seeing us swim in circles...but they loved it. They more you spoke/sang to them the more they seemed interested. They would play games like chasing you in circles and racing you if you swam like them. They also did flips!! So an incredible start to the day.

We then jumped on the bus to head over to Nelson...on another beautiful day. Because of the this beautiful weather our driver encouraged us to do a skydive incase we couldn't do it elsewhere. Now, originally the plan was to do it at the end of the trip but the offer was too good (and we are glad now because along the way every other skydive trip got cancelled due to weather!). So literally hours after deciding to do it we arrived in Nelson got driven to Abel Tasman dive centre and before we new it we were jumping out of a plane 13,000ft in the air over Abel Tasman National Park!!! Seriously incredibel...abnd so much better than i thought. An amazing sensation and cus i was little i got a freefall of over 45seconds. I also jumped first and the other jumpers started to catch up so we had a few extra spins to speed up too....crazy!! The view was beautiful, the freefall so fun and everything so easy. I wasn't even scared just so excited! So i am gonna have a struggle to try and top that day.

We stayed in Nelson for a couple of days, out partying in the evenings and chilling on the beach in the day. We then moved on down through Westport, Lake Manahinapua and Franz Josef. On the way doing some jet boating (got very wet), a huge fancy dress party in the old pub run by an 87 year old crazy man and a full day hike up the franz Josef Glacier. Annoyingly this was one of the only days we had rain all day. We got absolutely soaked even though i had on 3 tops, 3 pairs of socks, trousers, water proof trousers and coat, woolly hat and woolly gloves!!! Great fun and hard work that made the views worth it. I even hacked my own ice step!

We also stopped off in Wanaka a cute little ski town for another night out. Then it was on to Queenstown. First day i watched Toya do a bungy jump off a bridge (my opinions of never wanting to do it are starting to change :-s) brilliant. Then in our 4 days there I went luging down a mountain, did a day trip to Milford Sound and then did a wine tour...making me realise the utter rubbish i have been drinking for 3 months yuck. These few days passed so quickly even though it was the longest we had been anywhere for ages. I love Queenstown though. A beautiful setting by a humongous lake, surrounded by mountains. I also ate one of the famous Fernburgers and finished it all...yeh! Then to complete our loop of the South island we stopped off at Christchurch and Kaikora again...giving our bodies and livers a little rest after lots of fun, lots of partying and not much sleep! Everyday was enjoyable. If you managed to stay awake on the bus you are constantly surrounded by beautiful scenery of mountains or ocean or lakes. We have also made lots of stops to do lovely coastal walks or jump into rives and lakes. Fantabulous!

So after a 3 hour (sunbathing) ferry ride to the North island yesterday we arrived in Wellington. The capital, and hots of Rugby 7s. So not only was it a saturday night but it was the Rugby 7s final (we had no warning) About 8 in every 10 people were dressed up in the most amazing fancy dress costumes, the streets were closed and the bars were open. Apparently this night is voted as being in the top 10 parties to attend...in the world!!!! How convenient! So after settling in we went out to soak up the atmosphere watch some street dancing and laugh at the costumes.

Can't stop...so much more to do and see. Loving it, still missing you all. Will keep you posted.

Lizzy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx