Following a hectic last night on the North Island, and we were up early the next morning (6am on a hangover!) and cobbling our stuff together for our crossing over onto the South island. The 2 hour crossing gave us all the chance to catch up on some sleep - which we duly did - and before long we could see the banks of the South island, and were immediately impressed. We passed through Malbourough Sounds, a stunning scenery where hilly lands meet with watery inlets, and before long we found ourselves on the South Island. Unfortunately, our driver 'Salty' failed to replicate our hungover rush to the ferry, and when we met with land we found we had no driver. After several hours waiting, and two fantastic New Zealand pies, and our rather cheeky driver Salty arrived and escorted us down towards Able Tasmin.

Our journey proved to be particularly fun, with Salty conducting the activities on the bus, and the ice was well and truly broken where the likes of Lily and Laura, as well as Irish duo Sarah and Emma, and not forgetting the midgets from Canada and Germany, Sarah and Daniel all got involved. A brief stop for some wine tasting gave me the opportunity to show off and make as many jokes as I could get away with, before we headed to our accommodation at Old Macdonald's where Salty made up for his antics providing us with plenty of drink and stories whilst we gathered around the fire. The next morning came with another opportunity to skydive, which I once again wimped out of - instead opting for the less stressful sea kayaking around national park. Another beautiful day with great scenery, but the highlight was definitely having lunch on a secluded beach shortly before getting up close and personal with some fur seals that were sunbathing on the some sun soaked rocks. A waterfight started and finished by Dan and I, as well as a race to the shore added to the entertainment, and the evening that followed included watching Dan and Mike's skydive videos, for they braved it earlier in the day.

Greymouth came next, and is known as the miners town where the mine collapsed killing 29 workers in 2010. For us, it was a halfway house between Able and our next stop and had little to offer but the Montieths brewery tour. The 'tour' was actually just a video describing the fermentation process, but the 45minute open bar proved to be entertaining. We left feeling a little on the tipsy side, before enjoying some great food ('fush 'n' chups,' for me) whilst continuing in our alcoholic pursuits. The night that followed was fun and action packed - starting off with some karaoke, before doing the running man to LMFAO's chart hit, 'Party Rock.' This became our theme tune for New Zealand.

The next day involved a gorgeous drive down the Western coastline of the South Island in unusually calm, sunny conditions, where we were able to capture it at its best. We visited the blowholes, some stunning beaches, seal colonies and more excitingly, a Sea Lion that came out of the water and for some time chased us tentatively! We also tried some whitebait - a delicacy in NZ - before heading onto our evening's accommodation, the 'Rainforest' at the base on the Franz Josef Glacier. Ran by a Welsh couple, the accommodation was excellent, with great facilities including a Jacuzzi, bar, kitchen and the rest. We had a lovely meal in the communal kitchen before gathering in the bar, however after the busy nights drinking the night before, I retired to bed early knowing I had an early start.

In fact, I was up as early as 6am in order to be online for 7am to chat online with Lottie. Once again, I spent a frustrating 30minutes trying to contact Lottie, so instead I chose to call home to chat with my mum. This did not ease my stress levels, as I quickly guessed from the tone of her voice that bad news was to come, and lo and behold she let me know she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. A difficult pill to swallow, I found myself stumbling around the grounds of the Rainforest in the freezing cold weather not knowing what to do. Thankfully my sister Jenny eased my concerns, before I was able to speak to Lottie. My friends were great on the day - with particular thanks to Lily - for both giving me the space I needed but also encouraging me to come along on the day's activity. This activity was one that I was most looking forward to, for walking on a Glacier can easily be described as a once in a lifetime opportunity. Franz Josef Glacier was a full 8 hour hike, from the base of the glacial tongue to some way up it (it is 12km long!), in and amongst the tall icy walls, across the top, and through tunnels and blue ice caves. The day was up and down in many ways, but another stunning day of weather and close companionship, not to mention some great Dan moments - namely 'the little squeeze' as well as the 'avalanche' - gave me some necessary strength to see me through. Thank you to all my friends, Lottie and Jenny, for helping me cope with this news. After the long hike, we took a Jacuzzi and had a delicious burger, before participating in the pool tournament, and eventually I turned in early for some reflection and personal time.

All the emotion of the day before proved to be the perfect drug for what I had planned the following morning. The sky dive that I had been delaying was now upon me. I had committed, and in the morning, I woke up with the attitude that I would do the skydive for my mother, to show her my own strength. So, again my friends supported me by joining me on the skydive, so Aaron, Mike, Lily and I were up early to be picked up and taken by bus to the airfield. By the end of the journey, Mike was dumped as my dive partner and the more sympathetic Lily was selected! So, without a huge amount of admin, or explanation, Lily and I were kitted up and given the brief instructions, none of which involved our safety (which helped). Before long our tiny 5 man plane was trundling down the runway. The lift off was smoother than I expected, and we quickly rose to absorb the beautiful views - mirror lakes, the sun rising over the Tasmin sea, before circling over the snow-capped mountains, getting an aerial view of Fox Glacier, before finally seeing the summit of Mount Cook. These views were enough to keep me relatively calm - I was emotionally fairly flat - until I realised we were within a few thousand feet of our drop point. Every time I relive the moment (like now) I feel the same urge of nausea that I did then. My face dropped white, silence fell upon me, and the fear kicked in…

Shortly after, the door was flung open, and cold air flew into the cabin, but did not de-stablise the plane. Lily maneuvered herself into position, before her dive instructor flung her out of the door. I was urged to shuffle forward, and lean out the open door, connected to the plane by only by the attachments to my instructor. Head back (I did'nt want to look down!) and within seconds we were tumbling towards the ground. Maybe as many as three seconds passed - I remember seeing the plane above my head - before my emotions changed from fear to excitement! The next 53 seconds were the most exciting of my life - hurling towards the earth at 120mph with no barriers between you and the onrushing air, is utterly unbelievable. I felt no fear. I loved every part of it. As the video shows, I completely ignored the camera, had some fairly embarrassing mouth open shots, and dribbled a little! When the shoot was opened, and our pace slowed without a jerk, I was able to take some deep breathes and enjoy the views, before landing softly on my bottom! The feeling of being safe turned me from a pale white to a rosey red, with a smile ear to ear and eyes coloured in excitement. Truly the most remarkable activity I have ever done, and recommended to anybody and everyone.

We celebrated with a full breakfast, and my adrenaline even drove me to open a bottle of wine and finish it before midday!! Our journey took us south and we stayed in the relative middle of nowhere, in triangle cabins under the mountains. After watching back the video of my skydive movie in the kitchen, we headed towards the bar but were being held up by Dan. For some reason, Dan was hitting the Vodka, and hard! We were almost dragging him out, not to mention separating him from his countryman Sarah. At the bar, these two in particular entertained us with their drunken singing, rapping and Sarah's amazing feet, before we had to drag them both back home. The next day and we headed onwards to Lake Wanaka, where I had intended to stay, but the idea of leaving my friends had become unappealing, so instead we headed into Queenstown together, and what a great idea this was. Just as we left Wanaka it started to snow and did not stop. By the time we arrived in Queenstown, we were on snow chains and the bus had already being towed! On arrival we spent some time arranging our activities for the coming few days, before embarking on an evening bar crawl. We were plowed with alcohol, participated in bar games, and had a brilliant night together partying the night away in the various pubs and clubs that are available

The next couple of days were quiet, for the snow caused several days of failed activities and white outs on the slopes. We played out in the snow, ate extremely well, including indulging in the world's best burgers at Fergburger, and had a few half-hearted nights out before it soon came about to be our last night with Dan and Mike. I came up with a drinking game involving a slide show of hundreds of funny photos and videos of our last three weeks, which proved to be excellent entertainment and warmed us up nicely for some bar games (such as blindfolded office chair racing) which we won twice. We then headed onto an excellent club and danced to some exceptionally cool house music! Another epic night was had, with the likes of Lily showing her true colours (bless), and a great send off to Dan and Mike who had been excellent company throughout my time in New Zealand.

The following morning, the remaining 4 boys, myself, Aaron, Tom and James headed out for an action-packed day. It started with the Shootover jet, where we were rushed along a very shallow river on a speedboat in freezing conditions, performing 360 turns and narrowly escaping contact with the rocky walls of the canyon. Following this adrenaline fix, we then headed up the Gondola's to find sublime views of Queenstown and it's surrounding area before we went luging - non-powered downhill go-karting! Aaron, Tom and I competed for the finish line, leaving 'Chief Slow' James to amble down the track! Another Fergberger was followed by a few drinks to see out the night.

The following morning and more farewells. Fortunately, we had a pleasant send off for the two Sarah's and Emma, where we cruised through the stunning scenery of the Unesco World Heritage site of Milford Sound. Huge Mountains protrude directly out from the seawater 'Fiord' and provide an awe-inspiring setting. There is little else except the sheer beauty of the place, but my oh my it is beautiful! We said sad goodbyes to the girls, and headed onto our next destination Invercaghill followed by Dunedin. The next few days remain a little bit of a blur to me - I was not very well, suffering from flu and I largely wanted to be wrapped up and in bed, with my darling Lottie who I was missing quite badly at this stage, and at home with my family looking over my mum. However, I had to stay with the bus and enjoyed some nice scenary, some more wildlife, yet I failed to connect with our new bus mates, so I largely curled up into a ball and felt sorry for myself.

Before I knew it, we were at our next exciting destination, yet I was still sniffling. We had arrived at the base of Mount Cook, where I spontaneously decided to splash out on a helicopter ride - my first ever! And what a great decision that proved to be! The initial rush from rising almost vertical felt great, and within seconds any anxieties had long gone, and we (Tom, Lily, James and I) quickly found ourselves overwhelmed by the beauty of our setting. Closely swooping over the tops of mountains is like being in your own BBC documentary - never in a light aircraft could you get so close- and every few minutes an even more impressive view presented itself - watching the sunset over the Tasmin sea was particularly special. However the highlight of the flight is indisputable. Landing on top of a snow capped mountain, in 3 feet of fresh snow, and being allowed to jump out the helicopter, attempt an awkward walk in the deep snow, and muck about like children making snow angels and play fighting was something quite special. David Attenbourgh turns into Ranulph Fiennes into the Teletubbies in a matter of minutes! We then circled close to Mount Cook, the tallest of the peaks here (and in New Zealand for that matter) before heading back to base. A truly unexpected, and delightfully enjoyable experience!

Following this most excellent adventure, we set off for a relaxed night at the Rangitata resort, tucked away from anything remotely busy, where Salty treated us to some lovely New Zealand steak. I was still feeling rotten from my cold and was becoming ever more annoyed with some irritating company that had joined our bus, and so had an easy night of movie watching before a reasonable nights sleep somewhere in the mix of our triple bunk beds! The highlight of the evening was certainly James and Aaron seemingly getting lost on their bike ride and not returning until dark!

The following morning and we headed towards Kaikorua, a small town on the East coast and North of Christchurch, a regular on the tourist trail. The area attracts large numbers and variety of dolphins and whales in particular, which naturally brings in the crowds, and so Lily and I went whale watching, for I had never seen a whale. It's a good job that we were on a very powerful and speedy boat, for the swell of the ocean was like none that I have ever known. Yet, despite this, the boat and driver appeared relatively comfortable, and it wasn't long before we caught site of some bottleneck Dolphins. There is plenty of birdlife to capture too, and I was particular in awe of the Albatross a bird that has long fascinated me. The crew didn't take long to track a whale that had just emerged, and we soon found ourselves looking onto a large Sperm whale that was just taking in 10-15 minutes of air before submerging itself for 50 minutes in a near vertical dive in search of food. The experience fell somewhat short of the 'Free Willy' expectations that I had set, but it was pretty amazing and Lily managed to get the perfect tail fin picture which I later stole.

That night, and I was able to meet with the lovely Lynn who Lottie and I met in China. She had came out to Kaikoura from Christchurch especially for me - I do love the Kiwi's - and then had even invited me to dinner, with her friends whom she had arranged to stay with. I did not know quite what I was getting into, for my evening was spent with no less than 5 women, and I was indulged with more courses than I can remember. The evening was fun though, and at the end of it I was greeted with the strangest text that blew my mind, from my good friend Tom at about 10pm. It read something like this: 'James is so drunk he has been put to bed. Mave has had a fit, and Aaron and Lily look like they might be snog.' I mean, what had happened in the few hours that I had been away?? On return, I was able to tease drunken James before receiving the full download from Tom, and laugh the night away with him.

The next morning and more sad farewells - the group was well and truly splitting up. Tom, Lily and I were heading to Christchurch with Lynn to catch flights to the North island, Aaron was doing another loop of the South Island, whilst James and the midget German were making their way North but overland- we would see them again in Auckland. On our way down to Christchurch with Lynn, we were able to pick up some crayfish (a lobster like seafood that the bus had left behind)and see some seal pups, whilst also cruising through the devastated Christchurch, such a shame for such a pretty town. We ate the Crayfish for lunch with Lynn and Max before he then drove us to the airport for our flight North. What wonderful people!

So that brang the end of the South Island. Only a few days (a week or so) separated me from returning home, but I was becoming extremely excited about the prospect!