After leaving Queenstown I headed down South, where it then got cold :-( The first stop was Dunedin, home to the World's steepest street, and also Cadbury's World! Did a tour around here which wasn't especially exciting, but all the free chocolate definitely made up for it! The next stop was then Invercargill. All of the coast line along here is really pretty, lots of seals and we went to beach where the sea lions rest during the day. Different experience walking along a beach only meters from huge sea lions. We were warned not to wake them or get between them and the sea as then they are likely to attack, had to tip toe along the beach and hope not to disturb them! From Invercargill I headed over to Stewart Island on the ferry for a night. We hired a car here and drove around. It is really pretty here, just so cold! Lovely coastline though and nice beaches. However, the ferry ride was enough to put me off ever going back there. Both journeys were horrific, people throwing up around me, it was awful! Roughest boat journey I have ever been on. Waves going over the top of the boat. It was an hour journey both ways and within 5 minutes I felt awful and wanted to get off!

From Invercargill I headed to the pretty town of Te Anau which has a lovely lake with snowy mountains in the background. It was from here that I ventured into Milford Sound. We were so lucky with the weather, had lovely blue skies and it was warm. It had really rained in the Sound the day before so all the waterfalls were really strong when we were there. Was really nice cruising round the sound on the boat, really pretty.

I then headed back into Queenstown for a day before heading off northwards. My first stop was Geraldine where I got off the bus to go white water rafting on the Rangitata River. This is a grade 5+ river, and rafting was great fun!!! It was absolutely freezing though and I really didn't want the raft to capsize! Wouldn't have made a difference though as you got so wet going down the rapids. We jumped off rocks along the way and did a 'practice' capsize, no swimming for me though, far too cold! It was great fun though, really enjoyed it.

It was then onto Christchurch where I had a few days to relax. It was such lovely weather here so could spend the day sitting in the Botanical Gardens feeding the ducks and not doing much else, was nice. Christchurch is a pretty place, lovely buildings with quite an English feel. We made it to a rugby game here. Hawkes Bay v's Canterbury in the Air New Zealand Rugby Union Cup Semi Final, not a huge game by International standards but big in New Zealand, was good to get to a game though. Good atmosphere. I liked Christchurch, it had a nice feel to it.

I then made my way up the East Coast and back across the Cook Straight to the North Island and Wellington where I am now. I have been here for a few days now, just exploring the city. Lots of museums to check out and pretty scenery. A lot of the Lord of the Rings was filmed around here, and as I was staying with friends, they kindly drove me around to see the surrounding area and some of the locations used in the films. Wellington is pretty when the sun is shining, but that has only happened one out of the six days I've been here! They don't call it 'Windy Wellington' for nothing!!!!

After Wellington I am making my way back up to Auckland and then heading North up to the Bay of Islands for a few days before heading off to Fiji and the sun for a few weeks, can't wait :-)

xxx