A brand new country! Hurrah! WHAT a long journey. Three days of living in airports! I was beginning to feel like something out of that Tom Hanks film. Highlight of mundane airport marathon wpuld have to be bumping into one Ben Taylor of Dorking fame in Sydney Airport! What are the chances of that? Absolutely insane. Into Christchurch for one night...and out on the big green Kiwi Experience Bus in the morning!

Day 1: Kawarau Bridge Bungy. 43 metres high. Crystal blue waters below. The world's first bungy site. Original and best.Day 2: The Ledge Bungy Queenstown. 47 metre freefall. 400 metre drop down to the city. Approached with running jump. Painful!Day 3: Shotover Canyon Swing. 60 metres to the canyon floor before cutting a massive arc up the other side. Choose your own jump style. Backwards in a plastic patio chair for me. Full somersault on the way down.Day 4: ...

Very little to report from Westport. Watched Donnie Brasco in the hostel tv room and drooled over Johnny Depp and his beautiful face. (Amongst other things).

Saw some spectacular scenery on our way down the West Coast. Very rugged and wild coastline; especially around the crazy Pancake Rocks and Blowholes and Panakaiki. The crashing waves seemed to spray everywhere and even created rainbows in the sunlight.Were thrown off the bus in Greymouth with half an hour and the theme of 'P' to scrape together an outfit for tonight's fancy dress party. Our outlets were: a tiny charity shop run by two old ladies, a a ...

Awoke at five am on our first morning in Kaikoura to go swimming with dolphins. What an absolutely incredible experience; splashing about in a very fetching wetsuit, flipper and snorkel combo with a pod of four hundred completely wild Dusky dolphins. They are such energetic, playful animals; I was struggling to keep up! They were whizzing past in every direction; underneath me, on both sides and close enough to touch. When i put my head above the surface all I co...