Jo was obviously a little scared of the Canyon Swing because she was asking questions about it in her sleep. There are over 10 different jump styles and Jo said she was going to do the easiest ones but the operators wouldn't let her! The easiest one is to let them release you so you don't have to jump off the ledge. However, Jo managed to slide off one dude's knee and plunge into the canyon below, screaming loudly. She was very brave and I was proud of her. I did it twice because it was so awesome. The first time I did "The Chair" where I was strapped to a chair and had to lean off the ledge backwards. Then I did "Gimp Boy Goes To Hollywood" where I was suspended by my feet and plummeted down head first. If you're confident the operators try to frighten you and they succeeded with me!

In the afternoon we had our rafting trip. It proved to be much better than the one in Roturua so Jo didn't miss much. It was over twice as long and the scenery was better, as we rafted through deep valleys and ex-goldmining territory. No one in our boat fell out and we coped with "The Mother" and "Tunnel" sections superbly.

The following day we hired a car for $55 between 5 of us - bargain. We took it in turns to drive and went to Glenorchy and Wanaka; 2 small towns an hour or so either side of Queenstown. It was a relaxing day and the scenery continued to amaze.

This was our last day in Queenstown and from there we headed to Te Anau with our new bus driver. We signed up to do the Milford Sound tour which is supposedly one of the must-do scenic attractions in the world. Well let me tell you, if it's raining and foggy, it's bloody awful. We couldn't see a thing, the boat was choppy and we were unsurprisingly rather miffed by the time we got back on the bus. And to rub salt into the wound, the weather started to clear up as we got back to Te Anau. Typical. This is pretty much the only bad luck we've had in NZ weather wise though, so we can't complain too much.

We spent the next day on Stewart Island, the 3rd island in NZ. After another choppy boat ride, Jo decided that sea-fishing in an even smaller boat would not be a good idea so we split up for the afternoon. Like my dad (it must be in the blood he says) I proved to be an expert, catching over twice as many fish as anyone else in the group. This provided enough food for a mammoth dinner of fish, fish and more fish! Very tasty it was too. Jo spent the afternoon walking and saw lots of birds. Again the weather wasn't great but we both experienced 2 dfferent parts of the island.

Then we had a long drive to Dunedin, which on a Sunday is completely dead. However, on the way there we did get to see play-fighting sea lions and the rare yellow-eyed penguin.  And the petrified forest. Which isn't worth explaining. In the evening we spent too long trying to find a pub showing Newcastle v Charlton, and when we did find one we were soaked and could only watch the first half because the pub was shutting at 10pm. But spirits were high because we'd just had a lovely curry at a restaurant which had only been open for 3 days.

We're now in Christchurch which is apparently the most English of NZ's cities. We've spent today shopping (successfully) so we can throw away some of our clothes. This means I may not be wearing my green hoodie in a few photos - shock, horror!

Tomorrow it's goodbye to New Zealand and G'day to Australia. We'll be sad to leave but we're looking forward to being warm.

Happy Birthdays to Lucy Shallcross and Mrs Bull!

Lots of love Jo & Mikey xxx