Hello there all our readers, who by this point must have dwindled to just a devoted few. We are very sorry that our blogs have been much less in number but we are now doing our best to catch up, so here is my (Tom) entry for Queenstown, New Zealand. We arrived in Queenstown on a very sunny day in April with the same bus that we had been on since the Pooh Party and thus we were on the bus with all the same people as well. So our first job when we got into Queenst...

After Westport we headed to Lake Mahinapua where the 'Poo Party' was. Basically, it's a pub in the middle of nowhere right on the coast (2 minute walk to the beach but it was FREEZING). No phone signal or anything or any shops for a couple of miles either side and every Kiwi bus goes there for this party. There's always a different theme for the party that the driver decides. This one was 'bad taste'...but not as in just bad tasting dress sense, but bad taste whi...

Left Wellington the next day to get the ferry to the South Island. The ferry was delayed (not too sure why, probably don't want to know) so got it at 10.30am and it took just over 3 hours! Was a really good crossing though, apparently it's known for being quite rough but it wasn't for us...even saw dolphins playing in the waves next to the boat which was awesome, first time we've ever seen them. So got to Nelson in the afternoon, weather was a bit rubbish and rai...

After Taupo we headed to River Valley for a one night stop over, it was in the middle of nowhere! Had to park the bus at the top of a hill and walk to the bottom. Quite a nicely located hostel though right on the river, was pretty simple and cabin like but that didn't really matter as it was only one night. Had a nice roast dinner there for not too much (it's been so long!!!) and then a few drinks after and got talking to quite a few people. Next day we went to W...

Got to Waitomo in the late afternoon, it's pretty much a hostel in the middle of nowhere. We had to split into two though as they didn't have four rooms. Nicest rooms we've had so far though! A twin room, ensuite, nice balcony! Was really good. Didn't do much in the evening as we were all pretty tired. The next morning though Tom and Steve did the Black Abyss cave rafting/climbing and Ben and I did the Ruakura Cave tour, 65m under the surface! Was really dark but...