When we left Christchurch, we were warned by the hostel receptionist that Queenstown was incredibly busy and we would struggle finding cheap accommodation... if any at all. On the way we went to tourist information and spent a million hours trying to find something and ended up having to settle for apartments costing nearly 20 pounds a night! We got to Queenstown at about 10pm and were told that they would leave the key in our apartment door for us, when we got there however we hunted for the key everywhere and it was nowhere to be seen. So we drove into town to their second hotel where we could apparently find some help. But of course their reception was shut as well, just our luck, and we were greeted by a group of chatty, slightly strange boys (and one turkish man we liked to call Borat). They couldn't help us so we were pretty much stranded apart from their lovely offer of a big double bed we could all share. Nice! They were on their way out so we left them to it and got back in our car, racking our brains for a bright idea to get us out of our tricky situation. However after several minutes of trying our hardest and coming up with "lets just sleep in the freezing cold car all night", we decided to take the bull by its horns and join them on the razzle dazzle. Wearing the same clothes that we had been driving in all day (about 5 jumpers, leggings, jeans, 50 pairs of socks and warm boots) our hair in a lovely mess and no make up on, we head out and experience the Queenstown nightlife. We are pleased to see pretty much everyone else in the same sort of attire as us apart from the odd crazy lunatic in shorts and little top freezing their arse off. All the bars were bustling and we went on a bar crawl to about 50 different places, all with amazing atmosphere. A mixture of warm fires, Jagerbombs and cheap cheap beer made for a cracking night out. We did end up sharing their tiny double bed in the end and kicked the original inhabitants on to the floor, oh how nice we are!

The next day one of the guys promised us a free snowboard lesson up on the infamous remarkables ski field. Their car was full so we had to take our hire care up the slopes following closely behind them all the way. Little did we know that the roads would be pretty much a death trap from word go. We had to fix chains to our wheels half way up to help us up the steep roads and stop us from slipping on the ice. On one side of the road was the steep snow covered mountains susceptible to avalanches and on the other side a sheep drop of thousands of feet. There weren't any barriers on the side of the road either so we were pretty much cacking our pants the whole journey. Half way up the boys car started to slow down, came to a halt and then started slowly rolling backwards heading straight for our bonnet while the wheels were spinning really fast. They managed to pull over to a flatter section and thankfully came to a stop. They noticed that one of their chains had come of somewhere down the mountain and the cars can't cope without them (apart from the four wheel drives of course which race past you without a care in the world). So we had to wait for them to go and hunt it down... about half an hour later after no luck they came back and noticed it just simply tucked under the wheel the whole time. Eventually after driving about 5 miles an hour the whole way Nyima manages to get us up the mountain safe and sound and we get all set up for a day on the snow. Torn between sitting on her bum all day while desperately trying to learn to snowboard and skiing wherever took her fancy Laura decided to turn down the free snowboarding lesson. Nyima and Martha joined her skiing and so they spent that day on the baby slopes learning all the basics where Laura discovered she is a pretty impatient teacher. It was terrible weather and our hair sticking out from underneath our hats was actually frozen and the visibility was terrible but we had a laugh watching Nyima fall over 2 seconds after she had stood up. They picked up the skills though and we ventured onto a bigger slope. The slope took us about an hour to ski down which would have usually taken about 30 seconds so Nyima decided to perfect her skills back on the baby slope while Laura and Martha did the slope a couple more times. After being absolutely freezing all day we were pretty excited to get back into the hot car and face the deathly slope back to our apartment. (We found the key by the way in a door we didn't even think to look at! Oopsy!)

Our apartment has a full kitchen so we bought all our own food and made big healthy dinners. The room is unbelievably freezing with only one tiny heater and you could see your breath when you spoke, so the electric blankets were very inviting and we went to bed to watch some films. After a hard day we slept like dogs and didnt wake up until the next afternoon, so we decided to go into town and explore. While we were there Laura and Martha decided to book a sky dive and went to tourist information to pay for it. Nyima had made it perfectly clear months ago when we would talk about a sky dive that there is no way that she would do it so we asked her one more time and we got the normal reply of "no chance!" We booked it for the next day and went to the internet cafe. About half an hour later Nyima disappeared for ages and we couldn't work out where she had gone as she hadn't said anything about leaving, when she came back she dropped the slip of paper in front of us... She was joining us in our Sky diving escapades!! Shocking!

The next day we woke up bright and early and looked out of our huge windows to see crystal, clear blue skies and we knew we would be lucky and the sky dive wouldn't be cancelled. We wrapped up very warm with our usual 500 layers and prepared for our 12,000ft drop from an aeroplane. When we got there we were split into groups and because all three of us wanted a photographer to dive with us only two at a time could fit into the plane. Laura offered to dive with a stranger and let Nyima and Martha go up together. Laura went first and after the stunning plane ride to reach 12,000ft she was pushed out of the plane and screamed the whole way down. When she reached the ground it was Nyima and Martha's turn and of course they followed suit screaming the whole way. It was 'very amazing' and we all agreed it was the most exhilarating experience of our lives. We watched our videos in the cabin whilst eating very lumpy soup and made everyone laugh a lot, especially Laura whose face resembled a panicked chipmunk the whole way down.

The next day we thought we would go skiing again, but we gave the other famous Queenstown skiing range 'Coronet Peak' a try. On the way up we saw some hitch-hikers laden with skiing gear so we stopped and picked them up (don't worry Queenstown is probably the safest place in the world to hitch-hike!). They turned out to be much needed as we decided against getting chains fitted and when we got to the car park we lost total control of the car and they hopped out to push against it. The car was literally cm's away from crashing into another car and we ended up pulling it to a holt in thick deep snow. We said ou goodbyes to the hitchhikers and set off to the slopes. The day was so much nicer thn our previous experience and the sun was already shining. The good weather however attracted hoards of crowds, specifically kids which meant the beginner slope was packed to the brim. After a couple of successful runs Laura decided it was time to leave Nyima and Martha and head out on her own, wizzing down the more dangerous runs and up the bigger ski lifts. The skiing conditions turned out to be so much better here albeit VERY icy.

After a day of breath taking views and skiing alike we were ready for another night out and decided to go to the Ice Bar or 5 degree Bar. We dressed in the thick coats and gloves provided and prepared for the -5 degree temperatures we were about to go into. The bar was amazing and everything truly was made of ice. We were all given thick ice cups with a fruity pomegranate and vodka cocktail, we sat on ice chairs and were surrounded in amazing ice sculptures. 30 minutes of ice antics was just enough for us and we headed out to the other bars in Queenstown.

The next day was our last in Queenstown so Laura decided she wanted to go skiing again to cover the whole of coronet peak. She skied all morning and did every run (apart from the one covered in jumps.. a skill not yet mastered) and then went for lunch. When she got back to the place she kept her skis however they were nowhere to be seen and she spent the rest of the day hunting for them and then waiting till the very end of the skiing day just in case they were returned... of course they were not and Laura went home ski less and money less as he had to pay the company the full price for the ski and poles... not great!