Hello from New Zealand! This is definitely the most eagerly anticipated leg of our trip and so far it appears to be living up to our expectations! Our arrival in Christchurch on the the 8th wasn't particularly eventful and it felt good to be in a cool place again because it wasn't too cold and i loved having normal skin and not a layer of sweat/stickiness/insect repellent or sun cream over it!

The first thing we did in Christchurch was make the most out of a sunny and fairly warm day so we took a walk round the city and went punting on the River Avon which was kinda cool! We then went to the Botanical Gardens and just used up the rest of daylight to take in any sights we could find! All in all, a good first impression of New Zealand!

The next day wasn't particularly eventful as it was cloudy so we went shopping and bought a few things as well as sorting out our Kiwi Experience for the 11th... Our last day in Christchurch was spent going up the Gondola to the top of Banks Peninsular to take in the views of the surrounding countryside and also of the city itself. As expected from New Zealand, the views were amazing and you could even see the southern alps in the distance so we were very lucky with the weather! On getting back into the city we went back to the travel place and i booked the Thrillogy which is all three main bungy jumps in Queenstown! I'm actually reasonably scared and not as confident as i'd like to be?! And i still haven't persuaded Hannah to take the plunge yet and its doubtful that will happen but you never know!

After an early start and next to no sleep from the previous night we boarded the coach for our onward journey! It was quite cool but not nearly as lively as we were expecting... Once we had arrived in KaiKoura we decided to delay the whale-watching and swimming with dolphins until we came back after our loop round the south. Instead we took a walk and visited a seal colony just outside of town which was really cool especially since they weren't as aggressive as they can be during mating/baby season! It was also nice to establish some relationships with others to make the journey more enjoyable than just the two of us as now we had Maya, Abi, James and Edd!

More than half the coach left for the north island at Picton which explained why most of them weren't that talkative or eager to meet people. This gave us a fresh opportunity to get socialising with the newbies that boarded the bus for Nelson and we met another three guys who had just finished uni like us which was cool! Nelson was a good stop and we had brilliant weather for our walk to the 'Centre of New Zealand' and also for our day-trip kayaking in the Abel Tasman National Park where we saw more seals and many more great views!

Unfortunately Nelson is also where we ran into some problems... After booking the bus out with the rest of the group we found that half of us were on the bus for the following day and me and Hannah weren't on the bus at all! And to make matters worse the driver was being nothing short of a d*** about it! Obviously this shocked us and meant that we were likely to all be seperated which had the potential to ruin our trip becuase the next bus wasn't until a further 6 days later which sucked because people on that bus would already have their little groups and no one likes to be an outsider so to say! Although it may not sound like a big deal on here, the west coast is all about a few activities and a big fancy dress party that obviously people want to be with their friends on! This is why we were so desperate to get on with the guys we'd already met and had some fun with. After an official complaint about the drivers rudeness and numerous phone calls we were very happy to find some space on the bus the next day with the others so the drama was resolved a bit!

Since then we're very happy to say the Kiwi Experience is now living up to its name and we're having an amazing time! We've done quite a few small hikes and one of the most fun was at the Nelson lakes where all the guys decided to jump naked into the freezing cold Lake Rottiblahblah (i can't remember the name...!) We've also done out first adventure activity where we decided on the horse-riding! May not sound like much but wow! We were in full canters through narrow tracks amongst amazing countryside and my horse even broke into a gallop which was amazing! So so exciting! Just like a scene from Lord of the Rings or at least i thought so! Unfortunately during all this two people came off the horses but luckily they were ok! I couldn't believe horse-riding could be so much fun and also that they pushed you along from gentle walking to full on canters so quickly?!

We've also been busy on the fancy dress front for the 'poo party' at some random pub in the middle of nowhere and yes once again i was victorious and got best prize award! Must be all that snowsports! Basically this means i do the canyon bungeee swing in Queenstown for free! It was such a good night and i'm so happy at getting something out of the night just for a bit of effort at doing your best to look stupid! We've done so so much in the last couple of days i'm adamant i've missed details so i'll try to fill them in at a later date! Maybe Hannah could even write on this blog soon because its started to become a bit of a Drew show in terms of being written mainly from my perspective...?! Tomorrow Hannah will be hiking up the Franz Josef glacier whilst i will be attempting some ice-climbing up there too so we'll fill you in soon!

Love to all! x