Hi all, Thanks for all your messages! Keep them coming... Oh my god. Today I jumped off a cliff. (Pics to prove it! Though they're scanned and not the best quality.) Yesterday I went to one of the most beautiful spots in the world - Milford Sound (see pic here --->). Day before that I went skiing (again, pic to prove it.) I've added a couple of other pictures as well to the previous albums. I am now as far south as I will go in a place called Queenstown. I like Queenstown. And not just because of the name. There's a bar called TARDIS and another bar that serves cocktails in teapots. The town sometimes reminds me of Port Merion used in the series 'The Prisoner' (Matthew will know what I'm talking about.) Today we had a parade through town for no apparent reason other than it's Winter Festival. What it's celebrating no-one knows but it's a great weekend to be here with fireworks, a concert, a parade and a great atmosphere in town. I went for skiing lessons as the town is surrounded by mountains and that's one of the main reasons why people come here. I've never been on the slopes before and despite my reservations I really liked it. My instructor was called Tobias from Norway and was very enthusiastic. 'Ya Ronnie I bet not many people from Ireland can ski like you.' He was right. I grinned, taking it as a compliment and then at that point went careering off down a slope into a snowbank. He shook his head in wonder... I couldn't get the hang of making myself stop. Tobias kept talking about 'wedges' but with his accent it sounded like 'wedgies' and I kept thinking of people pulling your y-fronts up tight. He put me with a woman called Deborah who seemed to have the hang of it and told me to follow her down a slope while he dealt with some of the other even slower members of the group. 'You go ahead and show me how it's done!' I grinned. She went smoothly and slowly ahead of me. I followed. As she's coming to a gentle stop at the bottom not realising there's an out of control Irishman behind her I thwack into the back of her and carry her into another beginners class where we take out two of their members innocently standing by. Tobias was not happy! In future she let me go first. Anyway after a while I got the hang of my 'wedgies' and I'm even going back for more tomorrow. Milford Sound is a fjiord carved out by glaciers in the last ice age. Went there for a day trip. Unfortunately it was a bit rainy and cloudy so we didn't get the best day (not quite like the postcard pic above which is from this site's archive). We saw some fab waterfalls and the place where Frodo and the others go through a narrow gorge in LOTR (Lord of the Rings). By staying two days in Wanaka the Lice Girls (see previous postcard) caught up with me. 'Have you sorted out your little friends?' I asked. 'Oh yes, I forgot about that! Yes, we're fumigated now!' How do you forget having head lice? Anyway, they're nice girls really. They also seemed to have adopted another gay guy on the Kiwi Bus. Yes, after thinking that I was THE ONLY ONE, another one turns up. He's called Patrick and is (in the words of one of my fellow passengers) 'a bit uber camp'. Anyway I don't fancy him, so no chance of any romance before any of you get your hopes up. I'm a butch action man now which leads me onto... ...The cliff-hanger! I'm also a 'confirmed swinger'! Well that's what it said on my prize ticket. As you may recall I won a fancy dress competition (not realising it was a competition) and ended up with a 'Canyon Swing'. Everyone said I HAD to do it, though they all know I don't go in for jumping off things. Anyway, last night I got drunk and decided I'd show all those scruffy haired surfer dudes a thing or two. Spoke to one of the drivers of the bus (name of 'Doon' - horizontal in the group pic and drunk most of the time when not driving). 'It's f***ing scary Ronnie. Scarier than most bungy jumps. You've got to do it.' He was the sort of guy who called a spade a f***ing spade. If he thought it was scary then it was. 'Just make sure your plums are safe when they put the harness on otherwise you'll be squealing.' I had a fair idea I'd be squealing anyway... After a few more drinks it all seemed like a good idea. I got suckered in a little because the flyer said you could be released from a special mechanism if you couldn't bring yourself to jump. That'll be me I thought... Imagine my surprise when I find myself with a hangover standing on a platform 109 m above a canyon floor, with a harness attached (and plums safe - and yes bro, it appears I do have them). 'Okay, you're fit to go.' said the slightly mad person who'd fitted my harness. 'Err...you mean I should jump?' 'Yip. Just look at that mountain over there and run up to the edge and jump.' Where was the special woosy boy release mechanism? 'So I just jump?' 'That's right. Just go forward and jump off the edge.' Everything in my brain was telling me that this was wrong. 'Can I hold onto this? I asked stalling for time and referring the harness rope. Sharp intake of breath. 'No I wouldn't do that...' He undoes a bit of velcro on the rope that I hadn't noticed before and says to the other guy. 'Have you seen that?' 'Jeez, no better not talk about that.' I realise that they're winding me up. Sod them! Sod them all. I taking a running jump. I freefell for about 60 m (approx 120 ft) and then I was a 'confirmed swinger'. The total drop was a 109m. Luckily the camera missed the expression on my face. Actually it was quite a smooth drop and swing. I don't actually remember falling that far. Think I blanked it all out! So I did it! Now I can hold my head high with the bungy-jumping- sky-diving-scruffy-haired lot in the bar tonight. As the locals say - 'Sweet as'. Take care and love to all. xxx