We got off the ferry in Picton and headed down to Marlborough Sounds to see one of the Marlborough vin yards. I'm a big fan of a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc so really enjoyed the wine tasting and purchased a nice bottle there. We boarded the coach again and headed down to Kaiteriteri. On route our driver decided to do a bus competition, you had to eat a weetabix dry as fast as you can. I got a time of 58 seconds which won it and as a prize I have a free bar crawl with pizza to use in Queenstown! We arrived at kaiteriteri In the afternoon and there was a lovely beach right next to the hostel so spent the afternoon at the beach and swimming in the sea trying to work off the booze intake from the previous night! That night we made some dins then settled down to some card games but left the beers alone!The following morning was a bit of a scary one as I was only on the stand by list for the bus with all my buddies on as it was fall and I hadn't booked it in time (shock) so after an anxious hour waiting around and waiting for people to show I was finally able to make it on to the bus as there was a spare seat, thank god! That morning we travelled on down to a really cool hostel in Westport. I spent the afternoon doing a surf lesson on the beach which was awesome and I managed to stand up quite a bit! Was completely knackering though as the tide was quite strong, so getting back out was a nightmare! That evening we stopped off at the store on the way back to pick up a crate of beers then headed back down to another beach to meet the rest of the bus where we had a BBQ on the beach around a bonfire with lots of drink! The bus then took us to a local pub where we danced and drank the night away, entertaining night! Wednesday we were up early (hungover, again) to drive on down to Lake Mahinapua. On route we stopped off at Tauranga Bay to do a walk and see the seals on the rocks off the coast which were cool, the little baby seals were very cute! A few hours later on the bus and we stopped for another walk, this time around the Punakaiki Pancake Blowholes. The scenery from here was very pretty and the blowholes are a series of limestone stacks which have been eroded to resemble giant piles of neatly stacked pancakes. That evening we were having a fancy dress party at the hostel, themed 'p for'. We only had an hour to find some stuff so I just picked up a bed sheet, some marker pens, cardboard and duck tape to make myself in to playing cards! When we arrived at the hostel we took a wonder down to a near by lake and sat on the jetty having a chat whilst drinking some beers, the scenery was gorgeous, as every where in nz seems to be! Dinner followed, a lovely BBQ steak buffet, and then everyone got to with making their costumes. A very drunken and funny night followed with lots of very amusing costumes! Another early morning followed and we were up to travel down to Franz Josef. The scenery on the drive down was beautiful with mountains, glaciers and lakes all around. When we got to Franz Joseph we checked in to our hostel then registered ourselves for the glacier hike. This consisted of kiting up in appropriate gear, a helicopter ride up to the glacier, a 2 hour hike up around it and then a helicopter ride back down! This was completely awesome as I had never been in a helicopter before and the walk included ice caves and tunnels to walk through, as well as the scenery being unreal! There was a lovely bar on the hostel site so a standard evening of drinks and drinking games commenced! The following day was a rest day, with us staying in Franz Joseph. After a little lay in Steve and I made possibly the best fry up in history! This set us up for a couple of hours hike up part of the mountain to a mirror lake. On return I found a local gym and did a weights session which nearly killed me as my body wasn't used to that then chilled out in a local spa followed by another night on the booze!The next day we travelled on down to Wanaka. On route we stopped off for a walk at Lake Matheson. We were extremely lucky with the weather for this walk and the lake was so still it created a perfect mirror image of mount cook, the most beautiful thing I have ever seen! We then carried on travelling down stopping off at Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. After the morning walk I didn't think I'd ever see anything more Beautiful than the mirror lake, but these lakes gave it a very close running! With the mountains in the back it was simply stunning, hopefully the pictures of these will do them justice! That afternoon we got in to Wanaka where I took a flight! This was a rather special flight as I went up in a 2 seater acrobatic plane and was allowed to take control of the plane straight away taking it from 1k feet to 6k feet! The instructor then completed a range of acrobatic moves including loops, vertical stalls, spinning nose dives, corks and more! Was awesome, but then even better she taught me how to do these then handed the plane over to me and I completed these moves as well! Amazing experience! We didn't get to the hostel till quite late that evening so a nice quiet night followed. The following morning I didn't have a hangover which was a very unusual feeling! We boarded the coach and travelled down to puzzle world. Here they have optical allusions everywhere and was very cool! We then completed there famous 2 storey maze which I got lost in many a time but managed to find all four corners which was the challenge! From here we travelled on down to Queenstown which was the last stop for the bus. We stopped off at a nice scenic spot and took a group photo of the bus, sad times! We then went across to the world famous fergburger to experience what all the fuss is about, and my word, they are so awesome! I've had 3 so far! That evening and the following evening were very heavy and emotional ones as our group was then splitting up and going off in different directions, but a 'kiwunion' was arranged and a night out in England in August has been planned! On the Tuesday I conquered my biggest fear and did a bungy jump! It wasn't any normal bungy either, it was NZs biggest standing at 134m and hung between two cliffs! I had Alison and Cheryl for company and to spur me on, even though Cheryl just watched! After nearly bottling it, I stepped up and just went for it! The experience is like nothing else and the rush you have after completing it is like nothing else, massive fan of them now!! Tuesday night was a night in with a bottle of wine as the bungy rush had exhausted me!On the Wednesday I went off for a hike up a local trail to where the gondola finishes. The view across Queenstown is amazing and you appreciate how pretty the city and its surroundings are. That night saw another drinking session as my friends from Fiji turned up in Queenstown, any excuse! The following day more people left and there was only a couple of us from the bus left. Cheryl and I got on a bus and headed over to Arrowtown, a really lovely little village which looks like something out of the Lake District. The following evening I developed an eye infection so didn't go out, then this developed in to an eye infection in both eyes on the Friday so didn't go out again! Probably good for the liver and the bank balance though! Today is Saturday and Everyone from the bus has now moved on to their next destination! Sad times :-( I've been in queenstown for a week now and really like it here. The past three weeks in NZ really have really been the best in my life. I've met people I know I will keep in contact with for years to come and I've experienced things I never thought I would and loved every minute of it. I'm in queenstown for another week with a trip to the very southern point and Milford sounds built in, then travel up to Christchurch a week Monday. Speak soon! X