Hey peeps!!!

A thousand apologies for being so crap with the updates! We have been in New Zealand now for just over a month! Leaving Sydney was really hard, although not the working element lol!

We flew into Auckland on the 1st Sep, getting an inbound flight straight to Christchurch, after having slept at the airport all night (never a fun experience) we slept the entire first day, proper Soph n Gem Stylee, only to venture out in the evening for a roast dinner in a traditional pub, where i believe we were by a long shot the youngest people in there :) All good though, the next day we spent exploring the cultural aspect of Chrsitchurch, we came to the conclusion that we could have been in England!!!! lol!

So from Chrsitchurch we bussed it down to Queenstown, where upon arrival we tasted the best ever burgers that exist on the planet...dun dun dun FERGBURGER!!! Loved Queenstown, very chilled out and best of all with our hostel came 2 for 1 drinks at the best bars in town...of course we made full use!!!! :) Whilst here we went on a Lord of the Rings tour, but let us keep that to ourselves...of course we went just for the pretty scenery, which by the way is absolutely spectacular!!! We then went skiing for three days with an additional crazy irish girl we met along the way, Soph succeeded in resembling that of Bridget Jones on the slopes...many hysterical moments!!! We also went jetboating, fantastic fun and indoor crazy golf, as well as trekking up a mountain, which you'll be surprised to know was done hungover...quite an achievement we feel!!! Jo (additional travel chum) and myself went woofing (willing workers on organic farms) not so much of the willing, but was an experience to say the least...Soph did'nt feel compelled to join us in this activity we did for the week, so spent it at leisure going on a road trip to Wanaka with the crazy irish girl and some guys she managed to secure a free lift with ;p She promptly returned to Qtown not having had enough of the fun and frolicks the lively place has to offer, there was an 80's night, where she achieved notorious status by being kicked out of the one and only Winnies!!! lol!

Moving on from Queenstown (finally!) we rented a car and made our way up to Franz Josef. We booked ourselves in for an 8 hour glacier hike, thankfully not hungover! This was a great experience, although a little chilly, it was fun to climb through ice tunnels and wear spikes on our feet, looking incredibly sexy! Pictures to follow soon...

From here we moved on to Greymouth, this place is as exciting as it sounds, the only advantage was the funky hostel we stayed in, Neptues. On arrival we had towels, a chocolate treat, REAL beds instead of bunks and bubble bath!!! It's the little luxurious things that matter :) After having a wonder around (did'nt take long) we came upon the free cakes, pastries and pies the hostel received from the bakery!!!! It was heaven!!! I myself fully stocked up on two pies, a pancake and half a scone!!!!

We met some more crazy irish in the hot tub at Greymouth and decided to stalk them to Hanmer Springs. We were pleasantly surprised by the lovely town, as well as it's thermal springs, this involved over ten spa pools where we spent a good few hours relaxing...it's a hard life being a backpacker!!!

Reluctantly we left Hanmer Springs to make our way up to Nelson, where we bumped into the same two lovely gents we met in Qtown who gave Soph a lift up to Wanaka. Let's just say the hostel was an intersting place, probably more interesting than Nelson itself. It had a 'party' bus in the backgarden and lots of things to climb! Nelson is supposedly the most happening place in the South Island, but we found it pretty small and not a whole lot to see and do, apart from a walk to the centre of New Zealand.

Swiftly making our way up to Picton, we got the ferry over to Wellington, on the north island. Wellington was great, it was sooo nice to be back in a city again with civilisation, as not all of you will be aware New Zealand boasts 39 million sheep and a whole population of 4 million!!!! There's some trivia for you folks! We went to the Te Papa museum, which was free and really good. Also spent an afternoon in the Botanical gardens, having to get a really cool cable car to the top of the gardens, the walk down was really nice. We also met up with our mate Phil (a real Kiwi) who we met when we were in Newquay for a summer.

Sad to leave Wellington we made the drive to Wanganui (strange names we know) for a stopover. We went up a rather strange elevator walking through a tunnel to get to it and then going all the way up to the top of a hill, the views were amazing!!! We then got up the following morning for a bike ride, we are still feeling the affects from the uncomfortable saddle...or could possibly be from the fact we hav'nt riden a bike in over ten years! On the plus side it was free to hire the bikes form the hostel...our favourite word at the moment is FREE!!!!

So here we are now in Taupo, we arrived on a beautiful day so in the act of spontaniety we seized the day and decided to do a skydive the same afternoon! This was the most exhilerating experience jumping out of an aeroplane at 15,000 ft!!!! We were in awe of the views looking down over the mountains and Lake Taupo.

Tomorrow we make our way up to Rotorua and then on to Auckland and the Bay of Islands, we promise to not be so lame and keep you updated.

Hope you're all good and well, would always love to hear from you.

P.s congatualtions if you've managed to read till the end of this mammoth essay and stayed awake!!!

Much love Gem n Soph xxx