Hi all! Here we are again with our next update (sorry they're a little spaced out, we've been keeping ourselves very busy over here!).

On Sunday we were back on the Kiwi bus from Te Anau to be taken to Milford Sound for our free boat cruise included in our passes. Manjee, another of our crazy Kiwi bus drivers, gave us a hilarious bus ride through an avalanche-ridden pass to reach the boat port; he had a song for every occasion: the Mission Impossible theme tune whilst traversing through endless tunnels beneath the mountains, Beyonce belting out "to the left, to the left" when showing us which side of the car park the start of a path was, Titanic's "my heart will go on" when discussing our boat ride around the Miford sound...). Once we were on board, we had the luxury of a free all-you-can-eat buffet, which for we backpackers means "eat and take as much as you can possibly squeeze into your stomachs and sly plastic bags for tonight's dinner also!". (Sometimes a diet of budget pasta and noodles can get a tad tiresome...). I somehow managed to also get bitten by a pesky sandfly on my EYELID of all places - I looked like Quasimodo for most of the afternoon as it swelled up. Attractive.

After weighing ourselves down with our feast, we ventured onto the deck to see the stunning scenery that surrounded us as we travelled through the fjord. The captain of the boat made a few stop at various waterfalls on the way, soaking the unlucky few standing on the front deck. Having said that, Manjee claims that the water takes 10 years off you, so going there as a 29 year old you'd come back 19. However, this was not without a stiff warning that going there with children under 10 could be hazardous: they would simply vanish.

We also stopped off at an underwater observatory halfway around whereby we could view the marine life in the sound though large glass windows 15 metres below the surface which was pretty cool. The waters here are so clear compared to the UK!

Once we arrived back in Queenstown that evening, our crew from the Bottom bus whom we've now made very good friends with, ventured out on the town again, scoring various free shots and discounted teapots with our kiwi passes :) (the benefits are endless!). We also met up with a few of our original kiwi travellers from our first (and fave) bus which was good, catching up with the various activities they've been doing since we left them for the Bottom Bus.

The next day was pretty chilled (recovery day for those who had a little too much the night before...), so we decided with 3 of the girls (Josie and Caty, gap years from Reading, and Cesca, a Birmigham uni grad) to try out a pole dancing class that evening! So, at 8pm we we're taken to the studio in our hotpants to meet Raha, our bubbly instructor for the evening. After donning our sparkly cowboy hats and feather boas, we got to work on our individual poles with a set routine - and it's a lot harder than it looks, though apparently she was very impressed with us! it was such a laugh and the bubbly flowed! At the end of the 2 hour session, we were even treated to a performance by Raha, which was pretty hot as expected ;)

Although slightly aching and bruised, we decided to take on the town once more with our new-found skills, and even gave a small demonstration on a pole located at the back of the Buffalo Bar by popular demand! (Don't worry, it was probably more rubbish than raunchy!). The rest of the gang were pretty impressed nonetheless - here come the girls! It was other fun night with our fellow kiwi experiencers, finishing off with another cheeky Ferburger... :) they will definitely be missed in the UK!

On Tuesday, it rained; however it's one of the first days of rubbish weather in the 20 or so that we've been in this country, so we weren't complaining. Nevertheless, the 5 of us, plus 2 guys Cesca had dragged along, ventured out into Queenstown gardens to play a round of frisbee golf, with the aim of getting our frisbees into the various metal baskets scattered around the park in the least number of throws possible. It was good fun on the cheap whilst everyone else sat inside watching TV in the hostel, and I'm proud to say that i won! (the boys came in at an impressive last... :P ). Once we were sufficiently soaked through, myself, Emily, Josie and Caty went ice skating for a few hours in the rink nearby before warming up with some popcorn in front of a film back at the hostel. As it was mine and Emily's last day in Queenstown, we spent one last night having a boogie in the local bars as a goodbye to our friends we were to be leaving behind once again.

Yesterday morning we were back on a new Kiwi bus at 8am to travel the 6 hour journey to our next destination, Christchurch. Once again it rained non-stop, however it's good news up on the slopes for the prospective ski season that is due to begin in a few weeks time. To pass the time on the bus we watched a few films, Snatch and Old School, followed by a few episodes of The A Team, before reaching the city centre at around 5pm after a few lunch stops. Em and i are staying with another of dad's cousin's, Ian, and his wife, Anna, whilst we're here, so we decided to catch a taxi from the drop-of point instead of walking to the other side of the town centre in an attempt to find the bus in the torrential rain with our huge backpacks on! We didn't have quite enough cash on us to make the full 10 min ride (it was bloomin' expensive!) so the driver kindly let us off the last 10 bucks... we won't be doing that again!

Ian is away on a work trip for a few days (he's a ski instructor) so we spent the evening getting to know Anna who cooked a lovely meal for us and chatted into the evening. They have the most gorgeous dog, Lenny, a 3 year old border collie who constantly wants us to play tug of war with his old red rag! Makes us miss our little doggles back home, Lenny is no match on them...!

As predicted, the weather is still pretty rubbish today but we're going to take Lenny down to the beach nearby for a walk and maybe venture into the town for a bit to see what's about. It's been nice just to chill in a warm house and sleep in our own rooms for a change, instead of the 8 bed hostel dorms! Spoke to Dan Bridgman today, a friend from school who's just got into Queenstown (it is SUCH a small world!) so will probably be meeting up with him sometime in the near future when we're on our next bus.

Wow, I realise this entry is a pretty long one so congratulations if you managed to reach this point! We'll try and update it more often...

Love you all, we hope you like the photos, though they never quite do New Zealand justice!! It's such an amazing place.

Stephanie (and Em - she'll write the next one!)

xxxxxxx