Kia Ora from the very cold South coast! For our last night in Queenstown with the gang on our bus before we left them for the Bottom Bus, an optional loop around the very South of NZ, we took on the town once again, with Emily in full swing this time! There were a couple of guys playing acoustic music in the Altitude bar so we began there with a bit of a boogie before heading off to the World bar again. It was another great night and a great way to say a last goodbye to everyone, though at one point I wasn't quick enough to duck when the barmen sprayed everyone in the vicinity with fish oil, shortly followed by flour bombs...!!! Luckily I only got a small spray, but some were covered in it - they smelled like the worst part of a boys loo!! Kinda gross, but most people had been unfortunate enough to get caught so no-one really cared that much after a while! Apparently it was for the barmaids night out where tradionally some form of liquid is squirted around...water obviously just wasn't exciting enough! And of course, a last farewell Fergburger was in need :)

Whilst for the majority of the time we've been on our Kiwi Experience bus from Wellington most people we've met have stayed on with us right down the South coast, from Queenstown everyone tends to go their separate ways as we stay for different amounts of time at the adventure capital, as there's so much to do there. A few of our gang from the bus will still be in Queenstown when we head back tomorrow evening though, so it will bebe good to catch up again :)

However, here on the Bottom Bus we've stayed with a couple of guys, Jake (Welsh) and Murray (Scottish) who were on our original bus so that's cool. (Spare us the "Englishman, Welshman and Scotsman were in a bar..." jokes please!) They're 18 also, though are not on gap years as they're not going for the university option afterwards.

On Thursday we took our new mini bus down to Dunedin, a town with a very Scottish influence in NZ. On the way we stopped off at a hydro-power station with a huge dam (NZ is powered by wind and water alone) before walking up the steepest street in the worls, Baldwin Street! Another story for the grandkids perhaps...We shared a dorm with Jake, Murray and 3 other guys from a different Kiwi bus who've joined us down here, so you can imagine it got pretty smelly in there...! We then sat in the TV lounge and watched The Beach before heading off to bed to be on the bus again for 10am (a lie-in!).

Yesterday we travelled to Invercargill, the Southernmost point of the mainland with the next land mass being Antarctica, so you can imagine it was pretty chilly. We stopped off at Nugget point lighthouse to view some fur seals basking on the rocks below, before heading through a sub-tropical rainforest in the Catlins to see some amazing waterfalls. Further along the coast we took a walk to Cannibal Bay, where a famous battle took place between the Northern and Southern Maori tribes, with the result of the former being slaughtered and eaten by the latter, hence the name! As we walked along the beach, we spotted a few sealions lying exhausted on the sand, the first place they arrive at after their marathon swim from the icy land of the South pole. Were able to get up to 10m away!! (If they decide to charge at us they can only last for about 3m before they have to flop down again to recover!).

Our last stop was probably the best though; we arrived at Curio Bay at dusk and stood watching silently on the beach, waiting for NZ's little colony of yellow-eyed penguins to emerge from their day of fishing in the water to feed their chicks in their nests below the cliffs. They were only around a foot and a half high, and we were able to get to around a 20m distance from them! (Any closer and they'd freeze like little statues or jump back into the water, sometimes not to return to feed their chicks at all). They were so cute and definitely worth the wait in the cold! I will have to load the picture later, theirs no USB slot here.

We arrived in Te Anau around an hour ago after a scenic route from Invercargill along the coast, and will be cooking a big meal together with the other guys later on tonight. We're off to the shop now to gather supplies :)

Tomorrow we're taking a boat cruise around Milford Sound, a beautiful route through the Fjords and bays, with an underwater observatory on the boat, before heading back to Queenstown for a couple of nights once again.

We hope everyone is well and will speak soon!!

xxxxx