Hi again! I'm going to have to fill in a bit of a gap in blog entries as it's been hard to get to a computer until now. We have a load of other great photos but there's no USB port in this hostel's PC to connect my camera up to, so they'll have to follow...

We caught our first Kiwi Experience bus from Wellington on Wednesday morning to the Interislander ferry that took us on a gorgeous journey across to the South Island whilst the sun was coming up. We met a few of the other backpackers on Kiwi Experience too so we got to hear of the many stories and amazing things they have been getting up to on the North island! The majority of the travellers on the bus are British, with a couple of Americans too. Most are on gap years or have just finished uni, though a few have just spontaneously decided to get up and go and explore the world, so many have been around other countries already! There is also a lovely girl who works for Kiwi Experience herself, so is having this trip paid for by the company so that she can experience it for herself in order to sell it more efficiently to customers! Alright for some...

Once we got to our first hostel, our driver Zippy (Cam in another life) gave us our bus passes and booked us to have a roast dinner (plus fudge cake!) that evening, which we took without hesitation! You never know if it could be our last good meal...we also took part in the beer-tasting session in the bar which was a laugh - we had NZ beers with chocolate and even coriander in! Though some were not so great...We're all staying in dorms together so we got to meet a couple of girls on their gap years, plus a chef from Bournemouuth and a great girl from Texas, Bonny, whom we've spent most of our time with so far. Earlier that day we took a walk up together to the "centre of NZ", which is pretty much just a plaque at the summit of a hill, which we were later told wasn't ACTUALLY the centre. Hmm.

AND IT'S SUCH A SMALL WORLD! On the same bus as us is James Moody, a guy who was in our year at Sharnbrook Upper! That was a surprised greeting...! Very cool.

Today has been a very wet day, and not because it's been raining! The weather for the next few days is forecast to be totally rubbish, so we sadly decided not to go to the Abel Tasman National Park where we could have done some great walks and sea kayaking, but our driver strongly recommended that we didn't. So we caught our bus out of Nelson at 8:30am this morning, and Zippy took a small detour to Lake Rotoiti where the toughest of us stripped off into our bikinis and trunks and leapt into the insanely cold water! (It's what we crazy backpackers do apparently...!) We got some amaaazing photos jumping off the jetty though, with a breathtaking backdrop of the Southern Alps. Once half dry and dressed, Zippy sent round a clipboard (this is how we book ourselves onto activities) offering horse trekking or jet boating along the Buller river, so as it was the best value for money we'll get in NZ for jet boating and the weather was holding out (never trust a weatherman!), we joined 9 others for a zoom along the river. It was amazing, and for the second time today we got a soaking! The boat was being driven by some crazy Kiwi guy, who every now and again would just fling twist his arm in the air before carrying out a 360 spin. Awesome as the Kiwis would say.

Once we were back in the hostel, everyone took off to room 7 where the drinking games commenced...

The scenery down here is just breathtakingly beautiful, I hope to get the pics up soon! The people on the bus with us are really cool and we've made some good friends :)

Once again, peace out people and I'll be in touch soon!

xxxx