A late check out this morning which meant we could have a lie in in our ten bed private dorm. Awesome! We need some room mates now to keep us sane; we are going a little senile now. We packed up and went for breakfast on the front, absolute beauty of a day again! The sun was beaming and there was no wind again - we are finally being spoilt with this beautiful weather and it really makes the scenery look even better! The bus was empty again, only 17 of us on i...

Another first for Ellie today, kayaking! Haha I keep winding her up that I’m going on my own and she’ll have to paddle her own, at sea, where there’s sharks and seals. Woohoo we couldn’t wait! Our bus picked us up for 8.30am and took us over to another town closer to the national park before we met three more girls and our kayak instructor. Ellie was lucky, they only had double kayaks. I was on steering. But kayaks I haven’t seen before, they had peda...

Another beauty of a day! Well, sunrise should I say... 6am wake up call and 6.30am pick up by the chatty ‘everyone’s my mate’ Blackwood man for Ellie to go and throw herself out of a plane (hopefully). I’m not great in the mornings so let’s hope there’s not too many questions and chats because I can’t deal. Ellie got suited and booted straight away and was due to take off at 7am, thank god there weren’t many questions I think he could tell I was...

6.30am wake up call and a 6.45am wake up call - it was not a great feeling. I was very much in a deep sleep and quite enjoying it in fact. Up and out for the ferry to the South Island, thankfully it was sunny again and now clouds just freezing cold! There were just 10 of us on a huge coach going to the ferry and then a few more on the other side. Still not enough for even a half full bus. The ferry was three hours long and left at 8.45am, I haven’t been on ...

Nobody to wake us up this morning just the stale smell that’s still lingering in the room of what we can only suggest is Ellie’s trainers (this she is strongly disagreeing on even after Mike smelt them). The window isn’t letting enough air in to the room, we just have to smell our way through it... Both up around 8am, my back is concerning me a little. It’s very very stiff this morning. First time it’s felt this bad since I’ve had the procedure in M...