Hi All WOW! New Zealand is great! I have had such a mad couple of weeks and I am only half way through! So here is what I have been up to.... Flew into Christchurch leaving wet Sydney behind to arrive to a beautiful sunny day in NZ. Stayed in a really central backpackers which was cool and had an explore of the city. Its very pretty but not that exciting to be honest! Left the next day on the Kiwi Experience. For those of you who dont know what this is it is a tour company where you buy a pass to take you on a certain route and hop on and off where ever you want on the way so you can see the country at your own speed. Its really tailored to young travellers and they recommend hostels and activities for you to do. It is also known as the 'big green loving machine' and other similar names (that I cant write as my mum reads this) as its a bit of a party bus! Anyway! Headed off on that to Westport via Arthurs Pass, did some walking and stopped where they filmed some of Lord of The Rings (the part in the second film where they get attacked by the dogs and legolus does that cool jump onto his horse looking HOT). Went Jet Rafting which was great and stayed in a hostel in the middle of nowhere! The next night we stayed at a place called the Poo Pub where we had a themed night and all wore crazy hats and got very drunk and played lots of drinking games. Then on to Franz Josef Glacier. I did ice climbing! Needless to say I was not very good at it but it was a great day out. We had to climb up the glacier for a couple of hours to get to some good places to climb and the scenery was just amazing - the pictures will speak for themselves in this instance. I was so tired from that day that I got drunk and sung karaoke - nice! Also they have these crazy toilets in Franz that play music whilst you have a wee - I was loving singing along to Barbra Streisand 'Évergreen' - Mum you would have loved it! We then passed through Lake Wanaka for a night which was beautiful and it started to snow whilst we were there which was cool. I have met a Thai girl called Mee who was so excited about the snow having never seen any in Phuket! She made us homemade Thai curry for tea - for 10 of us so we were very well taken care of there! Then onto Queenstown. What a party town. Quite small but has a really cool vibe and full of other travellers passing through. Went out and got very drunk that night then had to get back on the bus the next morning still drunk. Excellent night out- especially as I got to meet up with Chris and Jo who were on the Bangkok tour! I then did what is known as the 'Bottom Bus' this travels to Dunedin, Invercargill, Te Anau and Milford Sounds over four days. Dunedin is pretty cool - a student city really so quite lively, the rest of the bottom part is quite remote - I did some Sheep Shearing in Invercargill and saw Sea Lions on the beach. Milford Sounds was beautiful but the weather was not great so it was a shame we didnt get to see it at its best. Then back on up to Queenstown and the Canyon Swing! You have probably seen the pictures by now but oh my god I was so scared and couldnt sleep the night before. Seeing as I was scared going on that flume at Wet n Wild you can imagine I was feeling pretty nervous! One of the guys on the bus had won his Swing free so we all went to do it with him. As I am usually talking all the time the others were really winding me up on the way there as I was so quiet! Anyway, I went first as I just had to get it done and oh my god it was amazing! They attach the harness to your waist and then off you go! Freefall until you hit the arch and then you swing across the Canyon, what a buzz! Apparantly the guys there really try to scare you but they were nice to me although the lads didnt fare so well! Ryan who had the free swing went off backwards attached to a chair! Mental! So that was my favourite activity so far! The companys slogan of - Éven my sh*t was scared is very appropriate! As the ski slopes were open the second time we were in Queenstown I decided to do some skiing which was cool. You can hire everything so they make it really easy for you which is good. Cant believe I have been skiing in June but seriously it is really cold here!! It was cool to do that and I really enjoyed it. After spending a fortune in Queenstown I decided to head on upwards to start making my way up to the North Island. Left on the bus from Queenstown at 9am and arrived in Christchurch at midnight! We got seriously stuck in the snow and were meant to get there by about 5pm. We ended up blocking a road as the bus slid a bit and we were on the news because of it! Its all excitement on my travels! Anyway, the next night stopped off at Kaikaura where you can swim with Dolphins and Whale watch - unfortunately the bad weather meant these things were cancelled. Then onto Wellington on the North Island via the ferry, which is where I am now! The weather is still totally rubbish and I am looking forward to getting back to the sun at some point soon! Have met some great people this past few weeks and have had loads of fun. Looking forward to seeing what the North Island has to offer. Will attach photos in the next couple of days xx