So my last few weeks in Queenstown were a little crazy which was expected obviously. So here goes… One night I got in from work, it was maybe 11.45pm and when I got to the door everyone was in our house as per usual. It was pretty manic everyone was a wee bit tipsy, Rob from next door was like 'Tracy before you come inside I must warn you there's been a minor flood issue' I was like 'really?' and was convinced he was joking. But no. There was a flood that looked pretty similar to the Mekong River in our Kitchen and Bathroom area. Oh great. There was towels everywhere. And then I noticed the hole in the kitchen wall. It looked like bloody Ricky Hatten had got angry and punched a hole in the wall as it was massive!! There was plaster everywhere. Oh dear. So they then tell me the fire brigade had been to help…? Not sure why someone called the fire fighters to help with the great flood but nevermind they came and turned off the water so we now have a wet everything, no water, a huge hole in the wall and now everyone was going out on the piss. Awesome. Luckily living at Sherwood was one big happy family and we were besties with our next door neighbours Rob and Geordie Laura so we had access to their shower and toilet etc as we had nothing. Before they went out however Matt, Robs kiwi friend who was staying over did make me a cuppa to help soften the blow haha.

So that night I was in bed and good old Sarah Mc nominated me for the Ice Bucket challenge which is to raise cash and awareness for ALS so I decided since everyone was doing it at home in their back gardens, I don't have a back garden so decided to do it in my front garden which is actually just Lake Wakatipu (lucky me) so the next day I got up early and went next door for a wee and made all the hungover mess people breakfast and tea. Emma, Luke, Rob and Matt were all dying a horrible death and of course I hadn't gone out as I'm so good. By breakfast I mean I brought the toaster over as for some reason they don't have one and a loaf of bread so made a toast party for all which was nice of me haha, Matt t then got the bacon and eggs on the go which was nice. Good old family breakfasts are the best! So I made them realise they were getting involved in my ice bucket challenge as I needed assistance, bucket holder and pourer, film crew and also a pump up crowd to get me psyched up for the challenge. So we got some buckets and headed on down to the lake we had to climb down and Emma had brought me a towel bless her. Luke did manage to pour one of the buckets of water on Rob before we even got to the lake which was hilarious. So we got down there, me and Rob got in the water all prepared, it was a typical bluebird day so blue skies, sun blazing and me in the lake which wasn't as cold as I was expecting. We then got Emma to make my phone work for the recording, Luke was blasting some awesome tunes and Matt was just chilling - typical laid back kiwi style. It was a pretty nice moment to be honest, so we got recording and of course Rob was just not paying attention so of course in the video that's why I'm waiting for Rob to actually pour the water over my head for way longer than I should have been! So he poured the water and then I decided to go all out and jump in the lake, I was standing on the nice rocky area so walked back a bit and jumped in and f*** me (excuse my French) but jesus that water is fricking cold man, as soon as it was up to my neck it totally took my breath away literally and I just couldn't breathe. The current is also so strong there so I s*** my pants a bit and swam back as quick as I could, convinced I wasn't going to make it. But I got back all still being filmed and it seems I hid it all very well cos on the video I'm actually smiling when swimming back which is mental as in fact I was very panicked!! How funny! So me and Emma went back to Robs so I could shower asap I was so cold and it took me a good 45 minutes until my normal breathing resumed which was quite freaky!! But I did it and I'm proud to help raise awareness. A lot of people have said it's ridiculous as no one's really donating and what a waste of water blah blah blah. I'm pretty sure like 5% of Facebook users had heard of ALS two months ago and now I reckon it's more like 75% because of this challenge. So it is certainly raising awareness!! And the waste of water people, I bet don't worry about the water when the have 20 minute showers or take a bath twice a week. Get off your high horses you stupid p**** - as if awareness raising of which stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. It's basically something that affects nerve cells from the brain to spinal cord and from the spinal cord to muscles all over the body. Essentially the degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS leads to patients becoming paralysed sometimes completely paralysed too. It eventually leads to death, the symptoms are horrible such as muscle weakness, mainly affecting arms and legs, speech and even swallowing and breathing. So with no muscle movement possible they begin to die leading to extremely thin limbs as they are wasting away. It's such a sad and upsetting illness so please can people stop hating on the fact that people are making an effort to raise awareness and money to help these patients. Rant Over and I hope you all learned something there too.

Some of the typical drama that was always happening in Queenstown was that the people who left the hostel never got asked to go anywhere ever again once you left the hostel… The hostel folk who never left are all deluded about how good it is there. Hilarious when you realise they get kicked out from having fun at 10.30 and it's so expensive to live there and it's freezing. It's actually poor backpacking to live in a hostel when you can move somewhere that's half price with better facilities! But they are all so scared they won't have friends if they leave the hostel bubble which is funny as they don't include people who leave the hostel so then there is two groups of people the hostel losers and the people who left haha it's really funny it's like being at school again. It's actually really pathetic and having being travelling for almost 2 years I've never actually been anywhere like this before where it's all school yard tactics. Grow the feck up people!! So glad I'm away from that all now. I could not deal with the fakery that was going on in Queenstown with the hostel folk. All oh you didn't invite me but we don't invite you anywhere. Get a grip we are adults I won't waste my time on people like you! Mainly just winds me up as it upsets a lot of people who get left out, I am not one of the people who was upset by it as I was happy to escape the childishness of it all. But I don't like to see my friends disrespected by certain individuals, it's out of order! But you know me, I ignore the s***s who go on like that as I didn't travel halfway across the world to deal with dickheads like that. I don't need people like that in my life and they will realise that karma is a b**** when they finally get some balls and the confidence to move or more likely when their visas have expired and they have to leave and they struggle to make friends in their next destination. So sad, but true. I'm so happy I ended up in Sherwood where everyone was nice and just like normal nice backpackers! We were all a real big happy family for real there and everyone would do anything for anyone which is how it should be! I think the Queenstown bubble is mental and when I left I was so happy to be away and into the real world again!! Although I am gonna miss all my mates there!! All my roomies, Sophie, Sean and Stephen, Susie and of course Rob and Jon from down south and my next door neighbours were just my awesome friends there and I will hopefully see them all again soon!

So of course I had quit my job working my insane 4 weeks notice, whatever. The day I quit they actually sacked their best member of staff for some absolute mental mad up bulls*** reason and it was so inappropriate as it was clearly because the manager just didn't like him. So that really pissed us all off. And I had even spoken to a colleague about it the day before he was sacked expressing I was glad I was going to quit as it might save him from being sacked as I could already see it coming a mile off due to the dislike going on from the manager. So I was pretty shocked they received my resignation and fired him afterwards. Big mistake as the customers all raved about him, he created such a buzz in the work place for both staff and customers. But obviously the customer isn't always right? Wrong. They were so right. It totally changed the mood at work and my last 4 weeks were extremely painful to be honest. It went from being a fun place to work to being a crap atmosphere and also we had zero customers which really makes your day drag out. Bad crack. So glad I am out of that place now!! My last day was brilliant - such a relief to be out of there. Good luck to the new staff is all I can say.

One of the best days at work ever was when the fire men came in one day to do a fire safety check, 4 firemen came in and I had to take them through the maze showing them our emergency exits and emergency lights and thing like that which was all very exciting! I do love firemen. Also one of the firemen is actually my friend Andre which was funny taking him through he's a super cool Brazilian. So after the go through they all posed for photos with me, they were excellent crack and had so much fun playing in the maze. Me and Sophie were mocking them for coming for a free Famil cheeky b*****s!! I then went on my lunch to Devil Burger which is the best burger joint in Queenstown - not Ferg! And I sent a picture of me with them all to my manager saying it was the best leaving gift ever. She then text all like 'call me now please' haha I though we were in the s*** for letting them through without asking or telling her but then my phone died so I couldn't call her so when I got back into work she was on the phone to Sophie. She thought there has been a fire apparently… as if I would fail to mention the fire if there had been one. Really. I love how much respect you can get from your seniors at work. Note to all. I am not an idiot. Despite being blonde I am actually quite smart and I'm pretty sure I will never fail to mention if and when there was a fire to the correct parties. Doh.

Anyway one night at Sherwood we had the Sherwood Games which is basically the Olympics of drinking games. I was on Team Inter Ya Nan (I would like to point out I had no part in the naming of the team) there was me, Geordie Laura, Rob and Luke with Jason as our Sub. It was all very serious. Our first game was against room 507 who are famous for their partying ways. The game was t*** which is like beer pong where you use your boobs (your team member is opposite and throw it at your chest) to get the ping pong ball in your beer cup. So me and Laura were our team and Luke and Rob were the other vs the 507 people. Of course we won. 2 Geordies on one team hell yes!! Our next game was throwing Frisbees at a cone with a stick to knock a cup off to gain points. We also won this game it turns out I was awesome at throwing the Frisbee for the first time ever. Our 3rd game was some weird game involving cups and a ping pong ball and it made no sense so we lost that one then it was a game with an obstacle course and we got blindfolded and had to down a drink get spun around 10 times then attempt the obstacle course with my teams shouting directions. The point of our team was that we would shout 'left pet, right pet' so we would know who was shouting at who as of course it was a game so we had opponents but that didn't plan out and on mine I was shouting why is no one shouting pet and walked into the bushes it was pretty funny. So we lost that one too!! The last game was flip cup which I was champion of in Australia, but we lost that game too which was sad so in all we came 4th out of 8 which wasn't so bad!! We all partied all night to celebrate but it was an awesome event. Andrew who owns Sherwood had got us catering in from Pedros House of Lamb, which is basically the best lamb catering company in New Zealand. It was the best meal we'd all ate in ages!! Proper Lamb off the bone, served with a fancy Jus and with potatoes. OMG it was amazing. He also got us all some beers in. Bearing in mind, there was like 170 of us living there it must have cost him a small fortune!! Good man. For the games we also brought loads of snow down from the mountains and made our very own rail jam for the skiers and snowboarders which was super brilliant!! So cool to see in the middle of a hotel complex!! Living the dream for sure. This is why Sherwood is the best place to live In Queenstown ever!

On my last week I decided I should maybe finally go up the mountains to try snowboarding, so luckily Ellie and Jamie were there to take me up so we got on the bus, I lent all of Vanessa's snowboard gear so I looked proper professional. When we got up there I took some photos it was all very exciting apart from the fake snow everywhere all made by machines boo. It was cool though being up on the Remarkables. It's so high up there and the views are amazing. Typical bluebird day again of course so beautiful blue skies, sun blazing it was hot up there I was sweating a lot!! We had lunch, made some friends while we did - standard. I was actually up there with a mission. As our Claire was getting married her friend Natalie had decided we should all do a countdown to her wedding, pictures of us holding up signs saying how many sleeps to go. My sign was all made saying 6 sleeps to go. I got chatting to a guy sitting down, he was pretty hot and very buff too. He was there for gay ski week of course with all his other gay friends who were all lovely too. So after discovering he worked next door to Henry Wu's bar/restaurant in Brisbane, I asked him to take his top off to pose for a photo with me haha!! He had a fit body too so it was brilliant he was a perfect sport and of course stripped off there and then for me and we got some awesome pics for Claire's wedding countdown so I was happy with that!!

Of course I also tried snowboarding when I was up there it was an awesome success… not. I held on to Jamie the whole way down screaming like a girl 'don't let go' I had no idea how to stop it was very scary as I was bombing down the mountain (ahem, bunny slopes) It was quite traumatic for me and for Jamie I think as he had a broken wrist at the time and I think he was concerned I was going to break the other one!! It was fun though and I'm glad I tried it!! But snowboarding is not for me, if I go up a mountain again I would def do skiing instead!! Feels way more secure!! But yep mountain mission complete. I became a snowboarder, checked out the slopes and got photographed with a hot (but gay) guy!!

Before my last week Emma had to leave which was very traumatic for me as she had became my favourite swede ever since living with her, we got super close and used to take on the world together at any oppoutunity and she is also really outspoken which I love about her! She is famous in Sherwood for saying 'f*** off' in her gorgeous tones!! She is a beautiful person inside and out and I'm so glad she ended up being part of my Queenstown experience as she enhanced it a lot! We had many leaving drinks for her which were all messy as hell and good crack!! She came to see me to say bye on her last day as I was working so I couldn't go to the airport with her which was sad, saying bye to her there was so sad I just wanted to have a little cry but instead I had to serve lovely customers feeling really emotional and I was in alone so had no one to cover me. But I am pretty sure we will always stay in touch and we will reunite again somewhere and I would love to visit her in Sweden as she would be an awesome guide. She is so full of life and knows how to seize the day for sure. Since getting back home she has sent me a ton of snapchats including one showing her clothes on the ground as she had been skinny dipping in a lake!! Love that girl!! Although she send me snapchats when she wakes up looking absolutely stunning which make me hate her Swedish genes haha!!

That day that Emma left, me and Rob next door decided it was time we went on a date day out so we met after work where he was getting his free tattoo done on his arm - he got a mountain scene of Queenstown which sounds poo but is actually pretty cool. So I sat with him through that, it didn't take long we then for a beer in Harrys with Laura who we saw on the way. And then we went to the Ice Bar as I had free entry tickets, we got our cocktails paid for and in we went it was pretty cool, getting all dressed up in big coats with furry hoods. Our cocktails were so good and obviously served out of an ice glass which was cool, it was pretty freezing in there though! We managed to stay in for over 45 minutes which was pretty good. We spent a lot of time posing for pictures! We then went home, we were trying to hitchhike but it turns out Andrew who owns our home picked us up by chance which was cool! He then made me some random dinner of spicy pasta which I think he made with curry sauce? But it was nice anyways and I had found some fresh bread with cheese on my bread which I though Emma must have bought for me randomly, but of course it turned out to be Jamie's as he was always in our house haha so we ate that too! And then we watched crap tv all night which was nice just having a chilled night!

The first day of being unemployed I borrowed Keegans car so me, Hannah and Emily could go on a road trip to Glenorchy which was so beautiful, its 40 minute drive outside of Queenstown so not sure why I'd not been there before. Probably because I only got one day off a week for some stupid reason! It was so lush a gorgeous warm day and we stopped for plenty pics on the way it was so nice, I love those two we get on dead well and all realise how much better life is outside the hostel. When we got to Glenorchy we checked out the lake front took some poser pics then headed for lunch and sat outside of this lovely café, I had a chicken salad. New Zealand really know how to make an excellent salad they put everything in them! This had tons of lovely chicken, potatoes, roasted beetroot, courgette and tons of stuff in it I was so impressed!! The girls had total envy haha. We then posed on with a police motorcycle and a old vintage car outside another café where we all ordered desserts but then couldn't eat them as we were being too greedy and couldn't fit more food in!! We then decided to go on a lovely drive to somewhere random and ended up on a dodgy dirt track ending up at Diamond Lake which was so beautiful!! So that was a cool surprise! We then headed back home along all the beautiful lake view!! I got myself ready as it was my night out with Sophie, Sean, Stephen and Susie! This coincided with Lukes last night so everyone was at ours getting smashed and then I went out with Stephen and Susie and we met the others in Harrys then headed to the casino as it was gay ski week karaoke night!! It was class! We also found Ross there who was also fired from work so we all got our picture taken holding a sign we made saying Ex Oydissians haha which we thought was hilarious!! Apart from Sophie who has to stay there haha. We all got merry as and Sean and Sophie insisted on getting a million drinks in we then went to Zepher as it's our favourite bar we hung out there for hours and then finally Jamie, Luke, Ellie, Vanessa and Rob showed up! We tried to go to Boiler Room but they wouldn't let us in haha so we didn't go there. Me and Ellie lost everyone and went back to Zepher for some wine and then we ended up in Devil Burger obviously haha!! Getting burgers and cheesy chips and garlic!! Awesome!! We then got our taxi home and it was my taxi driver who I always get he's a really sweet guy from Mumbai and he was so sad I was leaving he said the taxi fare home was on him!! How cute!! Aww things like that make me love parts of Queenstown as if you're local you're local!! We then ate our chips in Robs house and then ate our burgers in bed haha! Classy ladies!! I couldn't actually eat all of mine so I saved half for the next day what a genius!!

In the morning Rob (not my next door neighbour rob) had stayed over (he's dating Vanessa) so he decided he would take her to work as he had a car with him and then we could go for breakfast. He's one of my favourite people I've met in Queenstown, he's such a good lad even though he is southern! We get on dead well, so we ended up going to Arnolds Diner for lunch which was sweet we got real American Strawberry Thickshakes which were amazing and I got Beef Quesadillas which were absolutely lush!! I couldn't eat it all it was massive but so tasty!!

That night Stephen was locked out of his house so he came to mine and we got drunk on scrumpy haha typical night in at Sherwood!! On the Saturday me and Vanessa got Rob to take us up the Gondola where he works for free on his way to work, I ended up actually going up with Jon who I bumped into there when I was waiting for them. Jon is who Rob came travelling with and he is also one of my favourite people from Queenstown he's so arrogant but I think in a charming way! He's a good lad and good crack. He always wanted to take me on a date (I'm joking he's a proper player haha) so I think this was it! He then gave me a grand tour of the restaurant and bar area and the look out points which was cool. Then Vanessa arrived and we got some ciders and sat outside looking at the beautiful view discussing life it was so nice!! When I first met her I was very unsure of her and she was very unsure of me, I think because I was such good friends with Rob and then they got together I think she was unsure of our friendship but when she moved into Sherwood with us I just fell in love with her she is an awesome girl and I'm so happy I got to know her properly in the end!! I just adore her she's a real sweetheart, infact she got me a little keyring from Arrowtown with my name on as a little keepsake when I left bless her!! She has a heart of gold and she is a crazy Canadian. She's so much fun and so full on energy all the time she's a good girl!! So it was nice having some time with her before I left as we got pretty close!!

That night Vanessa persuaded me to go out with her Ellie and Jamie so we went to town to Ellie's friends birthday party in Surreal which was cool but I couldn't really be bothered to be out anymore in town by this point so after an hour Jason turned up and he said he was leaving soon which was perfect for me so we left together via a stop into Buffalo so I could say my goodbyes to Emily which was emotional she gave us all jagerbombs so I had 3 in 5 minutes with her!! Then I went to Ferg for chips and was so excited to get into bed then in taxi Jason tells me its his 30th birthday now as its 12.15!! So I demand he has a drink in mine when we get back to toast his special day!! Then Ellie, Vanessa and Jamie turn up and Vanessa is so sick bless her, she has a terrible migraine and starts the vomit!! I'm scared of sick so I have no idea how but I managed to look after her, got her half ready for bed, she refused to put a top on! And rubbed her back as she was sick into a bag for what seemed like forever!! I felt so bad for her though poor love, she didn't look well at all. I eventually called Rob and demanded he came over after work as I figured she would want to see him and I really wanted my bed! So I stayed with her until her showed up - she fell asleep not long after all the vomit. So he got here at 2am and he was working his other job at 8am bless him what a good one!! So much for my early night haha! Ellie left me to sleep at Jamie's as she couldn't cope with the sick as I'm the oldest I got the short straw.

The next day was my last day in Queenstown - argh!! It went so fast! Me and Ellie went and did the Shotover Jet, she had a free ticket and I got a friends and family discount deal which was nice so it was $69 for me which was awesome! We waited in the green in the sun for an hour before it was our time to go. It was so much fun!! It was scary ass as they drive the jet boat straight towards the canyons but somehow don't hit them. We were drenched it was a proper exhilarating experience I was grinning like a cheeky monkey through the whole thing! We posed for a few shots by the Shotover River afterwards and then headed back to town for some wine in the sunshine!! It was the hottest day ever! There is no wind in Queenstown it's so sheltered by the mountains so it was super warm! We got a bit burnt!! Hannah and Keegan also came to meet us for a beer and some food so it was really nice just having a chill out with friends in the sunshine. A perfect last day really!!

That night Rob arranged for us to go up the Gondola for the meal which should cost $80 but we got it for $30 bargain!! So there was me, Ellie, Vanessa, Rob, Julian (robs flatmate) and 2 guys who they work with up the gondola. It was such a nice buffet, certainly not like manky, horrible buffet, it was good quality food!! So we were well happy with it. We were also getting free wine which is always a good thing to get haha. It was basically the best leaving day ever spending it with my roomies and Rob. Its gonna be weird not having them with me in Christchurch but it's all cool I'll see them soon. Vanessa and Rob want to do a road trip soon so they'll come see me!

But yeah that's me done with Queenstown now! Not sure I'll ever go back, I certainly didn't love living there. It was no Melbourne or Margaret River for me but it was cool and I had some good times and I met some brilliant people which is the main thing!! Happy I gave it a go but happy I've left now!! But yeah I'm in Christchurch now, there is a cotton on here. I have a job, I have my own bedroom. Definitely made the right decision to escape that place!!! But that is the next chapter and it hasn't been written yet…

Peace out guys love you all!! xxxxxxxxxxxx

PS The photo is me and my gorgeous roomies from 502. From Left to right its Emma, Vanessa, Ellie and Me before our last night out all together before Emma left us :) Absolute best roomies I have ever had having never lived with so many girls before!! big kisses ladies xxx