Howdy people! sorry ive left it so long since my last blog, 10 days infact! its been a busy and eventful 10 days to tell you about......

so Adam, Marcel and I manage to get ourselves another little camoervan for 3 of us, its like a mini version of the beasty 7 berth we had before so Marcel has come up with the name of the van, he calls it our "lepricorn" its not the prettiest of vans and it stinks! we dont use the toilet in it but still it manages to turn our stomach! smelly lepricorn!!!! haha.

we depart Christchurch and head for Kaikoura once again hoping to do something with our time there, its a really beautiful part of New Zealand which i love. unfortunately though due to our lazyness and love for beer we sleep in and miss out on any real activities that kaikoura is famous for so seen as it was a nice day we head for the golf course for a round. after losing many balls and hacking our way through some tricky rough we head back to the van for some well earned food and sleep!

following day we leave for Hanmer springs, the girls we left behind in Christchurch had left us a treasure hunt there and a suprise gift hidden somewhere in Hanmer! we get there and find a bag full of treats and a letter! aww they miss us, dont blame them though!! haha. we chilled out in the springs for a couple of hours then made tracks for the west coast, Greymouth been the destination for the night. we drive Lewis Pass which cuts right through the moutains of the north end of the southern alps.... if that makes sense! anyway it was really amazing scenery! once in Greymouth we ended up finding ourselves a target of some local a*******s who found it really funny to smash our windscreen on the van and chase us out of town! just what you need when your on a tight budget!!! note to people going coming to NZ, DONT GO TO GREYMOUTH!!!!

after an eventful night in Greymouth, we ended up driving to Hokitika to sleep, 40km south. we are only and hour or so from Franz Josef Glacier so we head on down there to bump into the girls! the mighty 7 are back together! Franz is in the heart of Glacier coutry and also smack bang in the middle of a rainforest, so been in a rainforest it rains, ALOT! infact for 2 whole days while we were there it had around 200mm!!!! the same amount london as in half a year! i booked a Glacier trek on Franz Josef which i was really looking forward to ever since i arrived in NZ, unfortunately the weather did spoil it slightly but the experience its self was unbelievable! trekking on one of the worlds most famous glaciers for 6 hours!!!! couple of guys got mild hyperthermia and one girl nearly slipped to her death down a 30ft cravas apart from that the ice was amazing! once off the glacier and soaked through 4 layers of clothing i fancy a warm shower and an early night!

the next day i travel with the girls to Wanaka as the boys left me in Franz because they had skydives booked early that day. the drive to wanaka was even more impressive then Lewis Pass, some of the gorges, snow topped mountains and rugged terrain we saw was pretty breath-taking, this coutry never seems the fail to impress! i really want to do my flight around mount cook but the weather hasnt been kind to us. however we hear the weather is meant to be better tomrrow so we decide to bite the bullet and spend one night in wanaka and head back to Franz to see if we can get some heli-hikes and scenic flights done! Wanaka was really pretty, think id like to call back there sometime!

so we leave for Franz, 5 hours drive back the way we came hoping we do get fine weather! once there, back inthe rainforest, yes you guessed it, pouring down!!!! we could have all nearly cried right then! we ask what the chances are of heli-hikes and scenic flights, its not good news for the hikes but i manage to get up in the air for 20mins to visit the ice lake high up inthe moutains! it was pretty cool seeing something you cart actually get to without flying too but still it wasnt the mount cook flight i really wanted! oh well, maybe in a weeks time i might do it. so we make the long 6 hour drive to Queenstown tio meet back up with the boys and spend a week or so doing adrenalin packed activities! as you can imagine, the girls are all pretty disheartend from not been able to do there heli-hikes and basically wasting 2 days driving to somewhere they didnt need too. wee arrive in queenstown to bright blue skies and 26 degrees of heat!!!! typical!

Queenstown is a really pretty place, set in the heart of the southern alps, it is adrenalin junkie heaven! i plan on doing a canyon swing which is world famous, something like 220ft above a gorge and you just freefall towards the river before swinging away in time! then probably a bungee jump seen as there is about 4-5 of the worlds best here! maybe a skydive if the price is right, a trip to Milford & Doubtful sound, street luge, white water rafting, river surfing, a spot of fishing perhaps! Queenstown has it all and im gonna make the most of it!