New Zealand

Hi everyone, sorry haven't updated the blog for a while not relly had cahncelooking for a job and apartment in sydney

anyways the end of my trip in new zealand

from christchurch went back up to wellington and had another night out in some irish bar and had a really good night, met more new people and tarevlled on with them

next day went back to taupo and spent a few days there, had anothe couple of big nights out and went on a sailing trip around the lake which (giving you a bit of local knowledge) is actaully the biggest lake in new zealand and was created by a volcano eruption many years ago (sorry if i had already entioned that on one of my previous entries)

anyways went back up to auckland the next day via rotorua and spent the night there before going up to the far north bay of islands. the bay of islands looks kinda like greece and had a great time there, went out to see the dolphins which are brilliant to see and had a couple of quite nights there before having one more massive night in auckland partying until 6 in the morning which i felt the next day on my morning flight to fiji!

oh yeah i forgot to mention i went sandboarding down 80m sand dunes and drove along 90 mile beach on a coach (the beach is actually registered as a road and if you stop at any point you will sink cos its like quick sand!) getting off the beach was crazy, we had to take a run up so to speak from about 200m back and drive as quickly as possible and then basically ram into this ramp and hope that we got up, it was quite a bump but we made it just about!

bungy is fantastic, i had such a good time doing the first i ended up doing the thrillogy which is 3 jumps and they're all nuts but great fun

queenstown is this brilliant little town filled with bars and adventure activities, the scenerey is fantastic and the nightlife is really cool

went from queenstown to christchurch which is a big city with little to do, there's a lot of nightlife and the parks quite cool and the city is very nice but nothing in comparison to queenstown, had a couple of big nights out though which were cool

from christchurch went kaikoura (which actually means to eat crayfish in maori) thsi is a nice little fishing village where you get to swim with seals and dolphins and see whales, unfortunately the weather wasn't very good so i didn't get to see the whales but saw a seal colony and could almost stroke them i got so close - i didn't realise how much they stank!

be writing again shortly

only just had chance to get on t-internet so gonna put my entire journey so far on this entry

first night on the south island was nelson, this is is a nice little town to the north of the south island but at night it becomes one of the weirdest places i've ever been to. there are actually saloons at this place, the bars have swing doors and wooden floors! there was a bar called pills and thrillz that must have been a drugs den! that said the pub/hostel we stayed in was cool and really nice and we had a free beer tasting which is always good. next morning had a walk and had some great views of the abel tasman national park and stood at the spot which is supposed to be the centre of new zealand which was cool

went from nelson to westport, it rained all day and it was a day to forget, played a game of poker (and won) in the evening but that was the highlight of the day

went to lake mihinupua today to go to the 'poo' pub where we had a beach party which was a really cool evening, on the wau we went to see a seal colony and also these really cool pancake rocks and extreme blow holes which are where the sea goes through gaps in the rocks and creates awesome sprays of water
- at the 'poo' pub i heard the weirdest myth ever - the guy who runs it (this slightly eccentric old man called les lisle who happens to be an ex-all balcks rugby league legend) apparently saw this neanderthal type man in his garden taking a dump on the lawn, when he tapped on the window the beast turned around and starting knocking one out in front of him before walking away, only in new zealand could you hear a myth like that!

from the 'poo' pub went franz josef, the weather was once again miserable but had a wicked time paint balling in the afternoon. the next day i went on the franz josef glacier which was really disappointing cos it was just cold and wet and there were too many clouds to see anything. the next nmorning though we had great weather and got a really good view of it and i was gutted i was unable to do the helihike cos i had to continue my travels that day

from franz josef we went to a little town called wanaka - the views are stunning all the way and when we get there the town is next to the southern alps and a huge lake. went out for a quick drink but generally had a quiet one. was gonna go the cinema but the town is so small the cinema only has one showing of one film every day and we missed out showing at 8 (it was only nacho libre anyway) - i almost forgot on the way we stopped at a bushmans centre which was this cool little cabin that taught us about hunting in new zeraland where they killed deer and stuff, they actually jumped on deers hanging off helicoptors! saw a couple of possums and a wild pig as well as deer outside

from wanaka we went queenstown, on the way we stopped at puzzle world which is this weird little place full of illusions and stuff and a huge maze which takes forever to find your way out

watched other guys do a bungy today and signed up for one myself tomorrow (the one i'm doing is one of the biggest in the world at 134meters) gonna be on the beers again tonight and that takes me up to now so i'll keep you guys informed how the bungy goes

did white water rafting at river valley, this cool little lodge in the middle of no where

wellington - done drunk

kinda rushed this one a bit so thought i should go back in and give a bit more detail

river valley is a remote lodge between taupo and wellington on the north island and set (as the anme would suggest) in the middle of a valley renowned for its water sports ie. white water rafting and kayaking although you have to a good kayaker (i think thats what they're called!) to kayak down this river!

it was set up about 20 years ago by a keen water sports enthusiast who set up a lodge to base his weekend visits to the river. over a period of time this developed and now they host backbackers and have other facilities such as a small pitch and putt course and horse riding amongst other things

check the website www.rivervalley.co.nz

when we arrived in wellington it was around 6 and the only thing everyone could think of was the night out (well that was what i was thinking of anyway), when we first arrived though our driver took us to one of the highest points in wellington and we got a great view of the capital

the night out certainly didn't disappoint, we had met up with some friends from the bus in front and there must have been about 30 of us out on the town.

what made things even better was that it was a saturday night and wellington was heaving with people. there was some very sore heads the next morning when we had to get up for our early ferry!

did a skydive from 15,000 feet yesterday, went out partying on the night for holloween

went to see mount doom from lord of the rings today on a 7 hour trek, getting drunk tonight

cool stuff!