Had a pretty quiet weekend really. My medical was pretty quick and straightforward on Saturday, I only had to have a chest x-ray which took a couple of seconds. I have to wait a week for the results. After that, Jason and I just had a look around the shops (I didn't buy anything!)

In the evening we went around to Linn and Martin's for dinner. Martin's brother was over from Sweden, and a couple of other friends, so that was a really nice evening. Sometimes I like just going to someones house rather than going to the pubs.

Last night we went to see Derailed at the cinema. It was a really good film, a good thriller.

I'm feeling pretty sick now, I thought I'd better go to the doctors after work on Friday as my cough was still really bad. He just prescribed me anti-biotics, which I wasn't going to take, I don't like just taking them for something like a cough, as you can just get immune to them. Anyway, I woke up on Saturday and I felt quite bad, so I thought I'd actually better go and get my prescription (and I got told off by my flatmate who said I should take them...she wasn't worried about me, she just didn't want me spreading my germs around...charming!) I didn't feel too bad yesterday, but I had a really bad sleep last night, and today my chest is really rattly and wheezy, I sound like an old woman and I'm hurting and exhausted from coughing so much...who'd have thought a little cough could cause so much hassle! I should really have stayed home today, but I really need to work as I need the money.

Wednesday afternoon after I'd caught up on my emails, I went for a swim at the ladies swimming baths down by the sea. It only costs 20 cents...bargain! They have made a swimming area by the cliffs for women and children. I had a lovely afternoon, I swam for about 20 minutes, it's much nicer than being in a swimming pool, for one, you have these lovely views of the beach, and also it's really sunny. After that I sat in the sun for a while....bliss!

I started work yesterday, it was fairly quiet, but I think I have a big job ahead of me, they want me to set up their new filing system. It's not going too badly so far, but I will have to archive a lot of records, I just hope it's not the same as the first job I had, nobody had a clue how to archive the old records!

I met up with Sue last night, we hadn't seen each other for about 2 months, as first my Mum was over, then we went to New Zealand, then Sue's parents have been over for 3 weeks, and they went away too. Anyway, we had a really good laugh as usual...my belly got a good workout from all our laughing!! We had so much to catch up on, we were both talking ten to the dozen. We'd had a few drinks when these 2 girls on the table next to us asked if we wanted to finish off their half a bottle of champagne as they had to go....of course we obliged! I'm paying the price for it today though!

I've got my medical test tomorrow for my visa application, so fingers crossed. I have to have a chest x-ray, I hope I can stop coughing for 5 mins though, I've had this cough for nearly 2 weeks, and it's doing my head in! So no going out for me tonight!

We had a really good day yesterday. We had an appointment with our immigration agent, and we finally got some positive news (it's mostly been bad news up until now). I won't go into it as it's really boring, but keep your fingers crossed!!

Also, because of this, we were able to book our flights to Europe for my brothers wedding in June. We first go to England for a week, then fly to Vienna and stay with Chris and Martina for a while, then we're going to go to Munich for a few days too, then back to Slovakia again for the wedding.....I'm going to be a bridesmaid too (I was really flattered to be asked by Martina ;o))....I'm so excited, Jason's getting earache from me cos I keep going on about it all, it'll be so lovely so see everyone again and be back in Europe and of course to see my big brother get married!!

I haven't started work yet, was supposed to start today, but I had a call from them asking if I could start tomorrow instead, it gives me time to sort out a few things for the immigration dept.

They gave me a lovely farewell at work on Friday, I was really touched. They'd bought a lovely pear and almond cake and they gave me a card and a present, how sweet! I got to take half of the cake home too, we just finished it last night...so much for the diet!!

I had to go to the doctors on Friday evening to get my Hepititus A & B booster immunisations. Last time I had it in my bum, but this time it was in my arm....it's still really sore now!! We were supposed to play tennis on Saturday afternoon, but it ached too much.

We had a pretty quiet weekend, didn't go out on Saturday night as we are trying to save some money. Yesterday we went to the gay and lesbian mardi gras show in the city. It was very interesting, we saw some funny sights. I've never seen so many dogs in one place, they all have these little tiny dogs with them. There was a dog show where the owners had to take their dogs over all these obstacles, including jumping through a tranvestites legs!! It was very amusing. We didn't stay there that long, the weather was so hot, the weekend has been a bit unbearable. We've had the fan on all weekend, even today the sun isn't out, but it's really muggy....I hate it when it's like this (you poor soul I hear you say!!)

We went for a swim yesterday afternoon to cool down, I only went for a dip, but Jason went for a snorkel.....poor him, he came back after a while...he'd been stung by a jellyfish, he'd had to go over to the first aid, I thought he'd been gone ages!! He was in agony, said it was like having really really bad sunburn, we put some ice on his back (it was bright red and blistered) when we got back, and it eased the pain. I'm so glad I didn't go with him, I'd have freaked out, and probably never have gone back in the sea again!!

I have today and tomorrow off before I start my new job on Wednesday, it's nice to have a long weekend.

I've got a bit of a cold this week, it's been a while since I had one, so I'm not complaining too much...it's just mucking up my exercise regime (that I still haven't really started!)

I finish work tomorrow, it's really really quiet now, so I'm quite relieved that I don't have to try and look busy anymore! I went for an interview today at Energy Australia, I start there on Wednesday for 3 weeks which is great, the job sounds really boring, lots of filing involved..but my agent, bless him, has given me a really good rate so I can't moan!

Oh, I forgot about Valentines day, we had a really nice evening, Jason took me to the local Mexican restaurant, we had a lovely bottle of wine and the most fattening dinner you could imagine, it must have had a days worth of calories in it....loads of cheese, guacamole, sour cream etc, it was lovely though, but afterwards I couldn't even bring myself to eat the chocolates he'd bought me!!

Had another nice weekend, the weather has been really great. Saturday night we met up with Rachel, Stu and Mike to watch the rugby...not that I was really interested, but I went to be sociable. After the game we went to another couple of bars, but it was a pretty early night. Yesterday Jason and I went snorkelling at Gordons Bay, it was quite funny as I'm really useless with getting myself ready in all my gear, but about half an hour later when I'd sorted myself out, we finally got in the water. It was a bit chilly, but we soon got used to it. The water was quite clear, we saw a few fish, but it wasn't as good as up in Queensland. I did enjoy it, I just need to get a bit more confidence in the water, I felt a bit of an idiot with my polystyrene noodle to keep me afloat!! It gave me a bit of reaassurance tho as it was pretty deep!! That was about it for the weekend, I'm trying desperately to save some money, so my blog will probably be really boring for the next months!!

Not much to report this week. My contract at work has been extended another week which is great news. It's quietened down a bit today, thank god, it was a bit stressful!

I went for a run last night, for the first time in ages, it was bloody hard, and I'm a bit stiff today (I'm trying to lose weight for my brothers wedding in June!) I managed to get rid of my gym membership in December, as I was trying to save money, so this is the first time in about 15 years I haven't been a member of a gym, and I must say it actually feels great, I don't have to beat myself up about it if I don't want to go. It's probably not as good for my body, but I'm going to be doing lots more outdoor activities....I really miss riding my bike tho, I loved that in Munich.

I will have been away a year tomorrow, it's gone sooo quick. I knew that would happen, time just goes by so fast.

Had a lovely weekend, on Saturday Jason and I went to a travel expo to check out prices for flights to Europe and also on wedding destinations...want to go somewhere exotic!! So we had a good look around and got lots of ideas to think over. In the evening, we went with Todd and Rach and Stu to watch Walk the Line at the cinema, it was a great film, I really recommend it, I loved the music. We ended up going to the pub after for a drink, it was supposed to be a quiet weekend, but after that we went to Linn and Martins and we ended up drinking lots of wine and their duty free liquor collection (butterscotch schnapps, mmmmm, tastes just like butterscotch angel delight!!) so it was another unplanned late night!

On Sunday, we took a drive to the Royal National Park, about an hours drive south of here. We had a really relaxing, chilled day, we took a picnic too. We were going to hire a rowing boat, but neither of us could be bothered, so we got back in the car and found a little beach and a lagoon...the water was blissful and it was very calm, so we were in the sea for ages....lovely!! Didn't do much in the evening, just watched some TV.

I'm still working at the same place, not sure whether they'll extend my contract onto next week, I'll find out tomorrow hopefully. It's been so busy, the students all went back on Monday, so we had loads of last minute enrollments to do, my feet didn't touch the ground, it was manic, but the days have been flying by, which is the most important thing!! I'm learning lots more now, so I don't have to ask the others everytime someone has a question, which is great.

Quite a busy week at work this week, I'm really glad it's Friday today. We had the student orientation day yesterday, so everyone has been really stressed out with that...luckily it's over now. I'm not sure how much longer I have left here, hopefully another couple of weeks, it's lovely being paid again!!

I cancelled my flight home last night....I hated doing it, what a waste of money....oh well, it's done now. If I hadn't of changed my plans, I'd be back in the UK this time next week....scary stuff, has it really been a year since I left England??!

Hopefully it will be a quieter weekend coming up, I'm really tired and it will be good to save a bit of money. That all sounds very boring doesn't it....back to reality I guess!!

Sorry I've been neglecting my blog a bit since I've been back, I've just been trying to catch up on emails and stuff, and not having my own PC at work, I can't do it in work time (which has been known!!) So, this is just a quick one!!

Had a good weekend, it was Jason's birthday on Saturday, so we went to the beach in the day, and then about 20 of us went out for a Thai meal in the evening. It was a good night, but far too much wine was drunk!

Yesterday we went to the shopping mall as it was extremely hot outside, and sometimes it's best just to get in the air conditioned malls. After that we went to see the film Munich. I was really excited about seeing this, I'd seen a documentary about the hostage situation a few years ago, and thought that the film would be about this....also I thought I'd see some familiar sights, but no, it wasn't like that at all, it was about tracking down and killing the terrorists after it happened, so there was only a few minutes of the hostage situation....and it was a pretty gruesome film too...oh well, you have to try these things!!

I just wanted to say, thanks for all your well wishes about our engagement, it really made us happy ;o)

I finished my first week back at work today, it's been pretty uneventful, it's a bit better than it was on Monday, but I still don't have my own desk, so it's a bit frustrating.

We had a day off yesterday for Australia Day. Jason and I went down to Darling Harbour and Hyde Park so see what was on, we didn't stay long though as we had to get over to Sue and Grants for dinner. We had a great evening there, it's never a dull moment! Also Aunty Betty and Uncle Derek were over from New Zealand (we just stayed with them last week) so it was nice to see them again. At about 9pm we took them to watch the fireworks, I'm glad we went cos they were really good. Am feeling a bit tired today, but I'm not going out tonight, so I can have an early night.

I have some big belated news from New Years Eve....my boyfriend, Jason and I got engaged, he proposed at midnight when the fireworks were going off…..I was very shocked I can tell you, but really happy, it still hasn’t really sunk in yet. I have only just announced it now as I've been on holiday and wanted to try and tell all my family and close friends before I wrote it on here. I’m really sorry if I haven’t told you personally, but I guess this way I don't miss anyone out!!

Back to the grindstone today for me, I started my first day at work since about 6 weeks. It seems that I always get the boring jobs and the jobs working for the most disfunctional groups!! I'm working at TAFE (adult education) again, (the Head office was the first place I worked when I arrived in Sydney...remember the Dragon!) anyway, I'm now at one of the campuses working in the International Students office, and today I spent the whole day sticking stickers onto some brochures they had made up...exciting stuff!! I know I shouldn't complain, it is money, but I must admit, I'm dying for this temping business to finish, it's a bit demeaning some of the work I've had to do since I've been here!

Anyway, as for the weekend, Jason and I went out for a lovely meal on Saturday night, we found a really nice Mexican restaurant which had great food. We then ended up going out till all hours to the club down the road....well, it was my first night out in ages!! so Sunday I was really tired. We went down the pub in the afternoon to catch up with friends that I hadn't seen for a while so that was nice. I had to come home at 8 though cos I wanted to phone Mum to check she got back ok after her long journey. She sounded quite well considering, she was very tired though. We ended up talking for about 45 mins, which is mad we had so much to talk about as we'd only just seen each other!! anyway, she said she had a lovely holiday.

I've just been on the bus home from work and 2 guys got on to check everyones bus tickets...I've never seen that before here, it brought back memories of being in Munich and getting checked all the time.

We had a lovely evening on Tuesday meeting all the family. There were lots of us there for dinner and we had a bit of a laugh, it was great to meet everyone finally.

Next day we went for a bit of a drive, and some ice cream, we saw a bit more of Christchurch. Then in the evening we went our for dinner at one of these all you can eat buffets...and I did eat all I could...I felt quite sick afterwards!
Today I was up at 3am to get to the airport for my 6am flight back to Sydney, I had a bit of a sleep when I got back home and feel a bit better now. I feel sorry for Mum, she's flying to Sydney, then she's got a 6 hour wait until her flight to England....it's going to be a long day for her! I was really sad saying goodbye to her, she's been with me for the last 5.5 weeks, and I kind of got used to her being around....I hate goodbyes. But we had a lovely holiday, I just hope I didn't wear her out with all the travelling and sightseeing!!

I've got some good news, I just phoned around all the recruitment agencies, and one phoned me back with a job that starts on Monday for 4 weeks, which is such good news as I'm very, very skint...I'll have to start saving up for my flight home now!

I haven’t had a chance to update for a couple of days, so I’ve separated the sections:

Monday 16th Jan

Our first stop today was Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world. When the bus stopped and I looked up the hill, I though…oh my god, but we just had to walk up it, and boy was it hard work, Mum and I were out of breath within minutes and our hearts were in our throats, I thought I was going to be sick!! Anyway, we made it in the end….I feel sorry for the people that live on the road…imagine popping to the shops for a paper, not easy work to get back home! I’m relieved to say, walking down was a lot easier, I felt really good for doing it (at 8.30 in the morning!) but Mum and I did have a bad cough whenever we breathed in for the next half hour!!Fact time….the street has a gradient of 1 in 1.266.

So after that we stopped for a coffee at Moeraki, there are boulders on the beach there which are a bit of a tourist attraction ‘the Moeraki Boulders’. There are lots of them and they are all very round, noone is quite sure how they got there. We also stopped off at Lake Pukaki, and I have to say, it’s the most amazing lake I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen a few!) The colour of it looked just like a swimming pool, a real turquoisey blue, it really was amazing, we also had views of Mount Cook, Mount Tasman and Mount Stirling from across the lake. Mount Cook is the tallest mountain in New Zealand, 230 people have died attempting to climb it, it’s supposed to be more dangerous than climbing Mount Everest because of the unpredictable weather. Anyway, back to the water, the turquoise blue of the lake is created by rock flour. The glaciers grind rock into fine dust on their journey down towards the lake, this is then suspended in the water and when combined with sunlight creates this colour water. After we’d taken lots of pics, we set off for Lake Tekapo, we finally arrived at 3pm. The lake, again was stunning, not quite the same colour as Lake Pukaki, but still a great sight. We got off the bus and took some pictures of the little church and the statue of the collie dog (it’s to do with the towns history, but I won’t bore you). The town is very small, the population is only 340 people…tiny!. At least it gave us a bit of time to relax before heading back to Christchurch, although I guarantee we’ll be doing lots of walking tomorrow….no rest for the wicked!!

And on another note, it’s a year today that I left Munich, where has the time gone?! I’m a little sad and nostalgic too, I especially miss being close to my brother. It was such an amazing time in my life, but I’m sure there are a lot more good times to come ;o)

Tuesday 17th January

As predicted, we did a lot of walking today. We headed off from the hostel at 10am to walk up to Mount John’s summit. At first we were not sure we were going the right way as the path wasn’t heading upwards, but rather around the mountain, but we asked a guy on a horse and he said to continue on the path. It took us about 3 hours to get to the top, and we walked around the summit 1.5 times (don’t ask!) then headed back down the opposite side to which we’d gone up. We eventually got back to the hostel, shattered and achey 4 hours later …it was a long way up (and down). We didn’t do much in the afternoon, just sat around reading and had fish and chips for dinner. I was hoping I’d get a better nights sleep tonight, the previous night one of the girls in the room was snoring like a trooper….which again reminds me to never stay in a hostel dorm again (how many times I said that before!!)

Wednesday 18th January

I did get an ok sleep last night, apart from getting woken up at 4am because of the howling wind. Anyway, we arrived in Christchurch a few hours ago, it was a pretty uneventful journey It’s freezing here, well it’s 13 degrees….where is the summer??!! Aunty Betty and Uncle Derek picked us up, and we’ve just been washing and going to the shops to buy dinner….the whole family are coming over tonight…it sounds like it’s going to be a houseful…and I’ve only met a couple of them before.

We’ve only got tomorrow left here, then it’s back home for Mum, and back to Australia for me. I’m really going to miss Mum, it’ll be weird not having her here :-(

We arrived in Dunedin on Friday afternoon. We stopped off a few times on the way, but we were here at about 2pm. We checked into the hostel, it's a really lovely place, it's old and huge, it used to be a hospital, there are so many hidden passages everywhere, it's quite easy to get lost! Our first stop of the afternoon was to Cadbury World, unfortunatley though it was only a small tour as the factory workers were still on holiday so we didn't get to see them making the chocolates :-( Anyway, we watched a short film then the guide took us inside the building, the smell of chocolate was so strong....yummy! She took us up to the chocolate fountain, which is where they drop a ton of chocolate in 30 seconds (or something), that was quite cool. We also got some free samples which we enjoyed and we bought some more chocolate in the shop there....chocolate is so much cheaper here than in Australia.

After that we took a walk to the railway station which is supposed to be the most photographed building in New Zealand, then we went to the supermarket for our dinner. Then it was pretty much an early night.

Yesterday we had a bit of a lie in, then took a walk into the city and had a look around. It really doesn't feel like summer here, the wind is really chilly even when the sun is out, and it is really windy here! We had to be back at the hostel in the afternoon for our wildlife tour, so we went back for lunch and then were picked up at 3.30. We had a bit of a drive to get to the conservation area, we had to drive right to the tip of the peninsula. As soon as we got out the bus, the wind just hit us, it was so strong as we were in a really exposed area, right on the top of a hill by the sea. We split up into 2 groups and our group walked through a field of sheep (actually we were blown down) towards the rocks where all the fur seals were. They have a little viewing station there so we were sheltered from the wind, we sat there for a while looking at the fur seals through our binoculars....they were pretty camaflagued by the rocks, but once you got used to it you could pick them out really well. It was amazing seeing them in the wild, there were loads of them, we saw a couple of bulls which were huge and there were also lots of pups too...so cute. We walked along to another viewing area and saw even more fur seals and birds (apparently the birds feed on the seals afterbirth so they are always hanging around....yuk). After that it was a big hike up the hill again, and then back down to the beach to see the yellow eyed penguins. It was quite steep coming down so we had to be careful what with the wind as well. When we got there we were lucky enough to see a few Sealions lazing around on the beach...the guide told us that they are not scared of people like the fur seals, but we had to be careful not to get too close as they like to play (and that can include biting!). They were absolutely huge, but really cute looking. Got some photos of them, then we headed along the beach to another lookout to see the penguins, there was already one that had just come out of the water and was hobbling up the beach, I love penguins, so it was great to see a wild one. It was headed up the cliff to where all their nests are based, so we walked up to another lookout by the hill and could see all the nests....and even some little chicks too. We were lucky enough to see a parent feed 2 chicks (by regurgatating the fish for them). It was a really cool experience. On the way back we walked by the Sealions again, they hadn't moved though, still in the same positions. We had another hike right back up the hill again, I tell you this holiday is giving me so much exercise, I'm going to be shattered by the time it finishes! Back to the bus, and then we headed for the Royal Albatross sanctuary. Again we were lucky to see a couple of these huge birds flying....they really are large, their wingspan is about 3metres. They can only fly when it is windy, which was definitely the case yesterday!! We didn't get back to the hostel until about 9.30, so we didn't get much done after that.

Today we started to walk to St Clair beach, we walked for about half an hour, but then the sky looked really dodgy and we weren't even nearly there yet, so we decided to turn back, and it was a good job we did, as soon as we got to the hostel it started to rain. We are just checking our emails now, and then later we'll go to the cinema. Tomorrow we are heading for Lake Takepo, our last destination before we head back to Christchurch.

Yesterday was a real wash out, it rained the whole day, so we didn't get anything done, but it gave us the chance to chill out and watch movies all day!

Today we went to Milford Sound, and how glad were we that the trip got postponed until today...the weather was fantastic (more on that later!). I was awake at 4.30am and couldn't get back to sleep as we had to get up at 6am anyway, so I was pretty shattered this morning. We had the best day, first we drove to Te Anau a little village about 2 hours from Queenstown, we stopped off there for a coffee, and then headed off again. We had a quick stop at the Mirror lakes, which were exactly what you'd expect them to be with that name, they were really amazing, you could see the mountains and the sky reflected in the water, there was even a sign, which didn't make sense looking at it, but when you looked in the reflection in the water, it said Mirror lakes, clear as day....cool!

At the Mirror Lakes

This is not the sky, but the reflection in the water

Next stop was lunch at Cascade Creek, we went for a bit of a bush walk while the guide started up the barby, and by the time we got back, it was all ready for us. After a great lunch, we stopped off at the stream of Eternal youth, if you drink it you're supposed to wake up the next day looking 10 years younger, I should have just jumped in it!! We'll have to wait and see what I look like in the morning, but unless I can catch up on my lost sleep, I'll probably look 10 years older!!

Stream of Eternal youth

We finally got to Milford Sound about 2pm, just in time to catch the boat for our trip. We were really lucky in that we were practically the only ones on the boat so we had lots of room. We learnt that Milford Sound is actually a fjord, not a sound, made by glacier activity, it was pretty spectacular, the boat slowly made it's way across the water, and we were surrounded by these amazing mountains the whole way, it was definitely a New

Zealand moment for me, absolutely stunning.

We were really lucky to see some little seals too, they were quite content sunning themselves on the rocks...so sweet! We headed out towards the start of the Tasman sea, so the water started to get a bit rougher. The captain of the boat was making his commentary and he said how lucky we were that the weather was so perfect today, it was only the second day in the last 10 that has been sunny, and he said it was a good job we weren't there yesterday as they had torrential rain and up to 116 miles an hour gusts of wind...how lucky that they cancelled our trip yesterday, Mum and I were so grateful!! The waterfalls on the mountains are supposed to be spectacular when it's raining, but we saw quite a few so we got the best of both worlds.

On the way back to the jetty, there was another large waterfall, again this one was supposed to make you look 10 years younger if you put your hands in it..... the captain said we would go quite close so we may get a little wet....anyway, he practically drove underneath it and everyone got soaked....very amusing! At least we'll all look younger tomorrow ;o)

some more pics of Milford Sound

We're off to Dunnedin tomorrow morning, it's our last night in Queenstown tonight, so we're quite sad, but we're uplifted a bit knowing that we can visit Cadbury World at our next destination!!

Had a fun day today. We had a bit of a lie in as we were both knackered from the last few days. I forgot to mention yesterday that our room consists of a bunk bed...I did book a twin room so was a bit annoyed about that, but Mum was quite happy to sleep on the top bunk...bless her, I was quite happy about that!! Anyway, we had a look around the shops this morning and went to the supermarket for some food, we were trying to hold out for the sky to clear up as we'd bought tickets to go up the mountain on the gondola. So after lunch we headed up the road to the gondolas. It wasn't a long trip, but it was an amazing view from up there, we went out onto the viewing platform and took some pictures.

View of Queenstown

Another view.... you can just spot the paraglider

So then it was time to go on the luge which are little carts you sit in and go flying down one of two windy tracks. It was fab fun, we were a bit slow to start with, but once you get a bit of confidence you can go flying, it was great. I had such a laugh at Mum, we both looked really silly with our helmets on driving these little carts.

After 2 runs on the 'scenic route' we decided to brave it and go on the 'advanced route'...First off we got a bit put off as we were given red carts instead of the normal black ones we'd been in, I don't know why, but both of us couldn't quite get the knack of the brakes at the starting point, we were of course just being silly, but I changed my cart to a black one and felt a lot better about it!! anyway it was brilliant, you have to really concentrate as you are going pretty fast down the hill and they have so many bends in them. We were in fits of giggles, at one point there is a little hill and straight after a really, really steep one...Mum happened to be in front of me at this point, and all I heard was 'oh my god' and she just disappeared, then it was my turn, and I must say it shook me up a bit, but it was a real buzz.....we had to go on the scenic route again after that just to calm our nerves!! We did go on the advanced one again on our last go though!! When we'd done with that, we got the gondola back down again. We didn't really do much for the rest of the afternoon. The guy from reception found us and told us that our Milford Sound tour had been cancelled for tomorrow, so we are going on Thursday instead, not sure what we're going to do tomorrow now. We've just been to the cinema, there wasn't much on, we saw Cheaper by the dozen 2, it was ok, just a bit of easy watching.

I took the last of my dressings from my New Years eve injuries last night, everything has healed up, apart from them looking a bit pink they're fine, I just hope I don't get any scars.

Here are some pics from yesterday...

Mum and I at Knights Point lookout

Me at Lake Hawea

Mum at Lake Wanaka

Someone jumping of the AJ Hackett bungy bridge

We arrived in Queenstown about 2 hours ago after a very long, but enjoyable day....and the weather was fantastic, which made it so much better. We got on the road at 7.45am, our first stop was Lake Matheson, which is a glacial created lake surrounded by ancient rainforest, we took a few photos there, and then were on our way again. Then we stopped at Knights Point lookout, the view there was fantastic, the Tasman sea was so beautiful and blue. There was supposed to be a colony of seals on some of the rocks there, but unfortunately we didn't see any. Then is was onto the Haast pass (which is named after an Austrian explorer). The roads are really windy and steep, the whole way from Franz Josef we were driving alongside the Southern Alps so the views were fantastic, some of the mountains even had snowfall on them. The Southern Alps are apparently as big in volume as the Austrian and Swiss Alps combined! Driving along the west coast has really made me miss Germany and Austria, all those mountains and the snow :-( Anyway, next stop was a 28m high waterfall called Thunder Creek falls, these flow into the Haast river, then it was onto Makarora for a quick lunch stop, there wasn't really much there, but we saw a few helicoptors and a plane land from doing their scenic flights.

After lunch we carried on and had a stop at Lake Hawea which was beautifully blue (it's 384m deep) and very, very big, it reminded me of lake Garda in Italy, except Lake Garda isn't as blue. After that, we drove alongside Lake Wanaka, which again is stunning (it's 311m deep and 193 sq km...I did my homework today didn't I!!). When we got to Wanaka we had another stop for photo opps, it is a lovely town, I would love to go back and stay there at some point, lots of lovely shops... of course the lake with the backdrop of the mountains....gorgeous! Again it reminded me of one of the little towns along Lake Garda (this trip is really making me homesick for Europe!) Apparently Shania Twain has a holiday home there (another useful bit of information!) anyway, unfortunately we only had a short stop there, then it was on to Queenstown. We stopped off to see the famous AJ Hackett bungee jump suspension bridge....we didn't go on, but hung around and watched some people jump...I tell you, I don't know how they do it, they all seemed so calm, and none of them hesitated...I was scared just being on the viewing platform!!

On the way to Queenstown we drove past the 45th parallel (it's an imaginary line, which I think marks halfway between the North Pole and the Equator...I had my headphones on at the time, so missed half of what the bus driver said!) Anyway, so we arrived here, had a quick tikky tour (thats what the kiwis call it) around town, then checked into the hostel. It's actually very nice, we have a lovely view of the lake here. We dropped off our stuff, booked a tour to Milford Sound for Wednesday, had a look around town, then bought a voucher for the gondala ride and 5 rides on the Luge (some sort of thing you sit on and you go whizzing down the hill). We've just been out for a Thai meal, and I think we'll be shortly going to bed...we're both shattered as it's been a really long day, almost 12 hours of sitting in a bus and sightseeing. But we've had a great day, the scenery is so amazing...it's definitely more beautiful the further south you drive.

It was an early start for us yesterday morning. We were ready for the bus to pick us up at 8am to take us to our next destination Franz Joseph. We had a couple of stops along the way, first one was at Hokitika, a tiny town where they make and sell the greenstone (Jade) jewellery. Next stop was at Ross which is the richest gold mining town in New Zealand, we had a bonus of being able to pan for gold too which was cool. The lady showed us what to do and then it was our turn. It was actually a lot harder than it looked..I was so worried about throwing any gold back in the water, but eventually I got there and there was 6 tiny fragments of gold...yaay!! Not quite enough to make me rich, but it was fun doing it. Then we put the gold in a little tube and filled it with water. Next stop after that was Lake Mapourika for a photo opportunity, unfortunately the driver didn't stop anywhere else as the weather wasn't clear enough to see the mountains.

So when we'd checked into the hostel we walked around to the glacier hiking shop to pay for our afternoons hike up the Franz Joseph glacier. We were a bit dubious about doing the hike, but we had to give it a go. So at 3pm we went back to the shop to get kitted out for our long afternoon. We got our boots, crampons, coats, trousers, hats etc and then jumped on the bus to take us there. It was about a 45 minute walk just to get to the glacier, we had to walk through small streams to get there, which was when I realised that my boots had lots of holes in them...my feet were soaking before we even started up the glacier!! Anyway, we finally made it to the foot of the glacier, it was a great sight, this huge glacier in the valley of the rainforest, but I was a bit scared as it was really high and steep....so we put the crampons onto our boots and set off. There are staircases sculpted into the ice which were pretty hard to climb up as some of them were really steep, but the guide was patient with us so we weren't under too much pressure. The further up we got the more amazing the ice was, and the bluer it got, it was pretty spectacular, well worth the hard work to get up there. At one point I got a bit carried away and wasn't really watching the guide and started to go up a staircase that wasn't supposed to be used.....it was a lot steeper and harder....then I realised my mistake and had to cross over, everyone thought that was quite funny! Apart from being a bit scared at first and the weather being pretty dismal (it was freezing and raining), we both thoroughly enjoyed it, it was really exhilarating...Mum did really well, she was up there with the best of them, I was really proud of her! The guides did give us lots of facts about the glacier, but unfortunately I was so busy concentrating, I didn't take much in, so I can't bore you facts and figures!! After about 2.5 hours (I think) of climbing up and down the glacier we were ready to be taken back to the hostel. We were shattered and my legs were really wobbly by this point. After a cold shower (not happy that there was no hot water left) we had some food and pretty much after that went to bed.

Today we were up early again to do the kayaking on lake Mapourika. My legs are still stiff today, so I was quite glad it was just rowing with my arms...but little did I know that I'd have to actually use my legs to steer the rudder too! We had a nice day, Mum was really nervous as she's not the best swimmer, but we did pretty well. The lake was massive and you could see the reflection of the trees in it. It was pretty windy though so was quite hard work getting to the other side of the lake. After we did that the guide took us down a windy stream which was lovely, it was like floating down a jungle river because of all the greenery around, very peaceful. Mum and I got stuck a few times, but the guide helped us out...we weren't the most competent rowers. I think we rowed approx 7km today, and our arms our really sore now, it was really tough work.

We're off to Queenstown tomorrow morning, we'll be doing a few stop offs on the way, I hope it stops raining...it's throwing down again now!

Here are some pictures from the past week

Akaroa

Panning for gold

View of the valley from Franz Joseph Glacier

Mum and I with our pick axe!

On the way down

View from the bottom