Made it to Queenstown for my 3 days of boarding.. and of course, the law of the sod means that I immediately came down with a really bad cold... could hardly move yesterday!

Still.. I don't have time to mess about so have been out boarding everyday regardless.. and it has been absolutely worth it!

First day was not so fun.. I was really sick, and it go frustrating at times trying toget the hang of it all BUT today it has clicked a lot more and I had so much fun.

My mate Scott has been doing it with me cuz we're about the same level and have progressed about the same.. and today our friend Lynee tried it for the first time. It was pretty amusing day and we all spent a lot of time on our arses!

The majority of our bus group are doing skiing.. but we're sticking with the boarding because once you get the hang of it it really is mad fun.. does seem harder to get to that point tho! Would love to try skiing one day..

Not at all off putting...

What could possibly go wrong?The Kiwi Trekkers




Franz Josef glacier hike!
What an experience.. an 8 hour hike up a glacier, and with my record of accidents and general calamity - it was sure to be eventful.
It was.
I provided much of the entertainment for the group managing to fall through the ice into thigh deep freezing cold water which filled my boots full of slush, AND falling spectacularly onto a hard slab of ice having just congratulated myself on climbing down a particularly precarious part of the trek!
Today.. I hurt.
But it was well worth it!

Saw some beautiful scenery and overcame some (quite RATIONAL) fears!
Crawled into and through an underground ice cave.. NOT one for the claustrophobic!

It was pretty difficult at times, and as the glacier is changing all the time we were exploring new territory and had to cut out steps along the way. Climbing parts of it was difficult because my short leg/no arm muscle combination wasn't working for me! Still I made it and it was so satisfying at the end of the day to have completed a full days exploration.

I saw so much and the photos really don't do it justice... but here some are for you to enjoy.

Only 2 weeks left in NZ :(
But only 3 days till the new Harry Potter book :)

Love to you all xxx

The All blacks!!!
Post it man and car seat!

Bumblebees
The Fab Four
Mummy - the eventual winner of the costume comp..

Angels
All blacks again cuz we're great!
Dressed as a rucksack.. worn by an Arabian princess?!
The Greek God, the All black, the sleeping bag and the Arabian princess...

Last night was a themed party night... the theme being 'Anything BUT clothes'

Absolutely legendary costumes..

Just thought you'd like to see a few of them!

Currently in Franz Josef awaiting my 8 hour glacier hike tomorrow! Brrr.....

New Zealand is stunning... like no other country I have seen yet...
Dad must have been here and claimed his own street...
Got to see the seals in Kaikoura right up close.. in fact one guy nearly got

scared by one that barked right next to him.. and fell over in his rush to escape! ha! The middle of middle earthMe, Shane and Lauren in Brighton?!!! The kiwi bus promotes sensible drinking...

.. it also promotes extreme activities!
... even when they aren't exactly 'legal'!

Who is going to tell the crabs they aren't allowed?
And WHAT is the guy on the right doing?!

NEW ZEALAND!!!!!!!

Who thought I'd ever leave Australia?! I know.. I'm surprised myself!

I have been in NZ for less than a week and still there is FAR too much to update you on, but I shall attempt to give you a brief overview of the best bits..

Started in Chrustchurch where I managed to catch up with Shane and Lauren - who Ali and I met in Koh Pha Ngan in the first month of out travels! Excellent to see them again - they are travelling around in a van so we went out for the day to Brighton Pier and caught the new harry Potter movie on its first day out! haha! I'm such a loser... less than a week till the new book and i'm THIS excited (that's really quite a lot...)

After Christchurch we went to Kaikoura to see seals, whales and dolphins. This was my first night on the kiwi bus so of course we all went out and had a 'get to know you drink'

From Kaikoura it was off to Nelson.

Not much to do there but of course we had time to check out the bars...

Westport went much the same way...

haha actually we've done loads.. a lot of walking and some gorgeous scenery.. so many beautiful photos! been to the centre of NZ (middle of middle earth..) and been so lucky weatherwise. It IS cold but we've had pretty much constant sun shining on us!

LOVING NZ.. looking forward to some snowbaording in Queenstown...

Tara and Suna on a cold night in Sydney...

Ironically meet up with a kiwi rugby team.. the night before I fly to NZ!

My last night in Australia.. Appropriately it was Sydney :)

Had a fantastic last weekend there catching up with people I worked with/lived with.

Met some new people in my hostel and so my plans for a quiet last night were scuppered spectacularly! Especially because Suna (friend from Fraser, Whistundays and my skydiving buddy!) turned up as well...

Still don't know HOW I made the plane to NZ...

How nervous do I look?!!!!!!

Scared much?What a rush?! I don't know if you can tell but I am LOVING it!

Tara and Suna safe on the ground once more!

So Cairns.. the most exciting event in my trip so far and I decided to do it THAT morning!

I think any other way i wouldn't have gone through with it!

As it was, I had to wait for the longest 3 hours of my life - by FAR the scariest bit of the dive!

Absolutely fantastic experience.. loved it.. can't WAIT to do another one!

Everyone on our sailing trip!!!
Jumping off the boat
Derek, Suna and me

Tara driving the boat!

Whitsundays sailing was epic! We were so lucky because we had perfect weather the entire time! The crew were fantastic.. the skipper (Wazza) let me drive the boat for an hour :)

As you can see from the photo.. not everyone was best pleased with this arrangement!

It was quite scary when the skipper just went off and left me tho! It's not like I have a great history when it comes to any kind of vehicles! lol...

Did do some snorkelling and diving.. stinger suits essential in this part of the sea.. did NOT fancy a box jellyfish cosying up to me. I did very little water activities.. preferring instead to laze about on the boat/beach/island!

The last night we were supposed to stay on an island but ghot quite tipsy ;) and ended up in a dingy back to the boat! It was madness.. I thought it would be genius to climb to the top of the boat and slide down the front of it like some sick waterslide..

it was genius.

Of course I injured myself the 20th time I did it and now have to take antibiotics for my rapidly swelling foot! haha! Didn't hurt at the time funnily enough!

After the Whitsunday sailing it was back to Airlie beach and a brief reunion with Ali.. again carnage ensued! We had a great group of people and chilling by the lagoon is the BEST way to cure a hangover!

Bye bye to Ali again.. but hopefully will be seeing him again in NZ

For me it was off to Cairns..

OK.. so next we arrived in Kroombit just for one day and one night...

But we packed in a lot!

I herded goats on horse back!

And we had to capture and 'brand' the goats.. No cruelty involved I promise!

I learnt to lassoo (but not how to spell it!) and i managed it first shot! Sweet...

I learnt to crack a whip so fast it breaks the sound barrier! Now that's cool! lol

I rode a mechanical bull!

I went clay pigeon shooting...

And generally got pretty damn muddy! It was a wicked place and the food was amazing! Steak, steak with a side of steak! lol

But had to leave EARLY the next morning to get to Airlie beach and leave for my Sailing trip around the Whitsundays! X

Waiting for the tide to go back out! Stranded!
Our 4wd vehicles
Darryl, Will Smith (yeah hahah!) and me.. but how short are Darryl's legs?!!!!

A dingo attack!
Champagne Pools... Waves like you've never experienced!

The self drive group.. no they didn't let me drive :)Gorgeous lake on fraser Island that I can't remember the name of!

Arrived in harvey bay to set off early the next morning on a self drive 4WD camping weekend.

It was amazing.

Fraser Island is gorgeous and we were fourtunate enough to be there as the cold weather broke so we got some really warm weather.

SO many photos... I'm not doing the island justice with the small selection of photos i've put here...

The lakes were stunning and so clear.. you can actually drink the water! We went swimming in Lake Mackenzie and took some underwater photos which (when i get them developed) should come out really well.

One evening we couldn't make it back to the camp site because of high tide and when the tide did eventually go out we had a pretty hairy drive back in the dark! Still we managed to cook our dinner on the beach so we got by :)

Drinking at night almost always led to a dingo hunt! unsurprisingly the dingoes were far more adept at finding US than we were them! We did see some lingering around our campsite but they didn't bother us..

.. In fact i would far rather meet a dingo in a cold dark alley than the owner of the harvey bay hostel! What a weasel!

Had a wicked group of people to tour around the island with, and it all ended too soon BUT end it did and off we went to Kroombit for our cowboy training...

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