On the road again...

From Milford Sound we headed south towards the Catlins - an area of wetlands and rainforests and ferns and all that jazz all along the coast. Fancy scenery and a lot wildlife could be seen, but more importantly we found a place called Monkey Island. Imagine that!

AT next to the notorious Monkey Island. Pretty small to be honest, it took about 17 seconds to climb. Joy of joys.

Nugget Point - a breeding ground for fur-seals and sea-lions.

Some wetlands.

AT walking the boardwalk. Marshes are fun, right kids?

One of the many waterfalls we saw along the way. They were pretty cool.

We also briefly stopped in Dunedin at the end of the Southern Scenic route. It was the first capital of NZ and one of the first cities to be founded, by the Scots. Apparently "Dun" is another name for borough, so joined with "edin" you get Edinburgh. Sort of. Anyway that's your inaccurate geography/history lesson for the day. It was a nice place.

The view of Dunedin from the peninsula.

First Stop Milford

So Andy T and I decided to go on a big road trip and see some of the south island via the Southern Scenic Route; basically a road that goes along the coast from Milford Sound all the way to Dunedin. We planned for a few days away camping/sleeping in the Colonel and seeing the sights starting off in Milford Sound. The first time I went was on a big boat full of tourists at the busy time of day, so this time, as we were driving ourselves, was far better.

Andy T with his "in awe" face on.

Through work I managed to get dead cheap tickets for an overnight cruise on a titchy boat that only sleeps 14 called the "Friendship". With a name like that, you know it's good!

Speaks for itself really.

The weather was a bit rubbish, but we enjoyed it anyway - it's not everyday you get to kayak with seals. The trip continues...

Leap of Faith

So since arriving in NZ I haven't yet done a bungy jump and being that it was all started commercially here and there are tons of them (3 alone in QT) I thought it was about time I did. I gathered some of the troops (Me, AT, Jon and Katie) and set off. Threw AT off first mind!

You can see the blind fear in AT's face.

Perfect swan dive, 10's across the board. 10 10 10.

Not only good fun and scary, but you're guaranteed an mainly asian-based crowd of at least 400. Choice!

We all managed to do it in the end - Jon went last and I think he was in a bit of shock about it, bearing in mind his arms were flapping like a bird's all the way down. Was very brief, but a good rush. Afterwards we rewarded ourselves with a trip to Deer Park Heights; a local sizeable hill with a petting zoo and also several Lord of the rings locations on it. Crackin' views.

The Kawarau river in the foreground, QT airport and the rest of the Wakatipu basin.

My mate Gary. He's a dude.

The Colonel in front of the Remarkables - he's gets around.

Team of Jumpers (not the clothing type) L to R: Me, LJ, Katie and Andy T.

Look who turned up....

Matty T and the Tenacious T

Andy T arrived for a holiday and there was much rejoicing! I took some time off work so we could do some serious jumping off of stuff. Let the fun commence!

Jon. I hate to tell him that Lord of the Rings auditions ended over 4 years ago.

I also found Little Jon floating about aimlessly. After tempting him with tales of free cheese and midgets on unicycles he gladly left the UK in an effort to have fun. He's here too - check out www.getjealous.com/jonnyboy84.