1001 ways to kill yourself...

Lads,

Hope you are all well. For my part, I've turned in to an adrenalin junkie over the last two weeks. It started off innocently enough - whitewater rafting at Rotorua with Gilo and Pauli, but since then I've done the following:

1. "Rock N Ropes". This involved me climbing up poles, walking across various types of ropes, a wooden bridge and a narrow log (the last two without any hand supports) - all from heights ranging from 10 to 15 metres above ground. The trickiest manouvere by far, though, was when I had to climb to the top of a narrow pole, haul my considerable bulk upright on the top of said pole and then leap onto a trapeze bar which was 2 metres up and 2 metres out from the top of the pole. Miraculously I managed this feat!
2. Sky diving. I persuaded the two girls to join me for this caper. We did a 13,000 metre jump near Nelson - beautiful views of the Abel Tasman National Park. The 50 seconds of freefall was amazing, and I thought the adrenalin rush couldn't be topped. That was until I went...
3. Bungy jumping. Yes indeed, I bit the bullet in Queenstown and threw myself off the Pipeline Bridge (102 metres above the ground). This scared the shit out of me, I don't mind admitting, and I was screaming like a girl until the bounce-back stunned me into silence. After that, I let out all kinds of whoops and the odd curse. Amazing feeling and one I highly recommend! I bought the video of this for posterity, so my pathetic effort at a "dive" will be preserved for all time, or until I lose the video. Pauli - I should have got you to show me how to dive properly!

The above activities aside, we've also seen as much as possible of NZ. We've been kayaking around the Marlborough Sounds, went on a full-day walk through the Abel Tasman National Park, embkarked on a (very tiring) full-day glacier walk at Franz Josef, and most recently an overnight cruise at Milford Sound. We've been absolutely blessed with the weather - sunny skies all the way, apart from one slightly overcast morning at Wanaka. This really is an amazing country, as most of you know already. Murphs, you'll love this place too and I would encourage you to give the bungy jump a go!

We're now in Kaikoura, at the north east of the South island, and at this point we're on the way back to Auckland. We're going whale-watching tomorrow, apparently, which I'm not particularly excited about, but I'll take it on nonetheless. When we cross back over to the North Island, we're staying a night in Wellington on my insistence so that I can have a proper night out on the sauce. Apart from the pints with Gilo and Pauli in Rotorua, the only other time I've got pissed was in Queenstown when we met up with Aisling and Aoife. The girls are in flying form - Aoife is sticking around for the ski season, which means I've somewhere to stay when I come back in July. Sorted!

Murphs - I'll be arriving back in Sydney on Sunday morning, which means I'll just miss you if you're still leaving on the 26th. Are you coming back to Sydney at all before you head off to NZ?

That's my lot for now. Look forward to hearing from you all.