Flight-of DEATH

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So we survived the white water rafting, then braved the bungy... thinking this was the most horiffic thing in the world.... no!! Try the 'Sound' flight from Wellington (North) to Picton(South)!! Good lord alive!! Forget any rolercoaster... this was the worst!! 25 minutes of sheer hell!! Swooping and being blown around like a leaf in the air, dropping 50m in 1 second in an air pocket in a tiny 13 seater tin can! Never have any of us been so horiffically unprepared for such an ordeal. Genuine screams from Natalie and Luke, whereas myself and Amy were to scared to even make a noise! We had marks on the back of our hands from holding on to each other so tightly! Of course the 5 year old child behind us was fine about it!! Damn kids!! So for a bargain $6 saving you can be scared s%^tless and go grey prematurely!!

We recovered, but with the knowledge that we will never use a small plane again! Since that day... we stayed in Abel Tasman National Park for three nights.... the hostel was nice... right on the middle of a farm called "Old Macdonalds" so you can imagine the theme for the stay.... for those of you who cant ... its 'old macdonald'!! After the amazing trip in Paihia, we decided to book ourseves onto another Catamaran trip this time with Amy and Luke! This time getting to see some seals out in the wild. They even put on a little show for us!! "Awww"!! The next day we braved a walk along the National Park coastline.... supposed to take 8 hours but we found a short cut... so it only took 5!! And we sat on the beach for a while. We were ready to leave and headed off to Barrytown.... where we indulged in some Knife making... me Nat and Luke!! The guy runnning it was a right character!! We actually all made really nice knives from scratch and have them as a souvenir. Also they had a Swing-of-Death. Which was like a proper adults swing, even made our stomachs go a bit funny. That evening.... my god we werent prepared for this..... a cross-dressing party at the hostel.... so out came the make-up and Natalie's tutu of course. You have to see the pictures, me in a blue and yellow wig with leather top and tutu, Natalie in my jeans and polo shirt, with fake eyebrows, goatee and six o'clock shaddow, and a sprout of hair on her chest! Luke, aka Lucinda for the night, myself and Natalie were by far the best. Luke and I really got into character and did the whole night in a Little Britain "Im a lady" style and even opted for wine for the night!! Wait till you see the pictures!! Natalie and Luke did the Run DMC "It's like that" breakdancing....

That brings us up to today where we have just arrived in Franz Josef!! Gonna take to the Glaciers tomorrow.... will keep you posted!!! Spk to ya all soon!! Keep those messages coming... we miss you all

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Photos

Sailing
Luke, Amy, Natalie & Paul

Pancake Rock!!
En Route we stopped off for pancakes, had no idea this was what they meant!!

The Family
Clockwise from L -> R.
Matthias, Joe, Amy, Luke, Rachel, Kat, Asha, Natalie, Paul, Ste, Helen

Ahoy There Maties!!!
Life's just too hard!!!! L -> R Amy, Natalie, Paul and Luke!