New Zealand - South Island

After a short 3 hour flight from Sydney to Christchurch we began searching for a hostel in the bitter cold. Christchurch had an average temperature of approx 2 degrees and compared to our usual Australian temperature of approx 20+ degrees, we were severely unprepared for this shock cold snap. After checking in to the city YHA, we soon slept ready for the new adventure to begin the following day.
The next day started with cold cold rain and we decided to collect our car for the trip and start our road trip early. The car was collected from the nearby depot and the 5 hour journey south to Dunedin commenced. After 90km, we realised that Baz had left his backpack in Christchurch so this meant adding an extra 180km to the trip to collect it - not such a good start!!
Arriving in Dunedin to meet Mike's cousin Robin, none of us were sure what to expect - as Mike hadnt seen him in almost 15years. Luckily for the wizards, a drum'n'bass party was in full flow in Rob's house which we all embraced to true wizard fashion - crazy night!! The following day was a fairly timid affair nursing ourselves back to full health with a McDonalds and Few pints that night - sure why not?!
After a 4 hour drive the next day we arrived at the picturesque Fiordlands, a scenic region used regularly in Jackson's LOTR trilogy. That night was spent in the hillside cabins of a backpackers set in a deer farm, with truly spectular views. The next day we drove to Milford Sound, the location for the river scenes in The Fellowship of the Ring. To pay for our accomodation that night back at the farm, we chopped and gathered fire-wood from the farm for the log fires in the hostel, followed by a evening meal of 'rubber-tasting' noodles and dry toast - funds were definately starting to reduce.
Queenstown was the next on the agenda with our main targets here the epic Nevis Highwire Bungy (third highest in the world), the legendary FergBurger and of course the great nightlife we'd been promised. The day finally dawned and after little sleep, we all found ourselves on the bus to the Nevis Gorge to throw ourselves from 440ft attached only to a piece of elastic thinner than my fist. Baz was the first up and despite taking the piss out of the others for their fear of heights, nerves started to creep into his expressions as he approached the ledge. A superb 'swan-dive' followed as he freefell for up to 8.5secs. Mike was immediately after and then Dach towards the end of the weight-ordered queue due to his spindly little legs, with even several females in front of him!! The sheer terror of the first few seconds of falling was soon outdone by the elation of being alive and being towed back up to the suspended pod. All of our faces were priceless upon arrival back up at the top - a great achievement! That night was a celebratory one with the wizards meeting up with and old face again - Dave the Scottish chap who's part in the goat murder was not to be forgotten as well as his appearances in Surfers on the Gold Coast. Large lash ensued at the infamous World Bar where the common drinking vessels were ceramic teapots full of cocktails - Nice!