As we hit the road heading for Queenstown there was an air of excitement like never before in the bus, the main reason for this was that everyone knew we were going for a big night out tonight as it's almost rude not to when you reach the party capital of New Zealand and unfortunately this was to be our last night as a complete family as Kevin, Laura and Flore were leaving us in the morning.
  
It was gold that brought the first settlers to the area of Queenstown, followed by sheep stations but all of this has now been totally outdone by adventure tourism development and it is now known as the 'adventure capital of the world!' Here it is possible to do every crazy activity you can dream of: bungy, sky dive, ski, snowboard, jet boating, white water rafting, luging, the list goes on!
 
This explains why the permanent population of Queenstown is a mere 12,000 people yet during peak seasons this number rises to 120,000 in a given day! This makes Queenstown, the most visited place in the world alongside New York! Ridiculous or what??? 
 
Just before we reached Queenstown we got our first dose of what was to come, we stopped at the world's first fulltime commercial bungy operation: Kawarau Suspension Bridge over the Kawarau gorge . Bungy jumping was invented by New Zealanders Henry van Asch and AJ Hackett. They were inspired by the Oxford University Dangerous Sports Club who tried jumping off bridges while holding onto big rubber bands back in the 1970s. This was also similar to the ancient passage to manhood ritual of the people of Vanuatu in the Pacific who throw themselves from huge towers with vines tied to their feet! Asch and Hackett did much testing and experimentation to come up with the ideal latex cord and attachment system then set off around the world to do some high profile jumps, first in Tignes, France from a ski area gondola 91m above the snow, followed by the Eiffel Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. This gained them huge profile from the start and they are still the 'name' of Bungy boasting a 100% safety record!
 
Before we had arrived here, Seagull had explained to us all the different options of jumps and swings there was to do. Matt had all along wanted to do the Nevis jump but was rather scared, he had originally been banking on going with Kevin so it would egg him on a bit but Kevin and Laura had gone and done it a few days ago as they ran out of time to fit it in, although this wasn't a problem for too long as Roman was so excited by it he was like a child bouncing round in his seat, so the peer pressure was really on . Of course he caved into it as the whole bus was on his case and then to all of our surprise, (blonde) Sarah announced she was going to go along with them and do it too!
 
Once we were in the main office at the bridge jump we got to watch some videos of other people doing the jumps and swings, even this scared me a bit. After this Catriona was (un)lucky enough to answer a question right and win a go on the new zip line. This was the moment Matt got to commit to his Bungy as they had to pay and book it here. It was a rather nervous moment for him but I think once it was paid for it made things a bit better as then he knew there was no going back. Catriona on the other hand wasn't doing quite so well on her zip line. She was all buckled up and ready to go but she just couldn't let go! To the point she was then getting off refusing to do it when Cathal offered to go with her. It's a pretty tame zip line really but she just got scared but was fine when she eventually did it as a tandem. 
 
As we neared Queenstown the plans for the evening were made . Everyone was keen to try the world famous Ferg burgers which are made here so we were to meet there for food and then head off into the night. Our first bit of bad news though was that Milford Sound was actually shut for 2 weeks, this was one of the main reasons we actually came to New Zealand as we had seen other people's pictures which look just incredible so this was a shame but it did mean we would have an extra day in Queenstown itself. 
 
After everyone checked in to the hostel and had a little look around 7 o'clock soon came. Matt, Cathal, Ian and our newest member Steve from Scotland had all gone out for beers as they were ready long before us girls! Once we were all ready, we met at the Pig & Whistle and made our way round to Ferg Burger HQ!
 
Ferg burgers are famous for a reason and we were very quick to find out why. The huge queue to order were totally justified by how amazing the burgers were. They were huge and tasted incredible. They certainly were the best burgers nearly all of us had ever had, and we've had quite a few now . It was a perfect way to start the evening even though these would be incredible at the end of the night after the drinking. Even though everyone was now pretty stuffed Seagull led the way across the road to the X base bar called Altitude. This is where he gets us really cheap drinks as he's a tour guide who's in partnership with the hostel. 
 
It's pretty obviously to say the next couple of hours consisted of lots of cheap drinks, jäger bombs and dancing. Some of the girls spotted a pole up on the stage so of course I was peer pressured into showing them a few moves, even Seagull and Matt had to get up and have a go. It was very funny. Seagull then had the idea to sign us up for the bar crawl. We were having enough fun anyway but this was a perfect way to show us around the town a bit, of course you get free shots and even cheaper drinks as an added bonus. 
 
After a few more drinks in Altitude, the bar crawl led us off on what was to be quite a night involving drinking games, dares, challenges, nudity, hot tubs, more nudity, near broken ribs, german chanting and dance routines on stage all fuelled by a shed load drinking and shots! It was one of the craziest nights we'd all been involved in for quite a while, it was a laugh a second from start to finish . Of course we didn't all get naked but Seagull was taking centre stage with that and even Matt bared all as he had to get in the hot tub in the Buffalo bar because of a dare from Nienke, he didn't even undress out of the way, instead he decided to do it right by the main door with people coming in and out. He wasn't alone for long in the hot tub though as Philippa, Ella, Kara and me were given nice new bikinis and a free drink to join him, he was most pleased with this and we were then joined by Roman, Nienke, Sarah and Trevor. Seagull stood totally naked on the stage in Winnie's after Matt and Carlos had pulled his trousers down unexpectedly. Roman had been busy teaching us all a funny dance routine so we rocked the stage in Winnie's to the point that random people were learning it and joining in as well. The broken rib was Seagull and came about because I laid on the floor in Sky bar to check out the clouds painted on the ceiling when he leapt on me and then Steve jumped on him making his rib crack on my hip. Ooops! The night went on until gone 2am when we had to say some drunken goodbyes to Laura and Kevin who had to get the bus at 9am the next day . It was all very sad!
 
We all made it to bed by 3ish and, as you can imagine, there wasn't much energy in the camp the next morning, especially from poor Phillippa who had been sick several times. We had to say goodbye to Flore as well as she was leaving us too. Looking back on our night brought us many many laughs but none more so than when we started looking through the pictures and at the ones put online by the bar crawl company. We couldn't stop laughing all day. It was almost as funny as the night itself! It wasn't long before there was a knock at the door and Flore had returned to us as it turned out the bus was full so she couldn't leave us yet, she was quite pleased about this. After a rather relaxed day, we all headed out for a few drinks again although this time not quite so many as most people really weren't up for it again, especially Matt as he certainly couldn't have a hangover for his bungy jump in the morning. Somehow, it was still gone 11pm by the time we all headed to bed and Matt will be the first to admit he did lose quite a bit of sleep thinking over the upcoming events!
 
Matt is going to take over to tell you all about his bungy jump ... I was first up as I had to meet Roman and Sarah at 8ish in town, the nerves were certainly there but I was trying to block them out. Catriona and Cathal were up not long after me as they were heading off south so they would be leaving us for the time being but we knew we'd see them again at the Tongariro park in a week's time. I forced in half a sandwich and headed for town, of course Roman had probably not slept out of excitement whereas Sarah was in the same boat as me. It's a 45 minute bus journey to the Nevis office. I thought about as much other stuff as I could to stop me thinking about what the hell I was about to put myself through but Roman kept play acting the jumping and falling through the air so I'm not sure if he was helping at all. Once we got harnessed up and we actually saw the cable cart, it actually settled my nerves a bit for some reason. The suspended cable car is over 200m from the canyon floor so the ride over to it was a bit scary as well. I'd already thought that if I could see Roman go first then I wouldn't mind going after him so I was rather shocked when I discovered I had to go first! To say my heart was having a busy morning is an understatement, especially as the instructor buckled up my feet and made me shuffle towards the edge . Roman and Sarah just laughed as I had to smile for the cameras. The shuffle to the edge was one of the worst bits, between getting off the chair and jumping was probably the most scary part as you know what's coming and I knew I wasn't going to back out. As I perched on the edge, 200m above the floor I tried to not look down but you can't help yourself, after a quick breath and a couple of swear words in my head I actually jumped and I can't even begin to explain what the 10 second free fall felt like. It was so different from the sky dive. 
 
As the Bungy finally bounced me and I released my feet, the adrenaline was incredible. It felt amazing bouncing around upside down on a 134m bungy and knowing that I'd actually done it. I still had slightly shaky hands as I got unclipped and put back in the spectator area. By now Roman was sat in the dreaded chair getting his feet clipped up and finally the nerves were starting to show through his excitement. He gave a quick grin for the camera and off he went with no trouble at all but as expected everyone is a bit scared stood right on the edge . Sarah also did brilliantly so we were all so pleased for each other afterwards and couldn't wait to see our videos. To add to our laughs, it turned out that in the excitement, Roman had forgotten to zip his pocket up before he jumped which meant the key to the locker that had all our wallets, phones and clothes in was now thrown across the canyon somewhere!! Luckily this must happen quite regularly as they didn't mind at all and just opened it for us. After laughing at our videos we got back in the the bus and headed back to Queenstown. 
 
Whilst Matt, Roman & Sarah were off being adventurous, the rest of the group and I went off exploring, including a "tramp" (the Kiwi word for trek or hike) around the lake to Sunshine bay. This was a lovely walk but all of us were quite preoccupied with how the others were getting on and were desperate to hear from them! We were all so proud of their achievements and loved watching their videos and seeing their photos.
 
During the next morning, an old friend from home, Clare, who now lives in Wanaka got in touch as she was going to be in Queenstown for the day along with her fiancé, Byron . I haven't seen or spoken to Clare for about 5 years so it was lovely to meet up and catch up on the many exciting things that have happened during that time. A couple of afternoon drinks turned into a full blown night out (some things never change!) with the rest of the Stray family! After a few sneaky drinks in Roman's room at Base, we made our way downstairs to Altitude bar where they were having a UV party! Somehow I was designated as chief face painter and gave everybody cool patterns and designs before Sarah (feeling under pressure to do a good job!) painted the same pattern on me. We had so much fun dancing around with our glow sticks in the UV light and the boys had decided to use the paint to write on their knuckles so they had fun posing for pictures showing off their paint. As we'd enjoyed it so much on our first night, we moved on to Winnie's bar. It was absolutely rammed in there this time so we didn't stick around for long! Whether it was because we hadn't drunk as much as last time or just because it was Saturday night but the whole place seemed to have a totally different, quite tense vibe, with people pushing and shoving all the time! From there we made our way to Buffalos which was much quieter and we could actually talk, sing and dance without any problems . We danced the night away but, knowing we had to be picked up by Seagull at around 7:45am, some of us decided to go to bed at about 1am but Matt, Roman, Nienke, Sarah, Clare and Byron stayed out till around 3am. To make sure we were going to be really tired for the bus, someone decided to set the fire alarm off at 5:30am so it was quite a shock when it felt like we'd hardly been to sleep and the next thing we knew we were all stood outside in the rain until 6am!! We quickly returned to bed to get a last hour of sleep in but it wasn't going to help very much at all.
 
We had an absolutely brilliant time in Queenstown and all enjoyed it for many different reasons but it will also always be remembered as the breaking up of our lovely new family although it's never really a goodbye but just a see you again soon!