I'm back in Nelson after an adrenaline-filled week in Queenstown, which finished with a tantalising job offer that i had to turn down. Must move on, hey its a shame.

The Canyon Swing was my last act of madness in Queenstown. You jump off a platform suspended over a canyon and freefall for 60m (the length of 2 boeing 737s), and the most sickening feeling in the world. You then soar into a 200m arc to complete a total fall of 109m, falling at a rate of 120kmph. Horrendous. I would do a thousand skydives before doing that again. I was the pathetic member of the group who refused to jump and tried to bail out. After 5 minutes of arguing they had to give me a little shove! The swing part of it was admittedly fun, but the freefall was truly ghastly - i exhaled the most horrendous sound. Feel free to click on my photos to enlarge them and to visit www.canyonswing.co.nz to get a better impression.

This is my second day in Nelson now. I went on a 3 hour horse trek yesterday up into the mountains and was chuffed to even canter a couple of times after my awful display of how not to trot in Scotland several years ago. Today i have adopted the wide-legged stiff cowboy walk to attest to my latest adventure. My bank account tells me this is my last slice of action to be had in New Zealand. I've just another day to vege out in Nelson and acquire a load of books for further vegging in Fiji in a few days. Goodness knows how i'll cope with the switch from 2 to 26 degrees, but hey, i'm sure my pasty skin will appreciate the change.