The Big Trip...

Hey everyone

Hope you are all well and not missing me too much

So, we left Kaikoura in the morning and travelled by bus up to Picton where we would get the ferry back over to Wellington and cross over into North Island. It was a beautiful drive along the coastline where we spotted some more seals (i swear, they are everywhere in NZ) and through the wine region. The ferry journey was pretty (going through the Marlbourgh Sounds) and then it was straight into Wellington. Me and Claire decided that we would spend 2 nights in Wellington because (a) it is a really lovely city and (b) we didnt really see much of it last time acuse we were partying too much..oops! We went to some bars at night before having a reasonably early one. On our free day in Wellington we took the cable car up to the top of the city (its build on a hill) and took some great photos and then had a walk round the bottanical gardens (which seems to be a regular occurance with us in cities!). After this we met one of Claire's friends for some coffee before heading back to the hostel and calling it a day.

From Wellington we journeyed to Taupo again. Our bus driver to Taupo was slightly strange and tried to get us to play wierd get to know you games...we were having none of it! We arrived in Taupo mid afternoon and we met up with LJ (our bus driver through the west coast of South Island) and he took us to some natural hot springs with his new bus. That night we went out for dinner to a really cool Mexican restaurant where they give you free monkey nuts and you throw the shells on the floor (very random, i know) followed by partying with LJ and his crew which was a great night. The following day we had a free day to chill out so we went to the Kiwi House (yes..the bus drivers get houses in some places that they can all stay at and they have sky tv and baths etc - thats a real treat when you;ve been on the road for over 3 months!) Anyway, we chilled out in the house watching movies all day - i have never been so pleased to see a couch in my life (its funny the things u miss!).

We left Taupo the following morning for Auckland and this was going to be our final bus journey with the Kiwi Experience.

There is not really that much to say about Auckland as i have been here twice before. Me and Claire met up with some friends from Queenstown and went out a few nights with them, and spent a great deal of time in the $6 Asian foodcourt. Apart from that, we really just got ourselves ready for Fiji. Claire left for Fiji yesterday and i leave tomorrow. Last night i went out with a group of people to celebrate Ben's birthday which was a great night out but I am very ready to leave Auckland.

I'll update after I have been sunbathing and diving in Fiji!
xxxxxxxxxx

Hey everyone!

Our final day in Queenstown was pretty non eventful...we did our washing, sorted out our bags, had one final Fergburger and said our goodbye's to people. The following day was a 9 hour bus journey to Christchurch. Surprisingly the journey went quite quickly and we actually got speaking to some cool people during the journey. En route, we stopped off to get a great view of Mount Cook which was 'sweet as'! When we arrived into Christchurch we were met by some people we thought we were not going to see again which was awesome, and we all went out for dinner before heading to the hostel bar to see a sweet Juggling show.

On our first full day in Christchurch we went to the gym (felt the need for some excercise for some strange reason!) and then me, Claire and Tom took a picnic to the bontanical gardens and lay there all day. AT night we went to teh bar where they had a Magic show which was pretty cool and then we all went up to the Penthouse (its basically still dorm rooms but on the top floor and they have their own tv room and kitchen - Dave (one of our friends) was staying there so we got to use all the facilities ) with some wine and chilled out.

Day 2 in Christchurch - we hung out around Cathedral Square and went to the markets where we bought some Poi (really hard to describe...kinda like ribbon dancing stuff) and then went back to the park to practice with them. We then had a look round the Art Centre which was really cool. At night, we went to one of the suburbs for dinner with come of Claire's friends (she was working in Christchurch prior to the Kiwi Experience) which was really fun - it was nice to hang out with some Kiwi people rather than just travellers for a change.

Now we are in Kaikoura where we have spend the day chilling out by the beach and continuing with the practice of poi. I dont have enough money to go whale watching so i gave that one a miss. Tomorrow we are heading back into the North Island to Wellington.

Speak soon xxxxxxxx

Hey everyone - sorry its been so long since an update!

We left Wanaka first thing in the morning and headed to Puzzling World which is a museam like place which is all about illusions. There is a maze that takes about 40 mins to work yourself around and an illusion room which seriosuly messes with your head. I have great pics from it, but i cant really explain what it is like! sorry...

En route to Queenstown we had a minor mishap when the luggage compartment in our bus flew open whilst driving down a hill, and loads of rucksacks flew out onto the road. Yeah..that took a while to sort out, but luckily my bag was fine!

We also stopped at the worlds first commercial bungy jump site - Kawarau Bridge. This is a 43 m jump, and no, i did not do it - are you crazy?! We watched a short show on the history of the bungy and then a few people from the bus did the jump and we stood on the platform and cheered them on. We arrived into Queenstown at around 4pm.

Queenstown is the extreme activities capital of the world...if you want to jump out a plane, jump off a bridge, go white water rafting, do a canyon swing etc etc, then this is the palce to do it. Therefore, the town is full of adrenaline seeking backpackers which means a great night life also exists!

On our first night, we had a huge night out because me and claire had finally met up with the guys that we had travelled north island with, so it was a big reunion...also, it was Justin;s birthday so everyone was in party spirits. We went to a couple of bars, including the World ar where they serve you drinks in tea pots - no joke!

The next day we just chilled out and had a look round Queenstown, and caught up with some friends. It was an early night as all this partying is starting to take its toll on us!

Day 3 in Queenstown we went to Fergbuger (probably the best burger bar i have ever been to - seriously!) - me claire and dave, and then we just pottered arounda again...we dont really have any money to do any more extreme activities. At night we chilled out with our dorm mates (who turned out to be the biggest laugh ever) before headoing out to Altitude and World bar for another big night out.

The next morning we were heading onto the Bottom Bus which is basically a loop around the south of New Zealand. It was quite a sad morning because we had to say goodbye to everyone that we had met so far because they were all leaving for Christchurch, so it was an emotional morning with about 30 goodbyes, including out bus driver LJ who is an absolute legend. (We're probs going to meet up with him again on our way north though so its cool). We got on the Bottom Bus which only seats around 20 people - a big contrast to the 45 seater that we have travelled south on. We slept most of the way to Dunedin, arriving there around 4pm. This is a very prominant Scottish town and it is mainly a university town. There is astatue of Robert Burns in the centre and it hosts the Speights brewery and Cadbury's World (NZ and Oz version). We had a walk around the town centre, before having an early night.

The next mornign we left for Invergargil, but didnt actually arrive there until 7pm. En route we stopped at the Catlins (the southernest point in NZ) and we went to see some sea lions. These are wild sea lions and just perch on teh beach. They weigh about 5 times my boday weight and can eat you. We had to be really really careful walking past them because they can sense people and at some poitns we definately broke into a run just to escape them. It didnt help when Barbara (our resident 77 year old on the Kiwi bus who has done more extrere activities than the rest of us put together - no joke) fell and that sparked off the sea lions interest in us. great. We couldnt get back on the bus quick enough!!

We then went to a fossilised rainforest which was soooo boring because we were nmade to wait for an hour and a half in the freezing cold for some stupid penguins that never turned up!

When we finally arrived in Invercargill we were tired and hungry so we went to the Speights brewery for dinner (yes, it doesnt just sell beer!) and then went to bed.

Day 3 on the Bottom Bus was Claires birthday so we had big celebrations. It was also St Paddys day so, everywhere was pretty lively anyway. We were heading to Te Anau today. en route we stopped off at a Paua jewellery making factory and made some neclaces which was pretty cool, and then whilst some of the group went to a farm to sheer a sheep (no thanks!), the rest of us went out for lunch for claires bday. We arrived mid afternoon in Te Anau and had a lovely dinner out and some drinks in the local pub before crashing into bed.

The next day was suppsoed to be one of the highlights of NZ, but i think it is overrated. Todayw e were going to Milford Sound. Firstly, we were really annoyed cause nobody told us that the clocks went back, so we were up an hour earlier than we had to be!! It took around 3 hours to get to Milford Sound from Te Anau and it was absolutely beautiful. (But, we thought that Abel Tasman national park and the Glaciers were nicer). We did a 2 hour cruise around the Sound (which is actually not a Sound, its a Fiordland..but to be fair, i dont really know the difference). We were surrounded by amazing mountaisn with waterfalls cascading down them - absolutely stunning and the pictures do not do it justice!

The journey back took 5 hours to Queenstown and we went out again at night to celebrate Claire's birthday again (just because Queenstown is a more lively place than Te Anau).

Today is our final day in Queenstown before heading to Christchurch tomorrow. Think that that is everything up to date now.

hope everyone is well at home

xxxxxxxxxx

Hey everyone

Hope everyone is well and missing me loads

So,at Franz Joseph i went on a helihike - basically, a 15 minute helicoper rde up to the top of the glacier and then a 2 hour hike in the glacier, before getting a helicopter ride back down. The ride was incredible..i had never been on a helicopter before and the views surrounding the glacier were unlike anything i had ever seen. On arrival at the top, we met our guide and got all kitted up with spikes and the like before setting out. Walking on ice is so strange and took a few minutes to get used to. Luckily i didnt fall over, but certain people in the group did, which was quite funny! We walked through crevises and caves, and even jumped into an ice cold plunge pool with all our gear on, just for a laugh. It didnt seem so funny when we got out and were freezing cold with still another 40 minutes to hike! Regardless, it was an amazing trip. Going back down to the mainland, our pilot did some nifty tricks in teh helicopter, spinning us around and pretending to crash into mountains. great!

We just chilled out in the afternoon and it was really quiet because the majority of people were doing the full day hike over the glacier or sky diving. It was an early night to bed after a great day. We left Franz at 7.30am the next day and started our long journey to Wanaka. Despite the lengh, it was probably the best journey we have had in terms of scenery - just absolutely stunning!

We stopped off at Lke Matheson which is a really dark, still lake surrounded by mountains such as Mt Cook (very famous here) and Mt Tasman. Because of the colour of the lake, these mountains reflect perfectly in the water, so was an amazing sight. After a quick breakfas, we set out back on the road. We stpped off at a few viewpoints en route, including Haast River which had a very cool waterfall, Thundercreek Waterall and Ship Cove.

On arrival into Wanaka, we checked into our hotel...yes, thats right.HOTEL (not hostel for once!) and went to check out the town. Its a very small town with a population of only 4000 (but that increases during the ski season) but in a beautiful setting. ME and Claire just sat by the lake for a while and tehn joined some of the bus group for a BBQ at the bar accross the road from the hostel. It was another fairly early night beacuse today we are heading to Queentown where we are meeting up with our friends from North Island and its going to be a huge party!

Speak soon

xxxxx

Hey everyone!

sorry its been a while since my last update, but i've just been too busy and been having too much fun!!!

Ok here goes...

Abel Tasman national park is absolutely stunning and i think its fair to say that i have never seen anything so beautiful in my entire life. The park is luch forests surrounded by crystal clear turquoise waters with random islands hosting seal colonies scattered around. Me and Claire were up at the crack of dawn to catch our bus to the park, after an emotional goodbye to all our friends we had made since Auckland. (They were all leaving a couple of nights before us and were not coming to the park - idiots.) So off we go, feeling slightly miserable but looking forward to teh days to come. On arrival we boarded a water taxi to take us to the north of the park and the plan was for us to walk for around 4 hours to Bark Bay, stay there overnight in a hut, and then kayak the rest of the way the following day back to the start. We headed out on our walk and the views were amazing, and everything went well until we realised that the tide was still in and we had to cross to teh other side - great! There we were, walking in our bikinis, holiding and bags, clothes and trainers over our heads trying to cross the river - was a funny site and dont worry, i have plenty of pics!

We arrived at Bark Bay aroun 3pm and set about for a difficult few hours sunbathing on thte golden beach - its a hard life, i know. Accomodation for the night was interesting to say the least. It was basically a hut with 2 rooms, and each room have 14 mattresses. That was it. But, due to the fact we had been out partying late for the past few weeks, mixed with the efforts of our 4 hour hike (and i was not very well) meant that we actually went to sleep at 8pm and slept for a blissful 12 hours.

The next day was the kayaking and we had been told that if we were ever going to go sea kayaking, then this was the place to do it. There were 8 of us kayaking (so 4 kayaks) and our guide. It was really hard work but so much fun. AT a couple of points when the wind picked up, we all joined the kayaks together and the guide got out a sail and we made a little boat and sailed for a few kilometres. All in all, we kayaked for 15 kilometres back to the start. Lets just say my shoulders were in agony the following day, but it was well worth it!

A couple of guys in our kayak group had a car so tehy drove us back to the hostel in Nelson and we had an early dinner and crashed into bed.

The next day we were up early to get on our new bus to Westport. New bus, new driver, new people - lets just say me and claire were very sceptical as our last bus had been fantastic. Well, our new driver LJ is just as good as Dave, and the people are 'sweet as'. NZ slang meaning 'cool'). Off we drove to Wesport, stopping off for a lovely scenic walk and more photo opportunitys. Westport is a bit of a dead town with nothing in it..its just a palce to stay overnight to break up the journey. We all went out for some pizza and beer, and set about trying to learn a new set of 40 names.

The Poo Pub. What can i say. Its the oldest hotel in NZ, and it looks it. On the way we went to see the Pancake rocks and we stopped off in a town to buy costumes for the party that night. Ona rrival at teh hotel, the 82 year old owner, Les, came onto teh bus to explain how the night was going to run. LJ and Les cooked a fantasic meal for only $10 each first. Then, we all went to get dressed up for our party. This pub holds a fancy dress party every night of the week for teh Kiwi bus, and on teh walls of teh bar there are photos of every group since 1990 ish - all in costume. Its very very strange. Anyway, our theme was occupations, and i went as an artist. Fully equippedwith my apron, paint brushes and paint i set about painting the rest of teh bus. (little did i know that 2 days later, the paint wont shift!). People were dressed up in all kinds of things. We had - a cleaner, a plyboy bunny, borat, the spice girls, scuba divers, a nun, someone who works at KFC etc etc. It was a fantastic night and the costumes rocked!

Tired, we all got up really early the nect day to drive to Franz Josef...now LJ thought that it would be a great idea to continue the fancy dress theme...so we all packed onto teh bus in last nights clothes and let me tell you, we got some funny looks on the way...especially when claire adn LJ swapped costumes and our bus driver was now dressed head to foot as a playboy bunny! It got ever funnier when the bus broke down adn LJ had to hitch a ride back to the nearest town in his playboy costume to find a mechaninc. Classic. We visited a musean en route to Franz where we saw some possums and watched a videa about deer hunting - was a bit strange, but hey, its the wild west out here!

We arrived at Franz quite late because of the stupid bus that broke, and had a quick dinner before bed. In an hour i'm going on a helicopet ride over teh glaceiers, and tehn they drop you at the top of the gaciers and we hike for 2 hours ebfore being brought back down by helicopter - am soo excited!

keep in touch everyone

xxxxxxxxx