New Zealand: South Island (sorry its a bit long)

Nelson was the first stop after spending the weekend with Sam and Ian and drinking far to much white wine. Nelson is a really nice hippish sort of town, with some amazing shops and a really the best hostel in New Zealand, The Palace. After arriving we went up to the 'center of New Zealand' to view the sunset, its not really the center but it has an amazing view of the town and of the sea in the distance. The next day 5 of us hired a car and drove to the Abel Tasman National Park following Golden Bay. Our first stop was Wainui Bay and a small walk into the NP to see a small waterfall, on the way to the waterfall you had to cross a bridge over a river, only one person was allowed on the bridge at a time and you could only step one foot in front of the other. The next stop was Collingwood for a spot of lunch before heading to Farewell Spit, the furthest north you can go on the south island. We were really lucky today as the weather was really good all day, just a little bit cold. We went to Wharaiki Beach to watch the sunset, I have never seen a sunset so beautiful in my life, if there is a heaven I would say it would look like what we saw, I would be surprised if I ever see something so amazing again in my life.

I got back on the kiwi bus the next day and headed to Westport, we didn't do much today apart from a small bush walk to picnic by a lake with mountains in the background. I rained most of the night so I stayed in the hostel with my new friends and played card games.

The next day we went through Greymouth to pick up supplies for the fancy dress party we had that evening at the Poo Pub. The theme was idols or in bad taste, I couldn't think of anything so I went as a Pirate. There were some amazing costumes, the best was Pinocchio and Geppetto (Tom and Tom), who ended up winning the best costume prize. It was a really funny night we all got so drunk and it was a great way to get to know everyone on my new bus, plus we had a huge sit down meal at the beginning of the evening.

The next morning everyone was feeling a bit groggy from the party but we headed to a weird little place called the Bushman Centre, where we watched a film called When Bambie was a Terrorist, its about deer hunting in NZ and the crazy ways they use to catch them, like jumping out of a helicopter on top of the deer. We headed on to Franz Josef, we had two days here, we were supposed to do a hike over the Glacier here but a massive storm hit. I have never seen so much rain in my life, it didn't stop for over 24 hours, its caused a landslide that cut the power out to the whole area for 8 hours. It was fun though in the day I sat with my friends making bracelets and in the evening we went to the pub in the dark and had to sit by candle light.

We headed to Wanaka the next day and it was still raining so we didn't stop to much, but when we got to Wanaka the weather cleared up and we had beautiful clear sky's but if was really cold, you could tell we were going further into the mountains. The town is lovely, surrounded by mountains and a lake, probably the second best place in the south island next to Nelson. In the evening my friend Kohki cooked us up a Japanese feast which was so good. The following morning we went to Puzzling World, where you can sit and play with lots of different puzzles as well as go through the museum bit where they play with your perception of things including a 3D maze.

I spent the next week in Queenstown, a ski town in the middle of the mountains with a beautiful lake, it was so cold here it didn't go about 5oc the whole time we were there. I didn't really do much the whole time I was there just chilled out and went to the pub. On the first night the whole bus went out and we won a $500 bar tab which we managed to drink in an hour. I also got to see some people from my first bus in the north island which was nice.

I got on the bottom bus to Dunedin and was supposed to go to the Cadbury's factory for a tour but unfortunately it was closed the day we went. Dunedin is very much like Cardiff, a very student town and they love there rugby. The next day was a really early start and we headed down the Catlins, the first stop was Nugget Point, a group of rocks in the sea which Captain Cook named due to them looking like golden nuggets floating in the sea. We went to Surat Beach were we got to see some Sea lions up close and then headed to Curio Bay on the way passing a coastline which has been untouched by human hand so the natural bush came all the way up to the white sand. Its easy to imagine how scary it must have been for the fist settlers when the Maori's came running out of the bush shouting there war chants. Curio Bay is one of the only places you can see the Yellow Eyed Penguin, we waited around for almost an hour for them to come back from the sea to there nests, but it was worth the wait, they were so cute.

The day after we headed towards Te Anau, following the Southern Scenic Route. We first stopped of at the Paua Shell Factory for a quick tour and a though bargains at the factory shop. Today was all about seeing the coastline of the south island it was so beautiful we then headed in to the southern alps to Te Anau which is situated by a lake by the gateway to Milford Sounds. In the morning it was so misty you couldn't see to the other side of the lake, we headed toward Milford Sound and the higher we got into the mountains the clearer it got. It was so cold up here, there was snow lining the road and all over the tops of the mountains. We had a boat cruise around Milford Sounds and we were lucky enough to have dolphins come up to the boat and swim along side us. Milford Sound was beautiful the mountains rise up from the sea and have rings of cloud around their middle. On the way back to Queenstown that evening we drove 4 hours through the country side without seeing any sign of civilisation, you could see every star in the sky.

Christchurch was my last stop in New Zealand, I spent 4 nights there and was the first time I got to stay in a house since starting the kiwi bus, a month and a half ago. The first place I stayed was a bit of a dive as it was really dirty but the second house was lovely and very homely as it was one of my friends I had met in Nelsons house. I liked Christchurch there was a really nice art scene there and was very relaxed. The museum was fun as it had lots of interactive bits in and the botanical gardens were really nice. It reminded me a lot of home as the city was very English.

When I was in the airport to leave for Sydney I almost cried as I did'nt want to leave New Zealand as it is such a beautiful country and eveyone is really nice. I can't wait to go back there and do all the things I missed out on because of the weather.