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We had big expectations before arriving in Queenstown it had quite a reputation and didn't disappoint. The Stray Bus dropped us off, after some serious discussions and several viewings we decided Southern Laughter was for us. Mark & Georgina had a double bed room I roughed it in an 8 person dorm. Our priorities where adrenalin, football and partying. My dorm had a good mix of hard partying hard drinking travellers, that was one boxed ticked. We started the adrenaline rushes off in style with the Nevis Highwire. At 134m it is worlds 2nd highest bungy jump, that’s 8s of freefall a fucking long time! count it and consider you are plummeting towards the ground for that long! After signing your life away you take a basket out to the pod, a glass box suspended between ... read more

Franz Josef! not the Austrian archduke but one of NZ's most famous landmarks, a Glacier in the Wetstlands National Park. Its one of only three that descend from the mountains into temperate rainforest, now I've seen all of them Puerto Moreno, Franz Josef and Fox. We arrived on the Stray Bus from Barrytown mid-avo. First thing we noticed where majestic views and just how damn cold it was. The town, Franz Josef is at the bottom of the glacier and snuggled into the Southern Alps. We stayed at the Rainforest Retreat Lodge, sounds alot nicer than it actually was, full of Kiwi Experience types. The next days weather report was grim so delayed our glacier hike and had a night out. Hit the only open bar in town with a few fellow Stray travelers. Quickly descended ... read more

Leaving Blenheim Team NZ, that's Markus, Georgina and myself headed down the road to Picton. Our first adventure was to be the Queen Charlotte Track. A 2 day walking track running through the Marlborough Sounds. It was late autumn, winter approaching and the track apparently was boggy so we decided just an overnight stay and days trek. Packed plenty of Ham & Cheese and took the mid-morning water taxi to Torea Bay. Our plush hostel for the night, The Portage was only a short walk from the Torea jetty. A glorious day and with an avo to kill we rented a boat and set out exploring the Marlborough Sounds. The boat was about 12ft with a 2 stroke engine, none of us had ever done this before and surprisingly we made it onto the Sounds without ... read more

Instead of jumping back on the Stray bus I took a detour with Jen through the National Park and Forgotten Highway to New Plymouth, on the west coast. She did the driving I choose the music (and slept). The forgotten highway gives you a pretty good feel for what NZ is all about. From the Mountains of the National Park you pass into sheep filled rolling hills onto unsealed roads and tropical vegetation before hitting the coastal town of New Plymouth. Nice town as far as we could see, nothing actually was happening while we where there pubs, restaurants, shops mostly deserted. The wind wand on the beach path was impressive, and so may I say where my pictures of sunset. The reason for stopping was Mount Taranaki, we had mountain climbing fever!! Mt Taranki like ... read more

After delaying and delaying I finally made it to NZ, only 13 hours from Santiago to Auckland but it felt like another world. The first thing I really noticed was just how nice NZ is, everyone is friendly, the air quality is good, the cities are clean, the loos are excellent, the buses are nice...you get the picture. It took a few days to get used to the idea of not being in South Am, found myself using Spanish words a few times in conversation. But it was was good holding a full conversation with somebody in a shop for the first time in ages. The next thing to get used to was the Kiwi lingo 'Sweet As', 'Arr Yeah', 'Shit Yeah' all used in pretty much every conversation. Other words of interest, Trundlers - Supermarket ... read more