After 10 weeks we have finally come to the end of the New Zealand leg of our trip. We've had a total blast exploring the country and have experienced things we will never forget. Highlights have included skydiving, swimming with dolphins, tramping in Abel Tasman and climbing Fox glacier. We have met some great people (and some right weirdos) and survived living in a campervan for two weeks without killing each other. It's been fantastic. We could've spent a lot less time here and still have done everything we have because the country is so small and easy to get around. [View Full Entry]

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Kaikoura, Nov 6 - 11 Swimming with dolphins is something I have wanted to do ever since I can remember and today we did it. What an experience... Our day started at 4.45am as we had to be at the Dolphin Encounter office at 5.30am. We are not used to getting up so early but soon woke up when it was time to wiggle into our wetsuits - another great fashion moment. During our briefing we were told to sing to the dolphins (underwater and through the snorkel obviously) to attract their interest. We were soon out on the water looking [View Full Entry]

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Christchurch, Nov 2 - 7 We were excited to discover what Bonfire Night would be like in a different country and waited patiently at the bus station for the No.5 to take us to New Brighton Pier. When public transport and an event like fireworks night combine it's a given that chavs will appear. The station was full of scantily clad teens, dolled up to the nines and boys in too-baggy clothes and lots of gold jewellery. They were well behaved though unlike the harassed bus station staff and the regular commuters who just wanted to go home. There were threats [View Full Entry]

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October, 31 - Nov 2 Don't be alarmed by the title of this entry. We aren't depressed - no work, lie-ins, amazing experiences - we have no reason to be blue. Unlike Lake Tekapo. The lake is fed by glacial melt waters that contain finely ground rock particles which give it the most amazing colours - something to do with refraction of the light. The lake contains the bluest water we have ever seen that seems to change hue depending on the light. It looks almost opaque, like water in a jar that is used to rinse brushes coated in blue [View Full Entry]

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October 28 - 31 Aside from the beautiful lake Wanaka is home to the best cinema ever, Puzzling World and Canadian country singer Shania Twain. We didn't see Shania but experienced all the rest. While in town we treated ourselves to a double room at Wanaka Bakpakas and enjoyed not being woken by rustling carrier bags at 7am and using the real towels that came with the room. The chamois leather-like travelling towels are getting a bit tiresome. It was good to have our own space when we weren't out and about. Puzzling World is like a playground for adults. There [View Full Entry]

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Queenstown, October 21 - 28 Queenstown may be known as the adrenaline capital of the world but it's also a great place to just chill out. After spending a fair few weeks in tiny towns it was a novelty to be in city even though the city is very small compared to those back home. We took the opportunity to sleep in and wander round the cafes and bars sampling hot chocolate and beer. Patagonia does the best ice cream and milk shakes and a little French restaurant next to Dux de Lux does the best hot chocolate. There are happy [View Full Entry]

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Fox, October 18 - 21 You can't go to New Zealand and not climb a glacier, the only decision is which one? Fox or Franz Josef? We chose Fox because we had heard it wasn't as busy as Franz Josef and we had heard only good things from people who had done it. We met at the Fox Glacier Guiding building (just a short stroll from the hostel because Fox is the tiniest town) at 9.15am to get our gear on. We had to wear thick wollen red hiking socks and hobnail boots - these weighed a ton so it was [View Full Entry]

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Greymouth, October 14 - 18 Having missed out on river tubing in Waitomo because of flooding we decided to stop in the small town of Greymouth on the west coast as this was somewhere we could experience floating down a river in a giant rubber ring. We stayed at Duke backpackers which was a lovely hostel providing free soup in the evening and toast for breakfast. It was run by a friendly Israeli who made us feel really welcome and had its own bar where Simon beat me at pool. Greymouth is not an especially pretty town as we discovered on [View Full Entry]

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The 12-hour bus journey to Wellington was not the most comfortable experience so it would've been nice to check into a decent hostel and relax. Unfortunately we had booked Base hostel which is geared towards teenagers who want to party. Now this wouldn't have been a problem if said teenagers had the ability to clear up after themselves.... The 6-bed dorm we checked into stank of BO. I found the source of this stench stuffed down the side of my bunk, a t-shirt left behind by some smelly backpacker with an aversion to showers. I chucked it in the bin but [View Full Entry]

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The ferry crossing to the south was a bit more scenic than crossing the Channel as the boat crosses through the Marlborough Sounds for the last hour of the journey so all around there were huge green hills. It was too windy to stay out on deck though - my sunglasses nearly blew off my head. The rain and wind followed us from the north island so our first two days in Picton were spent wrapped up in the hostel. Unfortunately we had picked another dive of a hostel and this one had a very strange tenant who seemed to work [View Full Entry]

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