New Zealand - South Island

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The North Island has been completed and it was now onto the South Island which had a lot to live up to as we had already had such a good few weeks here. Getting to the South Island involved crossing the Cook Strait on a ferry which I was not looking forward to as my sea legs clearly didn't wake up this morning. Therefore I had to lay flat for the 3 hour duration, very sociable! Our first stop was Kaiteriteri based next to the Abel Tasmin National Park, named after the Dutch explore who found New Zealand, got scared of the Maori people and left before setting foot on the land. Nice that they gave him some credit though, at least he tried. Myself, Lynsey, Ed and Dan hired sea kayaks for half a day and paddled along the coast line and over to Adele Island. We where just milling around when we managed to spot a seal who decided to do a little show for us in the cove, splashing around, doing headstands and swimming up to us. That night, over a few beers, we realised we were going to be heading down the South Island with mostly the same group of people until early January. It turns out this was the start of absolute carnage and some very funny times as a group.

The next day led us to another costal town where we took a costal walk past a seal colony set In a geologist dream due to the various rock formations that shaped the landscape. That night we went to the beach for a huge bonfire and a few beers, luckily for us there was a guy from another bus with a guitar from South America who could play a ridiculous amount of music from acoustic chart music to Spanish guitar and he played away in the background. The walk home was long and involved a race around a 400m running track across the road from our hostel at 1am, I was a little bit pleased to see I was mixing with some boys who were as competitive as me, I lost horribly. Unfortunately/fortunately we had booked to hire surf boards at 7am, it was possibly the worst surfing I have demonstrated. Firstly, I had to wear a wetsuit which wasn't pleasing after 29c water in Indonesia and secondly the current was so strong I could barely walk with my board let alone paddle. Great hangover cure though.

The challenge for the next day for our arrival in Lake Mahinapua was to create a Christmas based outfit for as little money as you could for a party in the 'Poo Pub' which up until recently had been run by the longest serving publican in NZ. Sadly, he passed away recently and we were one of the last buses to stop there. We decided to put the most effort we could into the outfits, as you can see from the pic I have attached, I dressed as Santa's sack. The best bit about the pub was the juke box which had some absolute classics on it. There were a variety of outfits including snowballs, presents, even a baby Jesus. The snow balls (Ed, George&Dan) got a little over excitable that evening and as my mum would say, got a little bit silly. However, it was hilarious for the rest of us watching the carnage unfold.

It was weird to be away from home for Christmas but it was made a lot easier with the people I was spending my time with as they were such a funny bunch, who I laughed a lot with over the course of this trip. The day itself involved a pancake breakfast, being very lazy, sitting in NZ biggest hot tub and eating an awesome Christmas BBQ with lots of different meats and prawns in the evening followed by some charades. Christmas Day was great but I was really excited for Boxing Day as we had planned to go on a 'Heli Hike' on the Franz Jozef Glacier. It was my first time in a helicopter and it was amazing, we even had to wear crampons for the 3hour hike to go up the ice. I did manage to graze my leg as I stupidly tried to itch my leg with one of the spikes and slipped. Oops! We left there and the landscape continually changed as we progressed down the Island and it reminded me of Hawaii a little bit with the trees and mountain ranges. Our next stop was Wanaka which was a great town based around a huge lake and beautiful mountains, some with snow capped peaks. The weather was sunny and warm which meant some sunbathing by the lake could happen and after a hectic few days it was very welcome. Best thing we did whilst we were there was a hike up Mount Roy(1630m), this did also involve a 6.5km bike ride, the 11km hike and then 6.5km ride back. The views were spectacular, we had definitely earnt them after the 4 hour steep walk up at a reasonable pace, I was walking with George and Dan who were fitter and quicker than me but we got there in the end. Picnic lunch then a jog down, good idea for the first 20mins the it just hurt. As soon as we got back I sat by the lake and literally passed out for a full 30mins as I was so tired. Felt good to do some exercise though as I have been a little bit slack lately?!

The time had come for what we had all been waiting for...Queenstown. It did not fail to deliver. From the moment we arrived we knew this town was going to be mental and that it was. The surroundings were beautiful, with another huge lake and the Southern Alps prominent on the horizon and stretching as far as the eye could see. The hostal was awesome with a sauna, movie room and even a balcony attached to our room. Plus it was right in the centre of the town so everything was easy to access. I can confidently say I have never been to a town where every night, regardless of the day, featured an awesome night out. I visited my first ice bar, drinking my drink from a glass made of ice whist wearing a huge coat and gloves. Minus 8 degrees was fun for 20minutes and then the novelty wore off and I was happy to go and warm up. New Year's Eve was the big night that everyone was waiting for and about 20 of us got involved in an organised bar crawl. However, before this kicked off we had the small matter of a 300m bungy swing to undertake. Wow!! What an awesome/traumatic experience, the anticipation was the worst part and the swinging element wasn't actually too bad. The guy doing it tricked us and let us go before giving us a proper countdown. His words - you girls have made my day! I'm glad he was happy as he traumatised us. The pub crawl commenced with everyone running out for the fireworks at midnight and then a DJ played a set on the street by the lake until around 2am. Queenstown continued in the same vain, limited day time activities, partying in the evening and repeat. I did insist on a bike ride on one of the days so we could go around part of the lake for some much needed exercise/sightseeing.

A few of us had signed up for an additional 3 days visiting the 'Deep South' hitting two towns on the South Coast of the South Island. This is where we met two more girls, Imy and Lizzie along the way who were good fun and kept a constant supply of bread, butter and vegemite coming on the bus, I was in my element. We also reunited with a Eliza who we started our initial journey with which was amazing as she provided hours of entertainment! On our journey from Dunedin to Invercargill we walked along some amazing beaches with only us on them. We visited Carnivore bay (an old Maori sacrificing site) and after a few minutes we saw several sea lions basking in the sun coated in sand as their sun cream. Initially I did actually mistaken one of them for logs as they camouflaged so well! We also stopped at Petrified Woods where I was lucky enough to spot a yellow eyed penguin. It was so amazing to see a penguin in the nature as I thought they only lived in really really cold countries, I saw this one whilst wearing denim shorts and sun glasses!! To top off an amazing day our final stop was In a bay where a number of hector dolphins were swimming in the surf. Couldn't really ask for anything more from the day; beach walks that showed off the incredible wildlife of New Zealand, without a tour boat or trainer in sight! Unfortunately, the evening was spent listening to what I can only describe as a fast and furious continuous street race, but very low budget and horribly chavy! I did get to hear some great domestics though, every cloud. The final day in the Deep South was what we had been waiting for, Milford Sound, one of the world heritage sites. It definitely delivered, I can't really describe it in words and the pictures don't really do it justice. It was a body of water surrounded by rugged green/mountainous landscape that reminded me a bit of the film Avatar (minus the blue people). The weather was very temperamental and it was raining most of the day but actually that meant we were blessed with even better scenery as the temporary waterfalls were flourishing due to the downpour. One of the guys from our hostel said he had tears in his eyes when he was on the boat looking around and I can completely understand why. A very special place, you can see why New Zealand are so proud of it. (Captain Cook was a bit of a silly billy as managed to miss it when he arrived in New Zealand?!)

So we have reached the bottom of the South Island and it's time to start heading back up to the North Island. However, we couldn't resist two more nights in Queenstown. On one of the days we were there we decided to have a little bit of team competition in the shape Frisbee Golf and crazy golf. (Organised fun - my favourite) Of course I was in my element drawing teams and being score keeper, and after 18 holes we finished a respectable 2nd place out of 4 teams. I would like to say that whoever thought making a frisbee golf course on a the edge of a windy lake was being a little silly! We then decided to head onto indoor mini golf, we did lose 4 out of the 8 competitors by this point but we carried on anyway. Let's say frustration and fatigue set in and I couldn't maintain the consistent start. I finished that game in a very stroppy mood!! But was an incredible mini golf course complete with a rocket, gondola and river.

The next few weeks will be spent heading back up to Auckland where I will see my friend Suze from Bath and head to 'The Big Day Out' music festival which I can't wait for!! On the 22nd Jan I'll be heading to California...

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