New Zealand in a Nutshell - Part 1: Christchurch to Queenstown

After falling asleep before the plane had even taken off we arrived in Christchurch NZ feeling slightly more refreshed. Christchurch itself was a fairly cool city - nothing terribly exciting except the Cathedral in the appropriatley named Cathedral Square, some cool and trendy bars at Sol Square and a free buskers festival in the park - but it was an ideal place for us to have a few days rest and get accustomed and prepared for the rest of NZ - and boy did we need it!!

A big green bus came and picked us up early one morning (both us us with significantly less hair after a trip to the hair dressers!!) and that was the start of the "Kiwi Experience!" Our first stop on the Kiwi bus was a picturesque peninsula famous for its marine life - Kaikoura. We spent the afternoon whale watching - and weren´t disappointed! We saw 2 sperm whales, a rare humpback whale and lots of very cute dusky dolphins. which came right up to the side of the boat!

The next day we were back on the bus early, northbound up to Nelson. On the way we drove throught the beautiful Malborough sounds (big lakes) and stopped off for a wine tasting session. Very nice - we sampled some delicious NZ wines! We decided that Nelson wasn´t the most exciting place in the world - there wasn´t really much going on there as really it is only the gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park, one of the most famous national parks in NZ. Unfortunatley we had already decided that we only had time (and money) to visit one of the national parks so we gave that one a miss and were back on the bus again early the next morning after having sepnt the evening getting to know some of the others from the bus.

The great thing about the Kiwi Experience is that instead of just taking you from A to B the driver stops of at places of interest along the way and gives you descriptions and information about them as you go along. Our driver, "Possum", was a hilarious guy who may not have been as knowledgeable as he could have, but nonetheless kept us very entertained over the course of the 3 weeks! That day we stopped off at a beautiful lake for lunch (the name escapes me...) which was surrounded by beautiful mountains and there was a pier you could jump off into the freezing cold water. I gave that one a body sweve but Paul went for a splash! That afternoon the bus headed off to Westport and we dropped Paul off to do Quadbiking, which he really enjoyed. Westport was a small town and we just spent the evening at out hostel getting to know the people from our bus better and planning our outfits for the upcoming rock star themed fancy dress party!

No rest for the wicked - up early again the next day for a scenic cliffside walk just outside Wesport. After that we drove to see the famous "Pancake Rocks" so named because they look like layers of pancakes piled on top of eachother - apparently(!) The sea surrounding them was so rough that in some places it spurted right up through blowholes like steam coming out of a chimney. The next stop on the itinerary was a town called Greymouth where we had 2 hours to get everything we needed for the fancy dress party that evening. After much deliberation about which rockstars to go as (we wanted to be indiviudal as there were 100 people who would be attending) we eventually went for Bob Marely and Bjork. We rushed around getting together all the bits and pieces for the outfits and almost missed the bus...well it wouldn´t have left without us but we were a bit late back! The party was to be held at a remote pub next to a remote lake "Lake Mahinapua" and the pub was nicknamed "the Poo pub". There was nothing else nearby except the Poo pub owned by an eccentric 83 year old named Les. For just 10 NZ dollars each we had a feast of steak and some famous local venison stew - delicious! I missed out on seeing the lake by day because the rest of the time before the eveing was spent making our outfits - a Jamaica T-shirt for Paul as Bob Marley and an attempted replica of the famous swan dress worn by Bjork... don´t know what I´m talking about? Neither did most people - not many really knew who I was meant to be, but at least it was original! The party itself was great fun - 100 people all dressed up as rockstars. Most people had really made an effort with their costumes and it was a great night! When the party was over (or more or less) we took a walk down to the lake where we saw real glow worms all along the path! It was pretty spectacular.

The next day we were back on the bus early all a bit weary and slightly worse for wear. Possum thought it would be hilarious to play us the crazy frog song at top volume when we set off. We were not impressed! Slept most of the journey to our next stop: Franz Josef, named after the glacier there. The hostel had its own hot water spa where we spent the evebning chilling out in preparation for our hike up the glacier the next day. We were kitted out with waterproof clothing, snow boots and crampons. The hike itsself lasted 8 hours. It wasn´t as physically challenging as we thought it would be and it was a very cool experience to actually walk on a glacier! We went through big ice holes and squeezed along huge cracks in the ice - brrrrr. We returned to the hostel soaking wet, sore with blisters and very cold but we were proud of our achievement - another amazing once in a life time achievement to add to the ever-growing list!

Next stop was Wanaka. En route we stopped off at one of NZ´z highest waterfalls for a walk around another lake - very picturesque with snow capped mountains surrounding it - Mount Cook (the biggest mountain in NZ) and Mount Tasman. Its 100% true what they say about the scenery in NZ - its stunning. Wanaka was a sleepy town on a lake and yep, you guessed it, a beautiful clear lake surround by mountains! There was possibility to go Kyaking on the lake and in the evening there was a delicious BBQ and I met up with Meg, a friend of mine from Paris who happened to be living in Wanaka! As we headed for Queenstown the adventure capital of NZ, where bungee jumping is the main attraction, it domiated 90% of conversations!

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