New Zealand Dec 7th-20th

---

After a very long flight of 14 hours and missing Monday the 6th of Dec, we arrived early in Auckland int he North Island and waited at the airport for Beth to arrive from LA. We then caught a shuttle to the hostel which was in teh centre of Auckland and left our bags in storage until check-in time so we could take a very tired walk around the city, the centre wasn't very big and we walked through the park, the uni campus, had some lunch and saw an interesting outdoor photography exhibition before finally checking-in and taking a much needed shower. We then headed dow to the harbour area and saw some nice boats including some America's cup yachts. Then had an early dinner and an early night.

Wednesday 8th Dec- We waited outside the hostel for our first Magic Bus, didn't really know what to expect but it was actually more of a tour format than we first though reather than just transport between each city with the driver acting as a guide and stopping at points of interest on route, they also give you lists of activities that they can book for you in each place. We met Gayle and Natalie while waiting for the bus and sat with them and then Mitch and Paul came to join us too. Our driver for the North Island was greg and he had with him Alister who was training. We named the bus Betty the magic bus. The first place we headed to was Rotorua which is famous for it's sulpher hot pools which means it smelt really bad. We had a hot pool at our hostel- not a smelly supher one though which was nice to relax in especially after getting soaked in the rain after walking into town and back. In the evening we went to the bar at another hostel and had a few drinks.

Thursday 9th Dec- We left Rotarua and headed to Taupo visting some geothermal hot pools, an erupting Geyser, the coloured pools and Huka falls on the way. In the afternoon when reaching Taupo I headed to do a 12000ft sky dive over the lake and mountains, I was not scared until going up in the plane as it sounded so noisy. My tandem master was called Alex and I had to sit on his legs going all the way up int he plane as I was going to be the first to jump and then we said I had sent his leg to sleep which worried me a little as I was guessing it helps to feel your legs when jumping out of a plane. He kept asking me if i was ok as we were going up and he made the final preperations, once we reached 12000 ft he opened the door at the side of the plane and told me to dangle on leg out over the edge then the next minute I was freefalling through the air with amazing views down below. Once the parashute was pulled me slowly floated back to earth as there wasn't much wind and I got to fly the parashute and after a successful landing it was over and I wanted to do it all over again, it was so good. In the evening we has a BBQ with loads of people from the bus at the Hostel as they had a really nice deck area.

Friday 10th Dec- We headed towards National Park which is a small place in the Tangorio National Park stopping in Waitomo to do a walk through caves housing thousands of glow worms. On the way we saw some impressive waterfalls and from our hostel in National Park there were views of Mount Doom. In the evening we had a group meal at a bar next to the hostel.

Saturday 11th Dec- Today we drove to Wellington the 3rd largest city in NZ and the 2nd largest in the Island after Auckland. It was nice to be in a city (still very small but large in NZ standards). Went to the Te Papa museum which had loads of different really well presented exhibitions and then took a walk around the harbour and the shops. In the evening went for a nice meal with Gayle and Natalie and then to a bar. By this time we had been on the bus with a lot of the same people for most of the week and had a good group of us girls including two irish Alisha and Eima, one canadian, Kel, and a german, Lara and we all had a good night including some very nice pink champagne bought for us by a stag party.

Sunday 12th of Dec- Today it was time to leave the North Island after a good few days and take the ferry from Wellington to Picton accross the Cook Strait to the South Island which we were told is even more beautiful than the North Island. There were some great views from the ferry and it wasn't too rough which I was pleased about. After getting off the boat we met a new Magic Bus and a new driver called Mark who we had for one day and then drove through Malborough the wine growing region stopping off for some wine tasting. We also stopped by a river and it was a really sunny day so we took a paddle. We then reached Nelson our stop for the night. I took a walk around the town in the evening but as it was Sunday it was pretty quite but a really nice town all the same. I then headed back to the hostel and we made use of the swimming pool, hot tub and sauna there.

Monday 13th Dec- We met our driver for the rest of the trip Scott and the new bus Margery the Magic Bus. It was a long day on the bus from Nelson to Greymouth and the weather was wet and windy. We drove up the west coast and stopped at Cape Foulwind, we also stopped off to see a seal coloney and at the pancake rocks in Paparoa national park. Greymouth was the town at the centre of the recent mining disaster and there was not a lot there so just had dinner and an early night.

Tuesday 14th Dec- The first stop of the day was in Hokitika famous for it's greenstone and we visted a workshop where they were making and selling jewelry from greenstone. We next stopped in a little goldmining town called Ross where they had set up an old miners cottage and you could have a go at gold panning. We then reached Franz Josef a tiny village sorrounded by mountains and the famour Franz Josef glacier, only one of three glaciers in the world to be in a rainforest. In the afternoon I went with Gayle, Alisha and a Brazillian girl called Fab to do a half day hike on the glacier. We were given heavy boots, coats and crampons and then we headed off on the bus to first walk across the river bed towards the glacier, we then hiked up the first part of the glacier that was covered in rock before putting on our crampons and following our guides on to the ice, we climed half way up the glacier in the space of two hours with the guides cutting steps into the ice, at some points we had to squeeze between two ice walls but it was amazing to be on the glacier and have the rainforest and waterfalls in the surroundings.

Wednesday 15th Dec- On the way to Queenstown we stopped at Lake Matherson a mirror lake which relects Mount Tazmin and Mount Cook in its surface which was stunning, there was also great scenery as we travelled through the Southern Alpes. Unfortunatly Margery the Magic Bus had seen better days and her gear box has not working properly so on some of the hills we really though we weren't going to make it but she battled on we passed some great waterfalls and lake Hawea and Lake Wakaka. In Wakaka Scott went and took Margery to the bus hospital so we got a great unplanned afternoon sitting by the lake in the baking sunshine and eating ice cream. We then headed into Queenstown early evening, checked into the hostel and went for a few drinks with people from the bus but went to bed early as had a long day ahead the next day and an early start. Our little group seemed to be growing by the day.

Thursday 16th Dec- A full on day with a bus trip from Queenstown to Milford Sounds. The bus journey was pretty boring but the actual cruise on the Sounds for two hours was breathtaking. Milford Sounds is actually a fiord which means that it is a series of rocky mountains that sit mostly under the water with only the sumits above water level, because ice melts on the top it forms waterfalls that run down the sheer rock faces into the water. We cruised around and the boat went into a water fall, an added bonus was that we saw loads of Dolphins swimming in the water including some baby ones and they came really close to the boat and were jumping out the water. That evening we had a big group night out as Queenstown is known as a party town. We started off in the bar at the Base hostel and then headed to a latin american club where there were people who were amazing latin american dancers. I got asked to dance by a Brazillian guy and said I didn't know how to dance in that style but he said it was easy and he would show me before adding that he wans't as good at dancing as he used to be because he broke his ankle which made me scared that I would ended up stepping on his ankle or something but I did actually pick it up quiet quickly and it was good fun but also hard work. We then went to two more bars and it ended up being a great night out.

Friday 17th Dec- Hard to believe Christmas Eve was only a week away with the nice weather. I slept most of the way on the bus to Duedin after getting less than 4 hours sleep. When we arrived we had a look around the town and did a little shopping before an early night.

Saturday 18th Dec- Second to last day on the Magic Bus, by this point Lara, Kel and Fab had stayed on in Queenstown and there were quiet a few new people on the bus. Margery was still not well and poor Scott was very worried we weren't going to make it to Lake Tekapo. Before leaving Dunedin we went to the Guiness World Records steepest street and I climbed all the way too the top. There was more great scenery on the drive with a stop at the bolders on the beach, glacier lakes and rivers that are bright blue in colour and great views of Mount Cook. When we reached Lake Tekapo the weather was beautiful, hot and sunny. I decided to walk to the top of Mount John which overlooks the lake and the path was actually pretty steep and it took 45mins to reach the top but the 360 degree views at the top were worth it and going down was a lot easier. I then took a paddle in the lake and caught the final rays of sun before heading back to the hostel which had a garden over looking the lake. We had a huge group BBQ at the hostel with everyone from the bus and the food was yummy. We had to get a new bus delivered and Margery had to be taken away as she was now very broken. We sat outside all night playing sharrads and who am i before heading to bed.

Sunday 19th Dec- Last day on the Magic Bus, we called the new bus Bengie and headed off to Christchurch on the way we saw Margery at the side of the road and she had finally broken down so we had a lucky escape. We reached Christchurch at midday and the weather was cloudy and raining. I had a look around the town and it was def little England especially with the weather but the Catherdral was really nice inside. By 4pm the weather began to fine up and as it was the last night in New Zealand with the girls after a great two weeks with some great new friends (who we hope to see again in Sydney) we sat and had some food and drinks in the main square. By 5.30pm it was sunshine and really warm so we sat outside until about 9pm before we headed back to the hostel ready for getting up at 3am and heading to the airport.

It was a very hectic two weeks in NZ getting up early each day and going to a new place every night but we saw a lot and met some great people and I did some amazing things which I never thought I would do like skydiving and glacier walking.

Now it is on to Australia even though it doesn't feel like Christmas at all it should be a good two weeks in Sydney before we shill out and plan the rest of Aus.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ANYONE WHO HAS THE TIME OR THE DESIRE TO ACTUALLY READ THIS, (I am sure you are all too busy getting merry at this time of year).

---