jamesandcat

Today was the day... our holiday had come to an end and 3.5 months had flown by faster than we'd ever imagined! Our morning consisted mostly of packing and we kept up our regimented approach - plus we were now able to throw a few things away, freeing up some space for last minute souvenirs. We made our way over to the airport via the bus, although James had a slight fall out with the bus driver over the fare, delaying us a little! At 2pm we launched off the runway and bid farewell to New Zealand. At this point James was planning how he would be able to emigrate, he'd fallen in love with the country big time... We had a long way to travel and this included a stop in Sydney, Singapore, London then ... read more

The Fergburger sat heavy in my stomach all night and I was still full when I woke up! I'd woken up a couple of times in the night and had a good laugh when I saw the Irish boy in my room still fully dressed lying sideways on the bunk somehow fast asleep! I guess he had a good Paddy's day. The bus ride to Christchurch was a long one but as the weather was still being Mr Miserable it was better to be inside than out! We drove through the rolling hills of the Lindis Pass and had lunch at Lake Tekapo. We arrived into Christchurch later that afternoon; the city centre is still a disaster zone, but not having seen it before the earthquake means its ... read more

Today was a long one, we hopped on the Jucy tour bus at 8.15am and returned at 9.15pm. However the trip to see Milford Sound was totally worth it! We had a great bus driver called Oz who knew every spot on the route and made the 5 hour drive much more interesting. We stopped on the way for some photo opportunities at lakes, waterfalls and mountain ranges. Our coach even had to fit through a tiny 1km tunnel through the mountain! Our cruise on Milford Sound was really nice, the mountains are huge and they make everything else look tiny! This was the case when the Queen Mary II (the largest ship ever to enter Milford) went past us and it looked tiny on our pictures next to the massive mountains!... read more

Franz Joseph to Wanaka is a fair old distance and to be honest this was the worst travel day so far. A 7.30am departure and five stops later we arrived in Wanaka at 4pm. This part of the South Island is pretty picturesque and each time we stopped there was a fantastic photo opportunity. Our first stop was at Lake Matheson, renowned for its beautiful reflection of Mt Cook and Mt Tasman. Our other stops included Pleasant flats, Thunder fallsand Blue pools (which weren't actually that blue!). We had serious cabin fever from the bus and even some ice cream didn't seem to help! !We weren't particularly that motivated to go and see the sights of Wanaka that evening but I promised myself I'd get up early for a walk to the lake ... read more

The South Island is renowned for its small population and some people might say its slightly odd locals... this came to light when we stopped at Pukekura and The Bushman's lodge for breakfast. Here they sell Possum pies, Possum fur nipple warmers and all sorts of other weird stuff! Nonetheless Pete the owner seemed pretty nice and cracked a few jokes for us. Our next stop was Lake Mapourika for a brief picture before arriving in the small town of Franz Joseph. We wolfed down our lunch and geared up for our ice explorer adventure on the Franz Joseph glacier. We'd caught a glimpse of the glacier from the road, but only when we were approaching in the helicopter did we get the 'wow' factor. We explored the ice for 3 hours with our guide Rich, ... read more