Kaiteriteri, Abel Tasman National Park and Westport

---

Our hostel was located right on the beachfront with beautiful views of the sea and islands. As soon as we arrived in Kaiteriteri we jumped off the bus and booked on to a boat tour of the Abel Tasman National Park for the next morning. Our hostel was called Kaiteri Lodge and had a large pub garden which was really busy. As we were next to the beach, hot and sweaty from our bus journey, we changed into our swimmers and got in the sea. Again the water was fairly cold so we didn't stay in long but it was refreshing. That night Siobhan cooked a group of 12 of us an incredible risotto and after we all sat together in the tv room watching Austin powers before going to bed.

After a 7am start and breakfast we walked to the beach and jumped on our speedboat. The scenery was unreal and reminded me of being back in Brazil at Ihla Grande (an Island 4 hours South of Rio de Janeiro). After 20 minutes on the boat we arrived at the famous 'Split Apple Rock', no prizes for guessing what it looks like. Our driver then had some fun doing a few donuts in the boat before dropping us off at the Anchorage to do an hour and a half walk through the forest. We hiked up to some view points which were all amazing and the weather was great, bright blue skies making the islands look their best. We then reached another beach so we all chilled out there for 20 minutes and had a few photos together. It was then time to walk back to the boat and head back to Kaiteriteri. On our way back we stopped to look at some seals on the rocks which was nice as I'd never seen one in the wild before. I got a pie from the shop (New Zealanders love their pies) and then it was back on the bus heading for Westport. We stopped off at a lake where you could jump off the pier into the water. It was cold and there were hundreds of eels so nobody wanted to do it but I finally built up the courage and dived in first, our driver Flea taking some professional photos of us with her expensive cameras. It wasn't actually too cold and most people soon jumped in. I got a good picture of me upside down in the air and another one doing my now trademark salmon. Back on the bus it was my turn to be DJ so I got on the mic to introduce everyone to a song I made when I was just 16 with one of my mates, Lil Terror feat Dipzey - Wifey Riddim. At the end of the song the bus all cheered which was a good laugh.

We arrived in Westport and it looked like a really quiet town, our driver Flea didn't hesitate in telling us that it was full of inbreds and she would give a prize to the person who got a photo of the worst looking local from the town, what a legend! Luckily the hostel was really chilled and we were allowed to drink there for a change so we all headed to the supermarket. It was us 4 lads turn to cook for our group of 12 tonight and as it was a Sunday we got supplies for a classic Sunday roast, along with beers and wine to wash it down with. Me, Gary, Tim and Freeman were on cooking duty whilst having a few beers and the 8 girls sat in their living room watching Bridget Jones Diary, they were loving life! The dinner turned out to be amazing which I have to be honest did surprise me. We all sat together in the girls room watching TV, we were like a proper family sat in the living room at Christmas, it was so homely which was good after being on the road for nearly 3 months now. After dinner the girls washed up and then we all snuggled on the sofas and watched Wedding Crashers whilst drinking a bottle of wine. A few people went to bed but I stayed up and watched Ali G before I got really tired and was the last up so I went back to my room. I walked in and to my dismay a new random guy had checked in and was fast off in my bed! I was raging and was gonna wake him up but he was in his boxers and looked all sweaty so I did not want to get in that bed after him, instead I just took the top bunk of another bed as this was clean.

After breakfast we hopped on the bus and stopped off to do a 45 minute walk along the coastline. It was nice but a bit chilly. We stopped to pose for a photo on a rock at the cliff edge and Lauren Rodgers (dodgy Rodger) missed the rock and nearly fell off the cliff edge, my heart genuinely dropped but luckily there was a ledge a couple of feet down so she didn't fall. After seeing loads of seals including cute little baby ones I got a brew and it started hammering it down with rain. We were so lucky we had done the walk just before this rain as it was relentless. All safely back on the bus not too wet we headed for our next destination, Franz Josef, where we would have the opportunity to see a glacier.

---