South Island

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Arriving by ferry to the South Island was a really nice trip. It just seemed to be different to the North Island, everything is just bigger.

Our group was being split for a few days as we all couldn't fit on the bus. So some of us decided to gonig to Nelson for 2 nights and then meet up with the others and spend 2 nights in Abel Tasman. On the bus the drivers mentioned we'd struggle to find accomodation, so after calling and getting no where we asked if their was space to stay on and spend 4 nights in Abel Tasman instead, luckily their was just enough, result. Whilst we were driving around the winding roads the bus driver managed to clip one of the windows whislt over taking a truck. The window shattered and everyone was shouting 'STOP THE BUS' but he was like 'what why?' Eventually he stopped and even though the window was still attached it was completed shattered and you could still hear it crackling. He tried to drive off and hope for the best, but as soon as we started moving again it fell through, so we had to try and push all the glass out. The only good side was the really nice breeze.

Abel Tasman itself was really stunning, with some really nice beaches and hikes. We kind of chilled and lazed on the beach, jsut relaxing and catching up on some sleep. The first night we heard the tsunami warning, we were told they'd wake us up at 4am and drive to higher ground as it's supposed to hit at 6am. I was so tired I just decided to crash out at 9pm and if their was trouble they'd wake me up.

The others turned up 2 days later and the following day we all went sea kayaking which was cool, but knackering. Saw some seals and birds and it was just nice to be in the open water. We woke up early next day to jump on the bus, but some of us weren't on the roster as our bus was booked to Nelson, the bus driver when in Nelson called us in saying no show and as we'd pre booked the bus we assumed we'd be ok. The computer system was saying we were still in Nelson, so as the bus was full, we had to stay another night and call stray to sort it all out. Our final day consisted of just chilling relaxing and catching up on some reading.

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