Week 10- Kaiteriteri- Westport- Franz Josef- Wanaka- Queenstown

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This week started with another walk in the Abel Tasman National Park. Emily and I got up early, with sore feet but decided we would like to see more of the park so booked a seals, bridge and beach tour. The boat tour started by visiting split apple rock. It was quite cool to see but was smaller than I thought it would be. Then we visited Adele Island to see a seal colony, we saw a few of them playing on rocks which was cute- but my camera died so I only got one picture on my camera. I was hoping to see more of them but it was still good. Then we got dropped off on Medlands Beach and did a short walk to Barks Bay. It was really pretty there but had lots of sand flies so we didn't stay too long. On that beach there was one house all on it's own which we were told was owned by the National Park but they agreed the old man (86) could live in it until he dies and then they will knock it down which seemed sad because it was really cute but they are trying to claim back all the land. Then we started our 12k walk back to anchorage, we decided on a slower pace than yesterday as we were a bit tired from yesterdays walk. The beaches on this walk were even prettier than yesterdays, for some reason I hadn't imagined New Zealand's beaches to be so beautiful. Then we came across a swing bridge which was fun to cross and more creeks and mini waterfalls. We stopped at Torrent Bay for lunch, it was amazing (it reminded me of the Whitsundays with slightly less white sand!). Emily and I had a little nap on the beach in the sun and then played on a rope swing for a bit. We carried on until Anchorage at an easy pace. When we arrived at the beach we had some time before the boat was due to pick us up. There was a cute family of ducks that we watched for a while with a little duckling that kept trying to swim into the sea and getting washed back up on the shore because it was so little. Then we boarded our boat and we could hear lots of people cheering and making a fuss... we thought it was over the duckling and thought it was strange people got so excited about it... then we realised there was a pod of dolphins in front of our boat jumping out of the water and playing around....I was sooo excited!

The next morning we got up and had breakfast until our bus was ready. We had a new driver called Dylan, he was hilarious. It was a long day of driving but we stopped off at Nelson Lake which was really pretty and had lots of eels in. Then we went on a short walk before getting the bus to Westport. It was a really small town with not much to do but our hostel was really cute. We were in a 10 bed dorm with some girls, Millie and Lauren from our bus. The hostel had an OVEN (our first since Noosa) and a fire in the room- it was amazing. We went to the shops and I had my first jacket potato since being out here, it was so good! We decided to have a night in with our room mates and we watched Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone and Bring it on. The next morning we got ready to go and Dylan said the bus was broken! So we sat in our room for an hour or so, thankfully the Hostel (Bazil's) had free wifi. It was another quite long day of driving but we stopped off at Pancake Rocks which were rocks that have lots of layers like a pancake tower. They are made from Limestone layers that have built up over many years. They were quite cool. Then it was on to Franz Josef. It was raining when we got there so we checked into our hostel, the receptionist was so friendly and helpful, we loved him! We also booked our Glacier trip for tomorrow morning.

On the Sunday we woke up early to do our trek but the weather wasn't great and when we got there the lady said for us to come back at 11 to see if it had improved. We didn't really know what to do so we just watched TV in our hostel- the rain meant we couldn't really explore the town. We went back at 11 and were told our trip was cancelled for the day which was disappointing. We were a bit bummed about it so we decided to treat ourselves and went to a posh cafe, Emily and I shared an immense chocolate cake! In the evening we made dinner, Emily and I had baguette and baked Brie followed by another jacket potato- we couldn't believe two hostels in a row had ovens! In the evening we went to a pub to meet people from our bus to watch the Australia vs All Blacks rugby game- it was a really good match and the All Blacks ones in the last 30 seconds, the atmosphere was so tense! The next morning we got up again for our hike- fortunately it was a beautiful, clear day so we got the go ahead for our trip. We all got our kit on and went to wait for our helicopter to the Franz Josef glacier. We had a quick talk about safety then got split into groups. Alex and I got to go in the front seat with the pilot which was cool. We took a selfie with him! The view was really pretty. When we landed we put on crampons (spikes for our boots to walk on ice) and then started our walk over the glacier. The tour guide Lauren was really nice and explained lots about how the glacier had formed and how it changes every day and moves up to 4 meters per day in some parts. We followed a path she had made and while we were walking we heard and saw some rock falls at the side of the glacier. We climbed for about 3 hours stopping at various features and going through some tunnels that had formed. Then we got the helicopter back. When we finished we had to get on our bus quickly as we had a long drive to Wanaka. It was a beautiful town with a Lake but again it wasn't very big so we had a quick wander before making dinner and a quiet night in!

The next morning we spent in Wanaka visiting the main attraction- Puzzlingworld. It was quite random and has illusions and different challenges. We went round a maze first where you had to get to the four corners which was a laugh. Then we went inside and went around several different rooms. There was one where everything appeared to be opposite i.e if you rolled a ball on the pool table it rolled upwards and when we stood on a step we seemed to be leaning at a funny angle. There was also a room that when you looked in from the outside looked normal but when people were in there one corner people looked tiny, like children and the other giant and squashed to the ceiling . After we got back on our bus to go to Queenstown. We stopped on the way to look at the 47m bungy- Emily and I decided that was too small and signed up to the 134m one- The Nevis Bungy. We checked in at the hostel and then went to the bungy shop to get weighed and had a 40 minute drive to the jump. The weather on the way was terrible and we weren't sure if they cancelled jumps. The can pulled up and the guy said the jumps were on hold because the winds were 40mph and they could only jump if they were under 35. In the waiting room we saw Hugh and Roseleen from our bus- they were all in their harnesses ready to jump! The wind dropped for a bit and the first group got ready again and a guy told us we would be harnessed soon. Then two minutes later a women said the jumps were all cancelled for the day and we had to reschedule- we were gutted! We booked it for a few days time. When we got back to the hostel Alex and Georgina had done their canyon swing so we were even more jealous! Then we got ready for a night out in the infamous Queenstown, we hadn't been out properly in ages so we were looking forward to it. We bumped into lots of people who were from our bus so it was a good night. The next morning we were suffering a little so had an extremely lazy day. We went to a place called Devil Burger which the locals say is the best burger in town (instead of the famous Fergburger!) I got a brie and chicken burger with cheesy chips which Emily and I shared. It was really good... we were looking forward to comparing it to a Fergburger later on in the week. In the evening we went and got some snacks to help us recover and watched some TV on the internet.

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