NZ - South Island! - Nelson, Westport, Franz Joseph, Wanaka

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We left Wellington on Tuesday morning heading to the South Island using the interislander ferries. The views entering the south island were glorious because you travel through the placid waters of Marlborough Sound which has steep green clad forest situated along either side of the boat and cul-de-sac bays making for a sinuous coastline. Our nice views however were somewhat shadowed by an intense Sudoku game between our mates! We disembarked the ferry at the harbor town called Picton where we then connected with our first Kiwi Experience South Island bus en-route to Nelson. The lush hill sides were blanketed with a thick grass and lakes mirrored a clear blue sky, something that this area of New Zealand is famed for. Once in Nelson our group stayed at the Paradiso Hostel which was quite homely and offered free breckie, evening soup and a hot tub! As soon as we arrived in Nelson we went for a walk to the centre of New Zealand! - A glorified plaque with very nice views over Nelson as the sun set. We also took good advantage of our hot tub!

On our full day in Nelson Nik and I decided to hand glide! This was arguably the best experience on our trip to date! In the morning we decided to take a stroll around Nelson, a small town with a happy energy. We also wandered to the coastline to relax by the sea, Mountains to our left and green hillside to our right. We were picked up early afternoon for the 1 hour ride towards the Abel Tasman National Park to a town called Motuaka. After a short brief we were kitted up and ready to hand glide. We were taken up to 3000ft using a "Dragonfly" plane, a lightweight and tiny biplane like creature which was the only one in New Zealand. Nik went first to enjoy the views of the Southern Alps, Abel Tasman, Vineyard countryside and sweet coastline. As Nik descended, I heard a shriek and a squeal as she performed some acrobatics before landing safely. Then it was my turn.. The views were incredible and I only needed to clench bum cheeks slightly even though I'm terrible with heights. Our pilot demonstrated the hand gliders maneuverability with some turns, varying in speed, and then deliberately stalling it making for a stomach churning plummet towards the ground! The whole experience of free flying was amazing and so worthwhile. Back at our hostel we cooked a group Roast Dinner with plenty of wine. Something we have craved for ages!

Following on from Nelson we joined a bus to head to Westport, a town renowned for toothless men with mullets. The scenery along the way was stunning with striking mountains to the left of our bus and an endless coastline on our right. Along the way we stopped for a nice walk in clear skied picturesque Cape Foulwind, (Named by Cpt Cook). The walk was situated along numerous bays with strong waves gushing over the headlands. One of which was inhabited by a small Seal colony which seemed happy flopping over the rugged rocky terrain. The bus then meandered alongside the beautiful Buller river. Nik and I went on a powerboat ride upriver which was an early birthday prezzie for me! The ride was pretty exhilarating with the driver doing 360 spins and deliberately near missing the rocky banks and impeding vegetation by inches. Although exciting, Nik found it less enjoyable than the one she previously did in Queenstown on her previous trip but it was still fun! We arrived in Westport at late afternoon and went for one or two beers in the evening shared with a number of scruffy, toothless Westportians.

Onto highway 6. Voted in the top 10 for drive routes in the world and it wasn’t hard to see why. A microclimate causes sunny conditions suitable to palm roads, yet mountains shadowed in the distance. We visited a very picturesque lake hidden amongst rainforest and mountainside and then further down route we visited Pancake rocks - A historical timeline of rock layers piled up forming unique shaped rock surfaces. We then continued to Greymouth where we picked up costume materials for a party later in the evening. The location for this party was at an 86 year old mans pub at lake Manipuha* which is a Kiwi experience hotspot as identified by the thousands of pictures covering the bar walls of Kiwi buses from over a decade ago. We had a walk to the nearby beach and a short trip to the lake before the sun went down and our bus party began. The theme was anything beginning with P, so Nik and I went as puppets. Although we were clearly outdone by our friends (Lee) attempt at Pamela Anderson and a group of lads being Pole and Pole Dancers! Nevertheless a very good night with everybody being creative and looking on top form.

We made it to our next destination at Franz Joseph in the early afternoon. Before that however we stopped at the Bushman's centre where we watched a film about how Deer were once hunted by a roughneck who jumped off helicopters onto them to catch'em!. The film was a "hoot" and we also saw Possums fighting up close which was pretty cool. We had a couple of hours in Franz where we all went Horse riding. This was a brilliant experience which was made even more memorable as it was at the foot of glacier and snowcapped mountains. My horse, Casper preferred to stay at the front of the pack whilst Nik, cautious whilst riding "Floyd" sat at the back. We set off in a walk which soon led to a trot and by the end of it I was having a race at a Gallop with the other fillies in our group! It was really cool that I picked it up so quickly and would have thought about taking up being a Jockey as a career had I not been 6ft5! Nik however was happy to chill towards the back, plodding at her own pace and gradually getting to grips with the rhythm of the horse. It was amazing to feel the strength of the horses legs as it sped from a steady trot to a gallop, but there was also plenty of pics taken at a slower pace that would be worthy of hanging up above a fireplace in any country estate. Nik's arse was somewhat saw afterwards but we alleviated any pain whilst relaxing in our hostel hot tub afterwards. Having already trekked up the glacier on her previous trip, Nik ironically chose to sky dive over the "Fox" Glacier the following day! She felt like home over her namesake glacier with incredible mountain views that she was able to record on her own camera. Infact Nik said she enjoyed it "10 times more" than her previous sky dive simply because she felt at ease above the beautiful alpine landscape. Meanwhile I did a "full day," (don’t do half day! You hardly get on the glacier!) trek up the Franz Joseph glacier with the majority of our group. The walk was pretty nice, less strenuous than I imagined but at times it was quite tough to squeeze through small crevasses and drainage tunnels which increased the heart rate a little. Suddenly all my geographical knowledge came back and it was cool to get a hands on understanding of what I learned at Uni. The views at our highest point overlooking other crevasses and into the glacier valley were amazing. It’s definitely something I can tick off the New Zealand box and it lived up to a high expectation.

We left Franz Joseph bound for Wanaka, an alpine town in the foothills of the Aspring national park. Along the way we took a look at Nik's "Fox" glacier from a distance and then took some upside-down photos of a mirror lake called Lake Matheson which reflects Mount Tasman and Mount Cook, the largest peaks in New Zealand. The tea colored water is so good at reflecting the view that you're unsure which way up the lake actually is in a photo. We then continued our journey along highway 6 were the scenery had an unimaginable natural beuty.! Snowcapped mountains and white fields were reflected in lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea as we drove passed! This was quite possibly the most picturesque journey we have been on. We also stopped the bus for a quick snowball fight before arriving in Wanaka in the afternoon. Once we got there Nik and I did a rekey of the town and fell in love with it. Its Après-ski bar's offered a high class feel and the shoreline of lake Wanaka would have been royalty if it could be classed too. Although the air was' a little chilly! We decided to stay in Wanaka with our friends Lee and Alex whilst our other mates Stef and Rob continued to Queenstown, our next stop. What a great idea it was for us to stay. On our first full day in Wanaka we took to a shoreline walk with Alex, enjoy the mountainous backdrop and a placid lake foreground. We splash in the waters, enjoying the crack of ice beneath our feet and continued our walk around a small peninsula, we then headed back down a very long road back to Wanaka. I took a detour up Mt Iron for some amazing views over Lake Wanaka and the surrounding district.! This has been the first place I can honestly say I would want to live. It is stunning!.! Later in the evening we went to the cinema to watch Transformers. We arrived an hour early because I looked at the English time on my Casio watch rather than New Zealand time! Woops.! The cinema itself was unique. It had lounge sofas to watch the film on and there was even a Mini which you could sit in to watch your block buster!

We visited Cadrona ski resort on our second day in Wanaka and took beginner lessons at Skiing! Nik picked it up pretty quickly because she had been before, I soon followed and we decided we had improved our technique to move from a beginner slope to an actual run! Subsequently we sacked off our second lesson because we felt we were good enough for a proper slope and because we wouldn’t have had a chance for a proper run if we were too have stayed in lessons! Our first run was an exciting one! Nik and our friend Alex both fell over when coming from the ski lift. (I may have contributed to this!) Then on the first big hill I was unable to stop resulting in Eddie the Eagle speeds down slope. Near death thoughts were going through my head as I sped faster passed the slow down signs and I was relieved to find that the slope leveled out. Niks on the other hand skied like a pro almost travelling down with a parallel technique. I got there on my second run taking it far easier than the first! We arrived safely back to Wanaka where we went out for a few drinks in the evening. We love Wanaka! - But the adventures of Queenstown await us..!

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