New Zealand South Island

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We awoke in Wellington after a heavy night all tired and hung over knowing we had the notoriously rough north to south island ferry crossing to look forward to. So with some reluctance we got on the bus and headed to the port. In the end we were lucky as we had a pretty gentle crossing considering some of the horror stories I had heard which was good as we were able to enjoy the views as we left the harbour and catch up on some sleep.

On arriving on the south island we headed to the town of Nelson which is the location of the Abel Tasman national park. The hostel we were staying in called Fern Lodge was run by an English guy who had lived in the region for over 35 years and was the nicest we had been in so far with a great bar and fantastic facilities. We arrived pretty late on the first day so did not have time to do much other than enjoy the fantastic roast the hostel put on. The next day the bus departed but as the north island had been such a rush Emryhs and I decided to spend an extra day in the town where we just relaxed and went to the gym whilst we waited for the next Kiwi bus to arrive that afternoon. In the evening Nelson rugby team was playing against North Harbour a team from the Auckland region so the hostel arranged transport and tickets for a group of us to go. I was pretty pleased to be going as it would have been a shame to come to NZ and not see a game. In the end it was a pretty miserable evening in terms of the weather which led to a pretty poor game which was a shame as for a lot of people it was their first taste of rugby. We headed out into the town that night which was good as it allowed Emryhs and I to get to know the people on our new bus.

The next day we drove to a visit a scenic lake surrounded by snow capped mountains on our way to the town of Westport which is on the west coast. The lake is iconic spot for the Kiwi Experience as the front cover of their guide and a lot of their posters have some people jumping into the lake. The lake is cold normally but as we were at the height of winter is was now almost freezing so not too many people were keen to go in. So after a short walk to warm us up Emryhs, a girl named Mui, a guy named Dan and I decided to give it a go. We were all milling around the edge trying to get the guts to go in when Emryhs just leapt so I duly followed - the water was so cold that the shock of it meant I could barely get any air in my lungs! The other two followed us in but we all were out of the water pretty quickly to say the least but pleased that out of a bus of 27 we were the only once who went in! On arriving in Wesport we were told the only options to do were jet boating which I had already done and horse riding (and I would never subject a horse to having to carry me) so it was a nothing stop for a lot of us who just relaxed by the hostel fire and watched movies.

From Westport we were going to another unique stop for the Kiwi bus called the ´Poo Party´ where your bus driver gives you a theme and you have to find an outfit before the party at our next stop. Our theme was anything beginning with the letter P and so ensued a mad dash around the town of Greymouth trying to come up with ideas and then finding the clothes/items to go with it. The party was held at a pub/hostel whose sole purpose was to put on this party for the Kiwi Experience. The pub was run by an 85 year old man named Les who is the oldest publican in NZ. So after a great dinner cooked by our new driver Trev of steak, venison stew and heaps of vegetables we all set to getting ready. Some how in our decisions over what to go as Emryhs and I had gone from agreeing to go as something together to him now going as Pete Doherty where he got to wear black trousers, shirt and tie and a trendy hat and me going as a poof with a white vest, small shorts with a fake arse hanging out, a pick scarf and a wand - I definitely got the raw deal there! So looking ridiculous I headed to the party where costumes ranged from a Pope, to playing cards a portaloo and the standard sexy policewomen. It was a great party the best night so far in NZ with the embarrassing costumes quickly forgotten once another alcohol had been consumed. One of the best features of the party was that a photo is taken by Les of every group that comes through that is then preserved in books going back over ten years so a lot of us where able to find the photos of the times our friends visited.

So with yet again weary heads we started out journey down to Franz Josef which is famous for the glacier of the same name. Here you are able to go ice trekking/climbing on the glacier. I was really excited about this stop as it is consider one of the best attractions in the whole of NZ. We arrived in the early afternoon too late to head to the glacier so a group of us decided to go kayaking on the nearby lake. At first it was a nice gentle kayak as we headed across to one point of the lake but suddenly the weather changed with the wind picking up which caused the lake to become quite rough and the kayaking much harder. I enjoyed the extra challenge and with 4 others pushed onto the other side whilst the rest went around the calmer outside. Once we had all met up in a more secluded and calmer area of the lake the guide explained to us that one of the fascinating and more unique features of this area of NZ is that it supports both glacial and a tropical environments. The lake was amongst a rainforest which made for pretty unique scenery as whilst you were surrounded by tropical plants and trees you could also see snow capped mountains all around you. After returning to the hostel we had a quick dinner then headed to bed for an early night as tomorrow would be a long day on the ice.

We set off at 7.30 am to go to the glacier which however did not seem so bad compared to the 3 people who had chosen to go ice climbing who had had to leave an hour and a half earlier. We went to the office of the company who would be taking us onto the glacier where they kitted us up with water proof trousers and jacket, gloves, boots and crampons. We then took a bus to the glacier where we met our guide. We had to walk to from the bus stop to the beginning of the glacier and our guide asked us how far we thought it was with most of us guessing around 500m where in fact it was more like 2km apparently the ice causes us to misread the distance. So after a 45 minute walk we reached the bottom of the glacier where we then had to climb up some screed paths but when we reached the top we were told to put on our crampons which some how seemed a lot harder than the guides demonstration. After a few confusing minutes we were all set to go and headed off onto the ice now supplied with a pick axe as well. The trek up the glacier was amazing firstly for the novel experience of walking on ice but then also because we were able to see blue ice, pass through ice tunnels and walk up narrow caverns with ice walls climbing either side of you. We stopped for lunch half way to our maximum point where our guide warned us about Kea birds which live in the area and are one of the few birds in the world that can survive in such cold conditions. They are very intelligent as they are able to undo some bags and can be extremely clever in the ways they steal your food. The guide jokingly said they had the same mental age as a 5 year Kiwi and a 22 year old Aussie. After lunch we headed higher up the glacier where we had an amazing view of the valley below us. What was surprising was that even after 3 hours on the glacier we did not seem to have gone that far but the guide explained that it takes a long time to walk anywhere on the ice and it would in fact take a few days straight walking to go the full length of the glacier. Eventually after 4 amazing hours on the ice we reluctantly headed down but just to show our luck half way back down it started to rain and the views became non-existent so we had been very lucky to beat the bad weather. Once we were back at a hostel we enjoyed a well deserved hot spa and then a warm meal where we all agreed it had been one of the best experiences of all our travels.

The following morning we headed to the town of Wanaka but along the way we stopped to do an amazing walk with views of several mountains including Mt Cook NZ´s highest peak. The view of one of the mountains was particularly amazing as from one point you could see the whole mountain reflected in the lake below it. On our way into Wanaka I was fortunately not listening to our driver as he explained about the town as he had been telling people that there were fresh water dolphins in the lake and that you could buy special dolphin bread from the shop in town and then go down to the lake and feed the dolphins. It was rubbish but apparently something all the drivers do to see how many people fall for it and of course the locals love it when the tourists go into the shop to ask for ´Dolphin bread.´ In the end the driver was obviously pretty convincing as whilst I oblivious to all this as I was in my room most of the bus went down to the lake to check out the dolphins! Wanaka was just a stop off before reaching Queenstown so all that was left to do was the standard copious drinking and pool tournament.

We were all excited on our drive down to Queenstown as it is renowned as one of the best stops in New Zealand with great nightlife, scenery, activities and the world famous ferburger. We arrived on the Friday evening and I managed to get a room with some of the best friends I had made on the bus which helped make our last few days together even better. The hostel was running a bar crawl that night so we all signed up but before that we headed down to town to try a ferburger something all the people I had met who had been to NZ had said was the best in the world. The largest burger is called the Big Al but for a first outing I did not feel up to so went for the big stuff and was not disappointed it really is an amazing burger. After heading back we headed on the pub crawl whose highlight was a visit to my first ice bar where you drink out of ice glasses and there are ice sculptures all over the bar it was novel experience and I was glad to do it in NZ considering the cost of going to one in London. The night ended in World bar which seems to be the standard end of night haunt for most new travelers to the town before everyone spills out to ferburger which literally is packed the whole time it is open – this time in my drunken state I was able to demolish the Big Al. The next few nights were much the same with lots of partying and dazed next days. Queenstown is famous for its bungee jumping with three different jumps so lots of people headed off to do these including the Nevis which stands at 134m but alas because of my operation this was something I could not do. After 4 days had some how very quickly gone by most people on my bus left Queenstown with one last great night out ending with many sad goodbyes. There were a few of us left with Jamie and Cas who were staying to live in Queenstown, Jonny a guy from London who had famously done no activities on the bus and had been pretty much drunk for the whole 3 weeks, Danish Katrine and Emryhs and I left. Deciding that we wanted to get out of the drunken haze and be active we headed out to try some skiing on the Remarkable slops near the town. I had not skied since I was 12 and therefore was not sure how I would get one. Cas and signed up to do a beginners course but within 5 minutes of the course I realised that skiing is like riding a bike and that I could remember everything from the last time I had gone. Therefore in the afternoon I hit the slopes with the other guys it was loads of fun making me regret that it had taken me so long to try it again. After 3 hours on the slopes we were all were showing signs of the alcohol from last night and the soreness from muscles which had not been used for a long time so we headed back to town.

The next day I headed on a tour to Milford Sound which I had been told was one of the most beautiful locations in the world. Milford Sound was first spotted by Captain Cook on his travels but he did not enter into it so it was not properly discovered by Captain Stokes who named it after his hometown of Milford Haven - he incorrectly named it a sound when it is in fact a fjord. It is a 4 hour drive from Queenstown to Milford but it passed pretty quickly as our driver was very funny with great stories and use of music to describe the towns and sceneries we passed. The road to Milford took over 30 years to build and was a very hazardous project with several lives lost during its progress but it was also used by the New Zealand government as an effective works project to stimulate unemployment during the depression.

When we reached Milford we embark on a boat to see the fjord. It was an incredible place but it was raining (something that happens around 250 days a year in Milford) which unfortunately did spoil the views a little as we were not able to see the tops of rock faces on either side of the boat but the strong winds made for spectacular waterfalls as the wind would shot the water upwards in some cases and make for an incredible spray - capturing this on the camera with the strong winds and rains was certainly a challenge! After the boat tour we were dropped at a museum/underwater observatory where you can climb down a few flights of steps to view the aquatic life in the fjord perhaps most famously the black coral which you normally only finding at much greater depths but Milford Sound has a very unique environment allowing the coral to grow at a much higher level.

I spent another six days enjoying another great days skiing, quite a few fergburgers, great nights out and meeting lots of great people. As a final hurrah Emryhs, I and 3 other guys we had met from England jumped into the Queenstown Lake it was not as cold as the previous lake but it was still pretty bracing but it gave a laugh to the bemused locals milling about the pier. I spent 2 weeks in the town which in reality was probably too long as the constant partying and poor sleep caught up with us as I, Jonny, Emryhs, Katrine who left with me all were a little worn out and ill by the time we got back on the bus to go. As a result by the time we got to Christchurch our final stop on the South Island we were all happy to just relax and sleep a lot. Christchurch does not have a huge amount to offer as a tourist attraction but it had suffered a major earthquake 6 weeks before we got there so it was fascinating to see the damage it had caused with demolished and condemned buildings spotted all over the city. Beyond the earthquake damage we visited the local market and museum but generally it was just 2 days of recharging our batteries.

I flew back to Auckland from Christchurch where I spent my final week in NZ. It was nice to see some of the friends I had made in my time there and I was also given great news from my eye surgeon who told me my progress was very good and I was free to go to South America and there was no restrictions on me doing any activites anymore. So after doing my final admin bits before SA and a few last nights out I said goodbye to Auckland and to last NZ friends I flew to Santiago.

I spent almost 3 months in NZ with lots of ups and downs but my main thought on leaving the country is that I want to go back as there seemed so many places that I had not visited or things I had not been able to do so hopefully I will see the place the again!

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