The Magic Bus - North to South

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The Magic bus - North to South Island


AUCKLAND-ROTAORUA
Two night’s recovery and we are fighting fit again! A visit to the Base travel agent and a decision is made! With a bit of prompting we got a good discount on “The Magic Bus”, which is great as our other choice “Stray” did not go to the boulders down at Moeraki
Which are more than 60 million years old. We jump on the Magic bus first thing in the morning, after a couple last night in the base bar (ladies night, so free drinks for Charlotte!) and the 15 dollar ½ kilo steak (they were huge & cooked to perfection)!



As we head out of Auckland the bus guide Greg introduces himself, along with his trainee Scott and the assessor Matt, a lovely guy from the UK originally! Also on the bus this morning is a representative from New Zealand tourism who is giving away three video cameras to people from the UK & Europe who will provide him with 3-4 wks of clips from their holiday that will be uploaded for an advertising campaign for back packers. There were a couple of people already there, so we did not bother, especially as it would be another thing to charge and a beacon for ruthless people to try and rob us rich westerners, plus it is quite a responsibility! Hay ho!


We had a wander around the Mount and another Charlotte from London, who missed the coach from the hostel, joined us via taxi. We spent the next two days travelling down via Thames and Te Aroha (love) to Rotorua for an overnight stop. We were glad to stop over here again as we did not have time to get to the museum last time and we chose a hostel right next to it. It is the most photographed building in New Zealand and we could see why when we got there, please see attached photos! There were beautiful gardens out front too. Inside was the history of the museum, of how it was opened as bath house, which promoted electric shock treatment as beneficial to the health! We wandered down in the basement looking at pipes and up onto the observation deck for some lovely views. We also saw a display on the Maoris that they sent to war and a moving film about it.


ROTORUA-LAKE TAUPO
Then off to Taupo via Hobbiton. Did you know that you could fit Singapore into Lake Taupo and still have space! En route we decided that if Liam was within the weight limit, then it would be silly for him to miss out on one of the best sky dive experiences in the world! Charlotte assured him that she was too scared to do it and was more than happy to watch (well that is my excuse and I am sticking to it!). A whole gang of us got dropped off at the Taupo tandem sky diving place and as the strong winds had only just stopped waited around for the people that were booked in that morning to do their jumps. Liam weighed in and you need to be 100 kg maximum. He weighed 105 kg, so off came the rings, watch, wallet etc (he even considered shaving his head!) and we got him down to 100.1 kg! He was good to go!


A bit more waiting around, form filling and Charlotte probing him for his PIN number before it was his turn! Liam got called and suited up. As the other group landed the instructor, Andy, comes straight from that jump, checks and re-arranges Liam’s harness and they are jumping in the plane before you can blink an eye! Liam is the second to last in (Last is other Charlotte from London). It takes a while for her to twig that last in, is first out! As the instructors were going over what to do and what was going to happen Liam was quietly reassuring Charlotte, which kept his mind off of it and the instructors were playing worms on their iphones.


15,000 ft creeps up and they open the door, Charlotte starts screaming uncontrollably and is edged towards the door and then she jumps. Liam is next with the camera man, Ian, recording every moment. Liam did not realize how real the situation was until his arse was hanging out of the plane. Liam takes a last look back at the camera in the plane before he is over the edge and into his 60 second freefall, it whizzes by, cheering all the way down!


The chute is open and Andy gives Liam control for a minute or so and he is God! You can see a lot from 15000 ft, you can see from coast to coast and the whole of Lake Taupo. A few swooshes and swoops and before you know it Charlotte (me not the other one!) Is recording the landing, trying to control two cameras to catch every moment!


Other Charlotte and Liam decide that a celebratory drink is in order, so after throwing our bags in our rooms at the hostel we head off out to the local Irish bar Mulligan’s as they are offering a meal deal of food and 3 beers or wine for 25 dollars! Charlotte had a lovely Irish stew, Liam went for the huge bangers and mash, whilst other Charlotte went for good old Burgers and Chip’s. A few drinks and we meet up with Katesh who was on our bus earlier with the two Dutch Tess and Tice. We ended up wobbling back to the hostel via McDonalds for Katesh and Other Charlotte to get a midnight snack!

LAKE TAUPO-WELLINGTON
Up and away on the early morning bus, we hardly had time to take our clothes off before we were getting up again! A few sore heads today I think! Today we head south out of Taupo following the Lake, which seemed to go on forever, before travelling along the aptly named Desert Road. We have a photo stop on this road for views of the Tongariro National Park, live volcanoes and the Tolkien inspired ‘Mt Doom’.


Later in the day we pass through the imaginatively named town of ‘Bulls’, where the town has quite a sense of humour with shop’s named ‘collect a bulls’ (Antiques), ‘Const a bulls’ (police station), ‘vegta bulls’ (fruit & veg shop) etc. We arrived into Wellington in the rain and after a tour of the town we had a 40 min wait outside in the rain, (we were at the back of the queue after helping everyone else with their bag’s, that won’t be happening again!). After a little wine and a moan, (there were only two people on checking in over 40 and she picked up the phone in the middle of serving us!) she done a favour and put us in a 4 man en suite dorm with Katesh.


When we got in there we met Lilly, who was a Malaysian girl who was looking for work! She had nabbed the double bunk and spread here clothes everywhere, so we had a little chat and pre warned her that we had to be up early as our shuttle left at 6.45, so sorry for any noise in advance, she said no problem as she would probably not be home herself before 7am anyway! (It was a Friday night!). So off we all traipsed to the Nomad bar for our free meal (nacho’s) which we all upgraded (even Charlotte!) to Fish and Chip’s & a drink for 7 dollars (about 3 quid!). We hung around a bit as there were 2-4-1 on the drinks and they were really cheap for the centre of town! We had a great group of friends at this point as you can see by the photos! We headed off to bed at a reasonable hour with the Dutch, but Katesh and Other Charlotte ended going on clubbing with the Irish, so only got a couple of hours sleep before we were up and off again!


WELLINGTON-NELSON via the cook’s straight
We waited in the drizzle for the shuttle, which helped wake us up! We were told any tine between 6.45 and 7.15 and it arrived at 7.14, they sure did pack us in! Like cows on a cattle truck! Off to the ferry terminal for check in, then off to find the big comfortable reclining chairs for a couple more hours sleep, bliss! The crossing was a little rough due to the weather, so we were running a little late! We said our goodbyes to Katesh as he was going off on the tranz alpine train straight from the ferry!


After collecting our bags we traipsed through the pouring rain to our bus, which was taking us from Picton to Nelson and were greeted by our new Driver Lisa, a newly appointed driver to the south island (it was her first time on this road!).


We have decided that all of the drivers have their own little catch phrases. Greg was ‘racing on through’, although he was clearly in no hurry to get anywhere fast! Scott was just very nervous, but we are sure one will develop in time, Lisa was ‘sweet as a chicken’ random and ‘premo’! We had hours of fun imitating them! We booked our trip for Abel Tasman national park for the next day, as although it was chucking it down in buckets now, we were assured that Sunday would have the better weather out of the two night’s we were staying. So a quick look around to suss the hostel out, great swimming pool, hot tub & sauna, along with an old bus at the end of the garden for late night drinking away from the hostel!


Liam walked down to the local supermarket and purchased some food for the evening meal, whilst Charlotte sorted out the lunches for the walk and faffed around! We had a chicken, pasta, pesto thing and a few bevvies around the pool, watching the others at play! There was Poi & Fire Poi later when it got dark, along with Guitar and bongo playing and a few young crazies from London who kept going from the Hot tub into the pool, then the Sauna (they were making most of the noise in the sauna, so it did not disturb us!). All in all it was a very chilled out Saturday night.


ABEL TASMAN
We were up early and ready to explore one of the most beautiful national parks in New Zealand. We jumped on the bus and picked up a few more then were on our way around the estuary to Abel Tasman, we pasted through much farm land with vines for wine, Kiwi fruit, etc next to deer, sheep, cow and lama farms, so it was a very mixed up use of the land. We arrived in the park and boarded our boat for the cruise up to the drop off point for the walks. We decided to do the 6 hour walk as we were under the impression that this was the flattest national park in the world! Tess & Tice did the 4 hour walk and Other Charlotte decided on the seal watching and 2 hour walk.


We waved goodbye to Tess & Tice at Anchorage before being dropped at our beach Medlands, just past Bark bay, where we waved Other Charlotte and the boat off. We landed with another Dutch couple Ralf and his girlfriend and other Liam. We ran off to the path as we don’t walk that fast and assumed that they would catch us up quite quickly! However we were going for quite a while uphill and down dale and had no sight of any of them, Charlotte felt great as we had thought with all of the hills, we were not going that fast!


We stopped at a bench after about an hour with a lovely view of a bay and had a little sandwich. Liam came around the corner, followed shortly by Ralf and his girlfriend. They joined us for a bite to eat as we discussed the surprise at the amount of hills on this walk. We discovered that Other Liam was the gent sharing a room with Other Charlotte, Tess & Tice. We also discovered that the Dutch couple had headed off in the wrong direction at first, which is why they had only just caught us up. We headed off before the others and little did we know that this would be the last time we saw Other Liam. We were soon over taken by Ralf & girlfriend and this seemed to reoccurrence throughout the walk as they ran down various paths to seek out various bays.

We plodded along for a couple of hours before reaching a sign which informed us that it would take 4 hours & 50 mins. Oh bugger, that would mean we would miss the 5.30 bus! ‘Racing on through’ we went as fast as we could, which was not very as Charlotte’s feet were hurting! But on we went, just before Anchorage, we arrived on a beach which we skirted to a river estuary. It was low tide so we could walk across which would save us an hour and a half! There were quite a few streams and lots of mud! Charlotte was okay as she was wearing the proper Hiking boots her sister (thanks Caroline!) had recommended, so mud and water were repelled! Liam did not do too badly in his trainers until we got to the big stream. We tried to pick our way across, but it was a little too deep in places. Liam ran through and got his trainers soaked, where as Charlotte got half way, saw that it was going to go over her boots, so turned back, took them off and paddled across. What a clever girl!


Onwards and upwards! We join the 4 hour hike track and apart from the hill up to it is reasonably flat and not too hard going. But by now Charlotte’s feet had given up and she was only going on adrenaline! We made a little time up here and there, more through Liam walking in front and Charlotte trying to keep up! But we made it in the 6 hours prescribed and headed into the closest cafe to wait for the bus! Liam had a pint whilst Charlotte got her long awaited ice cream. We met up with the Dutch couple who saw the same 4 hour 50 min sign and powered on through to get there 20-30 mins before us, so we did not do too badly after all! Still no sign of other Liam and he did not make the bus, so we assumed he had either done it quicker than us and got the 4pm bus back or was still on the walk and had missed the bus!


On arrival back to the Hostel we found him with other Charlotte enjoying a nice cold beer! He had made it as far as Anchorage and given up at the beach after four hours of walking as he did not think he would make it back in time for the bus and caught the boat back. Lucky bugger, Charlotte was so jealous. Plans were hatched that night for a wine tour the next day and a well deserved early night for all.


A nice lay in, even though we were up by 8am, a bit of a doss about before the two Charlottes and Liam’s were off on the Wine tour. It was a perfect day for it as it was chucking down with rain again. We felt sorry for those that went on the Abel Tasman walk today! A very nice man Kyall picked us up in his minibus and spent the afternoon driving us around five different wine yards tasting all of the different types of wine on offer. We even visited a couple of oil and liquor shops where the first purchases of the day were an amazing smoked garlic and onion marmalade and a DIY pack for Rigid Richards (butterscotch liquor and cream).


We headed off to a little fishing village and had some lovely fish, battered sausage and the biggest portion of really nice chips ever! We were also stalked by so many seagulls that at points it felt like we were in a re-make of Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Bird’s’. At the next shop we purchased some Boysenberry cider and Kyall squeezed in an extra winery, for which his Dad guiding the other group gave him a bit of a hard time for! Off to the final one where we all got a bottle for later that evening. Another plan was hatched and we got Kyall to drop us to the local supermarket on the way back to the hostel and we purchased a load of cheese, crackers and olives for dinner that night. We dropped off our bits in our rooms and reconvened for a platter of wonderful food and conversation.


NELSON-GRAYMOUTH
Off and away today, Carl (we did not get a catch phrase for him) picked us up early again in the pouring rain and we headed for our breakfast stop at a cafe, back on the coach in super quick time, because of the rain and on we went. We had another stop at a beach as the rain had eased a bit, so we rushed along the coastal path a bit, to see the seals further along.


Two seals had just been born moments before we arrived and there were loads of people standing around watching the mum trying to pull this pup up out of between a couple of bits of wood where it kept slipping down! The rain came back in, so we were back on the bus and onto Pancake rocks & blowholes. It was raining but we headed out on the 30 min walk around to see them. They did look just like pancakes staked high!

We arrived in to Greymouth in the pouring rain and just like it said on the tin it was very Grey! We arrived at the Neptune backpackers (Little Liam had stayed here on his way past before and told us the rumours of abundant FREE cream cakes were true! we made him promise to save us some if we got in late!). We actually made great time and got in early for a change as it was raining ‘cats & dogs!’ We had a feast of pies & cakes, again dropped our bags in our room and headed off to wait for the Monteiths brewery tour. Carl did tell us it was about the only thing to do in this town!


It was a lovely little brewery, the man showed us around, explained the process of making beer, then let us did in and try all of their brew’s, explaining them as we went along. We tried about seven different beers and one cider, and then we were let loose on the pumps for about ½ hour. Charlotte drank lots of the lovely cider & Liam lot’s of the dark Black beer.


We were picked up by taxi and take to our chosen venue for our supper ($12.50 voucher included). We all chose the Railway pub for a Lamb & Burger supper (huge, if a little fatty!). We walked home as the rain had eased, to meet up with Other Charlotte, who did not do the tour as she is not like beer. Tess & Tice ran off to McDonald’s (heathen’s!) for ice cream as pudding (so they said!). Charlotte sat there and looked through a commemorative copy of a news paper, telling the story of the great flood a few years ago. It showed the pub we were just in under feet of water.


GREYMOUTH-FRANZ JOSEF
Back on the bus and as Karl would be busy packing the bags in to the coach, he asked Charlotte to tick people off the list. ‘Only if I can drive!’ she exclaimed ‘NO’ came the answer from Karl and anyone on the bus with a sense of personal safety ‘can I wear your coat then?’ this was agreed to and she happily went about her appointed task, all done then off again to the next stop Ross, a Gold mining town. An opportunity to pan for gold. The next stop was the Bushman centre an unusual place run by a wild man and pioneer who shows us an amazing video about how they made their living in New Zealand before tourism. He used to catch deer in the wild, jumping on them from a helicopter from above to take them back alive and put them into deer farms. He had lots of funny signs about the place (a bit like Trago Mill’s, we have included a few in the photo section). We also had an opportunity to see real live Possum and eat possum pie (They can’t legally sell possum pie as it’s not approved by the government, so you have to donate to the helicopter fund to get you’re ‘free’ possum pie). Before you ask it tastes of, it tastes of what it is Possum! But it is similar to Rabbit only richer in flavour.


En route to our final destination Carl got the bus pulled over by the police for speeding, he was only a couple of miles over the limit for the bus on that long, straight bit of road, but got a 30 buck fine anyway! It did give us all a great photo opportunity! We were ahead of schedule for the final destination, which made a nice change so after the tour of town we had plenty of time to check in before we had to be down at the office for the heli hike.


Wow, wow, wow! Carl was going on about it so much we had quite high expectations for the heli hike. But my god, were they met! We dropped our bag’s at the hostel (they upgraded us to a motel room as all of the doubles were full!), then headed down to the main office to check in. We were whisked down to the boot shed, where we signed our life away and were issued with furry boots, socks, jackets, sunscreen and hats & gloves if we wanted. Then we were divided up into groups for our helicopter ride to the summit! We whizzed and whooshed and got some lovely views of the glacier, the surrounding ‘Bush’ and waterfalls.


Once we arrived we were issued with ‘Crampons’, Charlotte decided to be a smart arse and figured out how they fit on the boot’s. The guide did wonder how she knew as even after giving a 20 min talk and showing people, they still had problems getting it right! ‘Oh I am just clever’ she replied quiet modestly and went about helping everyone else with theirs.


We were again split into two groups, those that were happy on the ice and could keep up a faster pace, which we both jumped into because we wanted to see it all. We hiked off as we got used to the crampons and saw some amazing sights. We took loads of pictures in various ice caves and Jin (the guide) kept disappearing into them checking them out.

Whilst we were all climbing a steep vertical wall of ice Charlotte tripped and slid down a quite scary hole head first. Through sheer will, she managed to stop herself half way down, head pointing to a head sized pool of ice cold glacier water. Poor Lisa (Behind) nearly had a crampon up the nose! Jin and another man managed to pull her out! Charlotte brushed herself down and off we went! Although a little later did find an amount of blood pouring down her leg, so Jin had to do some (very poor) emergency patching up.


As Jin was making some more ice steps we heard a hollow crack of the ice pick and we quickly changed direction! Jin later ran up an ice wall and started hacking away at the top, next thing we knew, down was tumbling a hunk of ice! We made it back through ice ravines, although Lisa, Charlotte & Liam were lagging behind taking as many photos as we could! Charlotte’s batteries even ran out! Back on to the helicopter and a final goodbye to the glacier as Charlotte got the front seat to herself for the final decent.


Back to the hostel for hot chocolate and a veg in front of the T.V. watching a video of Snatch, (yes, they still have Video here! And a great free library of tapes too.) Whilst Charlotte cooks dinner for Liam and Other Charlotte. Energy restored and off to the Blue Ice Cafe for 2-4-1 drinks until midnight! Shame it was only the terrible house spirits! A bit of Karaoke and Charlotte & a strange bloke doing pole dancing, then off to bed.


A lay in and a lazy day, wandering around the tiny town, taking in the might of the Mountains and Glaciers. Dinner from Charlotte again and a dip in the Hot tub with a load of our friends from the Magic bus. We stopped by the Sky TV room tonight and caught the end of Notting Hill, and then Charlotte sat up watching the premier of Max Payne.


FRANS JOSEF-LAKE WANAKA
An early start again on the bus and off and away with Marky Mark Mark Mark (he had a bit of stutter, which is a little strange for a tour guide!) We travelled through some lovely countryside and mountain ranges, with plenty of stops en route to take pictures. Also a stop at a strange garage with a cafe that had no food in it! Then off to Lake Wanaka where we were dropped at the Purple Cow (just been brought by YHA). We are in dorm’s tonight with Charlotte, Mellissa and another couple, so drop out bag’s and run out to see Puzzling World.


Twenty minute walk outside town and we enter the amazing world of puzzles. We go into the illusion rooms where it seems whole walls of faces are following you around, holograms and tricks of the eye. How can water run uphill, Escher pictures, etc. Very clever. Then off to test our skills in the first modern Maze. We had to find all four corners, and then find our way out. Average is 30 mins to 1 hour; we managed it in 57 mins, not bad going! Although a little frustrating when we could see the finish, but just not reach it!


As we were walking back to town to meet up with other Charlotte & Becky at the lake front, we came across a couple of half naked men in a car, randomly pulled up at the edge of the road. As we got closer, they were waving! It turned out to be Jason and his mate that we had met in the bar at Franz Joseph at the Karaoke. They gave us a lift back to the Lakefront to meet up with the girls. Jason and his mate went off to find a hostel and we all had a lovely Indian overlooking the lake.


We passed by Jason and friends at one of the lakeside bars en route to Cinema Paradiso. A lovely little cinema full of sofas, lazy boy chairs old cinema, bus & plane seats and even an old Morris minor that you could sit in! Other Charlotte and Becky grabbed the car, whilst we grabbed a comfortable sofa. We watched 2012, which was a great special effect extravaganza that saw America save the world again! We popped over to Shooters after for a quick pint with Jason, before heading home.


A lazy day wandering around town as Other Charlotte, Becky, Ralf and Jason went for a walk around the lake. Other Charlotte made a picnic, which she left with us. We chilled out with Little Liam awaiting the walkers return. They only just made it back before the bus as it was further than they thought!


LAKE WANAKA-QUEENSTOWN
Just a short journey with Stu today via his place, (so he could check his post!) to Queenstown. We stopped off at the place were the first ever bungee took place (suicidal chap giving it a trail run he, he!). We went down to have a look, but Charlotte got weak knees just watching, so we decided it was not for either of us! There was a young Indian chap about to bungee when we got there he looked more scared waving to his mother than jumping! Back on the bus and off to the hostel.

Well the problems started when we got to Southern Laughter (laughter it was not!). First of all they did not have our reservation, Charlotte reserved our room and other Charlotte’s dorm at the same time with the reception at Franz Joseph! They had booked us in for the next two nights! They managed to put us in a four man dorm (just the 2 of us) and we could have a late check out tomorrow, and then go to a double.


We dumped our bags and Other Charlotte cooked the most amazing roast veg & Sausages, then we headed out to celebrate Liam’s birthday in style. We went to the full moon 1st birthday party at the Buffalo Club. It started quiet slowly, then as the night wore on and we were painted with luminous paint, it got busier & busier. Great music and fun was had by all. Most of the bus were there and Jason found us again. At the end of the night we climbed a lighted staircase to the road below our hostel and headed back to the dorm. We pulled a couple of the mattresses off of the bunks and made an apple pie bed.


We were rudely awoken by a cleaner (English, don’t you know!), who burst into the room without knocking and changed a bin with one cotton bud in! When Charlotte enquired as to what she was doing as we had a late checkout booked, she advised us not to be so F@*%ing rude as her job was to clean rooms and change bins. Charlotte advised her calmly, (although seething with rage at her rudeness) to go check with reception. We rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but it was not to be! We got up and were showering etc and Charlotte was standing in just her sarong about to strip off, when another girl came busting in with her iPod on singing at the top of her voice, to change a tea towel that had not been used! That was it, we got changed and headed off to reception.


As we were heading over sheets in hand a chap relieved us of them and asked if we were the ones for the double room as it was ready for us to go straight into. Charlotte said yes, and then politely enquired if the staff had been informed of a late check out for us? He did not know as he had just come in. Charlotte let go at him and informed him of what had happened, how we had been spoken to and how violated we felt. Bless him, he was lovely and could not apologise enough. He also refunded a night’s money, which went some way to helping. We chucked our bags into the new room and disappeared off down town.


A little shopping, one of Queenstown’s famous ‘Ferg burgers’ and a gossip with Other Charlotte & Jason when we bumped into them and normality was restored! Liam went for the ‘Big Al’(about a day’s worth of food in a bun) & Charlotte had the ‘Little Lamby’, we took them up to the lighted steps of last night and met up with Chris & Lisa who had had a wonderful couple of days (we had not seen them since Franz Josef). Neither of us could finish the burgers, although we did try out hardest!

Back to the hostel for a little snooze and then a walk up the hill to the Gondola. As we had snoozed longer than expected we decided it was too late for the deal allowing a gondola ride & six luge rides, so we just went on the gondola to look at the view which was supposed to be amazing from up there. The bus driver did suggest that if we wanted to save some money, the walk to the top which takes about 45 mins, hmmm! The views were great and we got to see more crazy people doing bungee, but this time they were tied on around the waist and were encouraged to run out off of the platform. We both decided that if we HAD to do it, we would prefer that way! But still no! We were glad we did not waste our money on the Luge as there were only two tracks and they were not as good or long as the tracks in Rotorua.


We wandered back to town and around a few shop’s before finding ‘Luciano’s’ for dinner. We had the nicest Steak & Lamb dinners, with a garlic bread cob for starters and Triple Tiramisu for pud. Other Charlotte & Jason came in and had the same as us! We wandered along the lakefront and bumped into Becky and her mates, who had done the walk up to the top of the Gondola (1 & ½ hours!) to earn the ‘Ferg Burger’ they were munching on.


QUEENSTOWN-TE ANAU via Milford Sound
We got picked up for the Milford sounds adventure with Other Charlotte and Vanessa, it was raining but it afforded us a chance to catch up on some much needed snoozing on the coach. Our driver for today Keith regaled us with stories about when the area became a national park, a land owner in the park, (who had been there before national park status) had an apple tree in his garden (not an indigenous tree hence not allowed in the park.) When the inspector came to check for National park regulations he was asked to remove it ‘but it’s been here for 20 years ‘, the farmer exclaimed! No more was said, but the next time the farmer went out the inspector came along and tore the apple tree down. The farmer was a little miffed to say the least! What did he do? I hear you cry, did he burn down the national park? No, did he plant more apple trees? No, did he kill the inspector? No, did he write a strongly worded letter to the national papers? No! ‘Please Liam and Charlotte tell us what evil and callous thing the upset farmer did’ we hear you cry. Well, he threw a sack Lupin seeds in to the river near the source! I know what you’re saying! How brilliant, the man is a genius, Guerrilla gardening at its finest! They can remove one tree but Several Million Lupins that is a little tricky. Plus it gives the area a beautiful Purple haze (apparently Jimi Hendrix wrote that very song about this place!). As we travel the south island we see his efforts everywhere, so many rivers!


When the rain eased a bit we stopped off for a couple of photo opportunities and a couple of short walks along Mirror Lake & to a waterfall, The Chasm, where we bumped into the American couple in the space ship from Greymouth. We passed through a huge tunnel through a mountain and down into the town for our cruise. We jumped onto a rather large boat and grabbed some prime viewing spots on the top front deck! We forgot to do lunch, so munched on a couple of cookies we had packed!


We were soon to find out that this maybe the best viewing spot on the boat, but it was also the windiest! Especially as Milford sound tunnel’s the wind down to a point. We looked at a few waterfalls and a bit of scenery before running inside to find the free Coffee that had been laid on! We came out again as we rounded the narrowest part as the wind had eased somewhat. We saw some lovely views of mountains and bays and were ever on the lookout for wildlife. We went into the open Tasman Sea, 1000 miles to Oz! It was quite choppy, so we rode the waves for a bit before coming back on ourselves to go down the other side of the sound. Again on the lookout for wild life, we spotted seals and many waterfalls, we even came up under the main waterfall for a photo opportunity.


Back on the bus and away to our home for the night at the YHA in Te Anau. We dropped our bags in the dorm and headed into town to find the 4 square we had spotted on the way in. We got some heart warming chunky soup and bread for supper, along with a huge Boysenberry cheesecake, yummy. We ate all of the cheesecake that we could before passing our leftover slices to some very, very pleased Japanese girls. We settled into the TV room, trying to keep warm whilst it rained and someone out on the Kill Bill DVD.


THE CATLINS CRUISER
We were up and away at the crack of dawn, we did not get much sleep last night as the Japanese guy below Charlotte wiggled all night (it is quite loud when you are in metal bunks) and then kept getting up for a bit, before returning to bed. We think he slept part of the night in the TV Lounge! Plus we also had the world snoring championships in our room Charlotte, Liam and the wee slip of a girl in the bunk below him were all doing their best to suck the air out of the room.

We were picked up along with another girl Sophie from our hostel by Don who was to transport us to Invercargill in the pouring rain to meet the Coaster. It turns out on that rainy morning we were not the only things to be transported in that minivan! We made several stops & drop offs for Flowers, money and letters, although Bob did give each of the girls a flower.


At Invercargill, we catch the Catlins Coaster by the isite, and meet our guide Bryan, (who looks a bit like Don), newlyweds from Tring, Olga from Germany (no, really) and George from Holland (had a thing for piercings we counted 20 in each ear and 4 in his lips), then off we bally well go!


First stop Wiapapa Light house, to see a dead sheep (it looked asleep when we got there but then didn’t move for the hour). This lighthouse was built as a result of the worst civilian shipwreck in New Zealand history the SS Tararura, 131 lives lost. Then a short walk to see the sideways trees, back to the van and off to a local camp site for a spot of lunch and Hectors dolphin watching, we spy a seal in the dunes sunbathing (the seal not us!). On to Curious Bay, full of petrified trees from millions of years ago. Caught in a volcanic eruption and preserved in stone as fossils for all these years, and we also spot our first penguins, the yellow eyed type, rare in the wild. We hit up the weird and wonderful world of the gypsy bus with loads of wacky paraphernalia.


We stopped briefly at Niagara falls after a big build up, to find the person who named it was being ironic (it was located on progress way, so maybe they had some high hopes!). We then headed down to McLean falls for a 40 minute, very nice, we may have a nice picture to blow up for the walls! We headed off to Nugget point lighthouse for an hour’s walk. Another light house! They all seem pretty similar! Apparently when Cook first saw this outcrop of rocks he thought the rock’s leading up to the outcrop looked like Golden nuggets in the late evening sun!


Our last stop of the day was a hide just below the lighthouse to watch the yellow eyed penguins come in. We arrived and just missed one coming in, after waiting an age we finally see one come back in, it was soo cute! As soon as we jump into the bus for the final leg of the journey into Dunedin the heaven’s opened.


DUNEDIN
After checking into our hostel, on top Backpackers (it was on top of a pool hall!), we bumped into Charlotte, Becky & the girls. We dropped our bags and ran out to celebrate Liam’s 32nd birthday in style. We started with a couple in the pool hall, then headed off to the Irish bar in the Octagon, The Craic. Although it had a fabulous log fire, it was a bit quiet for us, so we headed for the Scottish bar around the corner. They had an Irish band playing jigs and eating haggis, peculiar! Then for Liam’s favourite, a kebab on the way home! It was a really nice wrap style one full of meat, salad, garlic sauce and humus.


We headed off the next day for a wander around Dunedin, looking in the shops and watching out for a place for lunch. Charlotte spotted the Cadbury’s factory, which could solve all of our problems in one! But Liam dragged her off for lunch first! No, Charlotte they won’t run out of chocolate! We looked at eating in the ‘Wig & Pen’ as they were advertising a roast of the day, but when we got in there it was full of old people! And the roast of the day was Pork! So off we went and found a Mc Cafe for a rather nice muffin and coffee that seemed to do the job.


We then ran down to the chocolate factory as Liam could not hold Charlotte back anymore! Luckily we got straight on the next tour. And we got stripped of our jewellery and were given some lovely hair & beard nets! So sexy! Luckily we had to leave our cameras behind, so no evidence! We smelt the chocolate before we got into the factory! We learnt all about New Zealand chocolate and the way they make it! Charlotte won lots of chocolate on the way around answering questions and we both left with a bag full of chocolate which we are scoffing while we write this! It was topped by the chocolate falls, a tonne of melted chocolate dropped down inside a tower. Charlotte got splashed all over and started licking it off, until she was told that the chocolate was recycled for up to a year before being sold off as Pig food! Lucky Pigs!


We huddled away from the rain (we forgot our rain coat’s today as it looked sunny this morning) in Starbuck’s for a Xmas flavoured coffee. When it eased off we took our chances and walked down to Baldwin Street (the steepest road in the world). Charlotte took one look at it and gladly accepted the back pack whilst Liam walked up. After waiting and waiting and waiting, Charlotte thought ‘well it can’t be that hard can it?’ So went up to the first level, then kept on going. Next thing you know she is nearly at the top and Liam is (after taking photos of her efforts, please no red faces!) taking the bag back off her!! Woo hoo, done it with a back pack too! We went up to the top, where Liam slipped trying to come back down. A short bus ride home, a quick change into some dry clothes and out for dinner and a drinkie or two (unlike us, we know).

OAMARU
Back on the bus with a new bunch of people to Oamaru, guess what our first stop today is! Yep, you have got it Baldwin Street! And No we did not do it again! After a short stop at the Moeraki Boulders (quite impressive boulders on the beach, rather big, very round) unfortunately the tide was a bit high so some were covered by the sea. Not too long a journey today so we soon get dropped off at a lovely little backpackers in town and chill out for the afternoon as it is still raining. We do a bit of blogging (as it is free Wi-Fi) and reading before heading out to see the Penguin’s.


We rush down to the Penguin encounter place, just outside of town, through the Victorian quarter. We grab our ticket’s as we see that people are ahead of us and hurry on over to the Penguin grand stand viewing section. We are in time to see hundreds of blue penguins return from their days fishing to feed their young. They are so cute (but apparently smelly, I don’t believe it!), and take an age to jump out of the water, then waggle around flapping their wings to cool themselves and regulate their temperature before heading over the path and into the nesting area, where they are hidden from sight. On leaving the complex we realise that the ticket given to us said amount due. We both thought the other had paid and I think the lady at reception must have thought we had pre-paid through Magic, Opp’s! Oh well, It was a great time for free. Happy days!


We went back and had a late supper of bread and soup, followed but hot chocolate and a bit of blogging before bed. Up in the morning, bags packed and dumped in the store room and time to go out and explore the town. Top of the agenda for today is finding a way of sending home our photo’s as Charlotte had filled up two cards now and could not take any more photos until she had unloaded them. We have CD’s with us, but to burn them cost’s quite a bit, also they are only 700mb disks, so are not that big, when the card’s we are using are 2GB & 3GB! So we went into the local electrical store and looked at several different options. The best we came up with was a special offer that they were having on 4GB memory sticks. Great move as we have nearly filled up one and are about ready to send it back!


LAKE TEKAPO
We spot the bus pulling up on the other side of the road and run over and hop on, luckily three people get off, so they can squeeze us on. We spot a couple of people from the first day on the bus, so are relieved to see a few familiar faces. Our driver today Scotty informs us that we have the same problem tomorrow as they had today and is asking for four volunteers. On enquiring we find out that three people had to get off at Oamaru, so we could get on. As there was no bus behind Scotty they were being put on the intercity bus to Lake Tekapo. Scotty needed four people to get on the Intercity to Christchurch. We were also advised that we could not stay two nights in Lake Tekapo as we had wanted as there was no bus behind. We thought about it as we would get another morning to explore, but decided against it as the intercity drop’s you to the middle of town and our hostel is miles away, also the weather was not that great, so we could not do the walks we wanted to do.


We only have a little journey today again through some lovely countryside to Lake Tekapo. We have a few photo stops and have a chance in the town of Lake Tekapo to see two of New Zealand’s most photographed landmarks, The picturesque Church of the Good Shepherd and the statue of the Collie dog combined with the reflection of the Southern Alps in the waters of the lake (although it had started blowing up a storm, so it was not that reflective for us today!). We dropped our bags in our room and Charlotte has a little rest, whilst Liam goes and explores the lake shore line.


We then walk into town (one row of shops) for a little look around before settling on Chinese supper. We just had the set meal, which was lovely, so a great recommendation from Scotty, we saw him come in for a take away, but never saw the tall Dutch chap and the girls who suggested it! We popped to the only pub for a couple afterwards and although it did not look like much of a pub from the outside, it had the most amazing views of the lake, through floor to ceiling windows. Charlotte could not help herself but run out every now and again to try and get that perfect shot of the Church with the mountains behind. Even climbing on the picnic table and nearly getting blown off by the high wind.


There was a beautiful, blustery walk home along the Lake edge. As the sun was setting it the clouds and mountains took on beautiful hues. We got back and settled into watch a movie on the big sofas before retiring for the night.


CHRISTCHURCH
Again not a long journey today, a pleasant meander through the south country, a vista of where Mount Cook should be( damn clouds) Canterbury Plains and the southern alps, dropping someone in the middle of nowhere (well it seemed like that to us!), taking photos of a big fish too. Then on to the Port Hills at the entrance to Christchurch for some splendid views of the town, including a stop on a windy road overlooking Lyttleton Harbour, sign of the Kiwi and sign of Tehae (which looked like a castle!).


We got dropped off to our hostel mid afternoon, which made a nice change, so settled in and then headed off for a walk around town. We took in the market in Cathedral Square that we had passed on the way in, grabbed a hot dog and wandered around it. Charlotte had fallen in love with the Pandora charm bracelet on her journeys around New Zealand, so to find the fake and cheaper versions at the market was very tempting! But she was a good girl and managed to keep her hands firmly in her pocket! We headed down to the Arts centre to catch the end of the market down there. Some interesting items, but mostly being packed away. We decided a trip down to the Sunday market tomorrow was in order.

A couple of drinks at the Dux Lux right next to the market and another new dark beer for Liam to try. On the way back we heard from Charlotte, Tessa and Tice who were holed up at the Base hostel right in the centre. We skipped up the road to make plans with them for later that night, also to catch up on their adventures since last seeing them in Queens town. They escorted us up to the ‘Penthouse’ don’t you know! We caught up and went our separate ways with promises to meet back at the bar at nine.


We popped back to the hostel to get changed and then went to ‘Winnie Bago’s’ for dinner. We managed a supper of their famous Chilly and pesto garlic bread (a whole loaf!) and then had a half and half pizza of Venison with plums and...... & Ham, Pepperoni and ... with a garlic aioli. We only managed half, it was huge! Liam ran the leftovers home and then we met up with the others at the Base ‘saints & sinners bar’.


Other Charlotte had been out with Jason the night before to the Lanes and the micro brewery, which is where we headed off to. First on the agenda was the Belgian bar where Liam tucked into a half pint of (as that is all they will serve it in!) 8% Skull Buggery. Then we went off to another really cool bar that had loads of sofas outside & last night had loads of fire bins.


We spent the next morning chilling out, then headed off down to the Sunday market at The Arts centre. It was cool and we wanted to buy loads, but resisted and went for a punt down the Avon instead! Shame the bloke was foreign, but Charlotte got him talking, so we did learn a little about the area. We got punted along the Avon with the Botanical gardens on one side and the Hospital on the other. It looked like a nice place to recover as loads of people were being wheeled out to the river in the sunshine. Just after we jumped off of the punt it started drizzling, so we wandered along the river for a bit and found the way to the library, (with the free Wi-Fi) for the next day. We went back to the hostel via the strip and got back in time for happy hour, so chilled out and watched some TV, Charlotte found the new version of The 39 Steps.


AKAROA

Today we booked a day tour to Akaroa were we enjoyed a scenic drive across picturesque Banks Peninsula, past rural Tai Tapu and Motukarara. We skirted around the shores of Lake Ellesmere and Lake Forsyth, through the faming settlements of Little River and Cooptown. We stopped for a walk on the beach followed by a stop at Hilltop for snacks and a view over Akaroa. We descended down through delightful Akaroa inner bays. We spent time looking around the pretty town, enjoying ‘Fish n Chips’ and chatting to a friendly jeweller from Dunedin. We headed back to Christchurch just before the rain hit (we have been soo lucky with the weather!). We made a stop half way home at a fruit stall where we broke down, the driver after reversing the bus could not get it back into gear! She called for a back up bus, then half an hour later managed to try it again and get it going. We headed back at low gear, then after half an hour pumped it up to high gear and we were all ok.


Again a relaxing day sorting washing and the likes, visiting the Library to catch up on what is happening in the world. We popped over to the English bar for a couple after and bumped into the two Northern lads that we had met with Jason in Franz Josef. We went over to the Stone Grill for supper, just around the corner and Liam had the 2nd best meal of his life! The Land Lover, which comprised of a lump of beef, lamb and Chicken on a 400 degree hot stone with garlic roasted potatoes and veg. Charlotte could not see the point in paying to cook your own dinner, so opted for a rack of lamb with a weird cheesy stuffing and wild rice, Yum. Tuesday was half price pudding day, so we indulged in Apple panna cotta and Chocolate profiteroles in cinnamon sugar. We went back to the hostel and chilled watching a film after packing our bags.

We got up and checked out, storing out bags we headed off to the library and caught up with the world before heading back through Cathedral square. We found the $5 bus was now a $7 bus, so headed off to the isite to see how much it was on the normal bus! $7.80! So we headed back via Base which was still advertising $5 buses. We bumped into Little Liam on the way, who had booked himself onto the 12noon bus. When we enquired the 12noon & 1pm were both fully booked, so we headed back to the hostel to grab our bags. We came back to the $5 NOW $7 bus and they had all gone. But it did say they go every 20 mins. We waited and one of the guys we had seen on the way down turned up, and loads of people came out of the woodwork, so we were soon on our way!


Now we have shared the last three months with you guys, don’t forget to send us a message and let us know what is going on in your world. We do feel a little deprived of Gossip out here! We miss you all, Happy Christmas.


Australia here we come......

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Photos

Huka Falls
Charlotte's favorite water fall, as you can tell by the million photo's!

Sky diving
That is Charlotte helping (I have lost loads of weight!)

Sky diving
Hmmmmm