Windy Wellington shenanigans and on to the South island

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I'm still really enjoying New zealand. There seems a nice mix of cities, adventure sports and lots of spectacular scenery.

After my last entry i spent a few days in windy Wellington and it certainly lived up to its name. I saw the sights here, rode the cable car, went to the galleries and museums and did a geeky lord of the rings tour to see a lot of the places that they did the filming. I also took a day trip further up the coast to see some of the coastline and beaches.

I then took a boat to the South island. The boatride was really rocky but quite cool as some dolphins started leaping alongside the boat.

In the south island we headed to Nelson for one night, which was full of parks and galleries, and then on to Greymouth. On the way there we stoppped for lots of coastal beach walks and stopped to see a seal colony. We also saw the pancake rocks, which look like a stack of pancakes and have blowholes in them that water blows out of. Nice to break up the long busrides with a few stops.

In Greymouth i did a brewery tour and cunningly spent the tour with a girl who came along but doesn't drink beer so i got double all the free samples.

From Greymouth we went on to Franz Joseph, stopping en route to see some gold panning and some animals at various places.

I did a helicopter ride and a hike up the glacier in Franz Joseph, which was absolutely amazing. It took us up really high and then we had a two hour walk around all the blue ice caves, crevices and rivers. While we were up there we saw a big avalanche aswell so in all it was really spectacular. One of the nearby hostels did free soup for post-hikers (obviously not my cheap hostel) so i pretended i was staying at the good one at soup time to get warmed up.

The next day we drove on to Queenstown, again stoppping at various lakes, mountains and beaches. Today i went on a jetover boat, which hurtles towards rocks really fast letting you think you're about to die and then it turns away at the last second. Has been a good couple of days in Queenstown, it's a really nice place surrounded by mountains and has a huge lake but it's full of good shops, restaraunts and bars so a nice mix. Tomorrow i'm headed further south so will have to get out my jumpers to brave the cold.

x x x

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Comments

[Kelly]

Hello from Kelly and Steph
Hello lovely hope all is well with you looks like you are having lots of fun! Steph and i are drinking beers and eating fish and chips!! nothing changes! Look foward to seeing you when you get back lots of love Kelly and steph

[Travellingbex]

Ah, yep i'm having lots of fun. Enjoy the fish and chips and beers, will join you for some when i'm back. x x