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My four days on the bottom bus were some of the best of my bus tour so far! We had a fabulous driver for the first two days. He was called bloke and I recon he was about 60. There were only 4 of us for the first two days, one older woman and two other girls form the UK, Amy and Nicola, who were lovely and we got on really well. We were on minibus and Bloke was just like a granddad. He was always checking if we were okay and asking us if we needed anything. He was a fabulous guide and talked the whole time and we got out and saw so much stuff. The first day was Queenstown to Dunedin (a route I haven’t done to Dunedin yet!) and the second day was through the Caitlins to Invercargill (NZ's furthest south city). The trip on the second day took 10 hours because we got out and saw heaps, waterfalls, beaches, fur seals, penguins,furthest south point on the South Island, it was brilliant. We had great weather too which obviously helped! It really emphasised for me how much better it is doing these bus tours than doing it
on your own because you see so much more and it’s more about the trip rather than trying to get somewhere.
The next day we headed for Te Anau which is known at the gateway to Milford Sound. Our driver wasn’t as good but it was fine and again we saw loads of sights. And we could see Stewart Island, NZ's third Island, so I can at least say that I saw it. Te Anau was nice, pretty small but we still all managed to have a good night out! The following day was our trip to Milford Sound. Technically it’s not a sound it’s a fjord, like in Norway. It was totally stunning, as amazing as they all say. It was very dramatic and as we cruised down through the sound we saw dolphins and lots of great waterfalls. Our ticket also included a stop at the aquarium which was purpose built for Milford Sound. It goes down into the water so you can see loads of fish and sea life, pretty cool. I read somewhere that going to NZ and not seeing Milford Sound is like going to Egypt and not seeing the pyramids and I can
really see why. It was totally stunning and again we were really lucky with the weather which just made it even more dramatic and a brilliant trip.
We got back to Queenstown the same day and I went out with Nicola and met Kat and she came too. I met up with Scott again the next day and we decided just to stay in Queenstown until our flights out the next week. Scott’s friends from Australia were in Queenstown for the winter season and were a great laugh. The 5 of them (Marguerita, Jen, Ross, Jonny and Dane) moved into a gorgeous big house after a few days and we stayed with them for the rest of the week. It was pretty awesome. We went out pretty much every night, which wasn’t too expensive cause there are so many deals on every night! Queenstown is really awesome and beautiful. I really want to go back there and try and get work when I get back from Hawaii. Just not sure if I should do my bus trip of the North Island first, which I really want to do! Or if I should head straight down to Queenstown for the
start of June when I’ve heard most of the jobs start to open up. Just don’t know what to do, will listen to all advice!
Think that's all for now!
Charlotte, xxxx
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ahassler
Angelina hassler
weather in NZ in winter
hi Charlotte! I will be traveling to nz this June and am curious to know what type of weather to prepare for, and which cities are/places are the best to visit in winter. it seems like u were able to go to a variety of places in the south island with weather not seeming to be a problem. Thanks a lot! ps beautiful pics!! Angelina