New Zealand Part 2: The South Island

'Sweet assssss bro'

If you're wondering why 've used the subtitle 'Sweet assssss bro' for this blog post then you've clearly never been to New Zealand, or you would know that it's many a kiwi's favourite phrase - one of our bus drivers used the phrase to finish off the majority of his sentences! But, it is quite fitting for this post about our time in the South Island because it was, you've guessed it... sweet as! Many people say the South Island is better than the North, and I can confirm it is true! 

 

For starters, the scenery in the South Island is second to none - as soon as we stepped off the ferry from Wellington to Picton and started our journey through the Marlborough Sounds I knew we were going to be in for a treat for the next week and a half. 

 

Our first stop in the South Island was a place called Kaiteriteri, on the edge of Abel Tasman National Park. We made the most of the sun and all headed for the beach as soon as we checked in (we were expecting the South to be colder than the North but our luck was in!). After the sun went down we went to play some mini golf, which I came a respectable third place in. Chris of course provided the entertainment because as per he took the game really seriously wanting to win, and consequently messed up on a few holes and lost his head... at one point me and Charlie were bent over in stitches silently laughing whilst he tried to get the ball in the hole. 

The next day I woke up feeling like death - good old hostel / dorm life catching up with me! We went on the Abel Tasman sailing adventure in the morning which was really nice and we got to see some seals and the famous split apple rock. I was actually glad we changed our minds and didn't do the walk after waking up ill, although in doing so we did become the bad guys! Originally we put down to do the walk through the national park which was $55 and it needed a minimum of 9 people to go ahead. Afterwards, Chris decided he wanted to do the sailing instead, which was $48 (not sure how sailing is cheaper than walking?!)... anyway, we were the 8th and 9th people on the list so changing our minds meant that the walk didn't go ahead... we felt so bad but, it was our trip as well and we needed to do what we wanted to do. 

 

 

Once we got on the bus to head to Westport I felt even more ill, so I got my head down and had a sleep, only to be woken up by the bus driver informing everyone that we was going to play a game of musical chairs to get to know different people on the bus... not ideal in my state! After that we stopped off at the stunning Lake Rotoiti before arriving in Westport. As you can see from the photos it was so picturesque, minus the eels in the lake! Our hostel in Westport was really funky, and luckily we had booked a double room which was ideal because it meant we could get an early night and rest up!

 

The next day en route to Lake Mahinapua we stopped off to see the seal colony at cape foulwind, which coincidently was foul and windy! It was amazing to see all the seals though so battling through the bad weather still ill was worth it! We also went to see the pancake rocks which were cool! Our final stop of the day was in Greymouth for a one-hour supermarket sweep style fancy dress shop! Our theme chosen by our bus driver was 'bad taste' so I went as 'Miley Cyrus' and Chris went as 'Amy Winehouse'. We had the best time at the party that night and yes, when wrecking ball came on I didn't disappoint and flung myself across the dance floor on my 'wrecking ball' haha.

I definitely will not forget our time in Franz Josef, mainly because I insanely decided to do a skydive 2 hours before I did it at fox glacier skydive. It was my first ever one and I decided to do it for a few reasons. One, I knew I wanted to do one at some point during my travels if I had enough courage. 2. When we found out it was voted the 2nd best place in the world to do a skydive because of the views by Lonely Planet I knew there was no better time to do one, and because I could tell my brothers I had done it! All I can say is it was epic and I haven't stopped going on about it since, just ask Chris haha. I'll let the video do the rest of the talking for now!

How cute is Chris... when I got back from my skydive he'd got me a little gift to say well done for doing it! Think he was a bit worried for me!

We were supposed to do the Heli Hike on the glacier whilst in Franz Josef but the weather wasn't looking great and they said we could still be charged nearly full price if our ice time got cut short due to the weather or even just for the 8 minute helicopter ride, so we decided to cancel our places and ended up doing the hike from town to the bottom of the glacier instead, where we still managed to get some good views of the glacier! We rewarded our tired legs afterwards with a long soak in the hot pools. It turns out some of our friends got lucky enough to do the full heli hike without it being cut short but hey, we still had a good time!

 

Our next stop was Wanaka, but not before a walk around Lake Matheson and a stop at Thunder Falls. Unfortunately, it was cloudy at the lake so we couldn't get the 'mirror' photos we had hoped for, and at the falls... well as you can see I didn't get the photo I wanted either ... thanks Chris! Just looks like I'm getting hit in the face by lots of water rather than drinking it!

We only had one night in Wanaka but we could of easily had more. There's not a whole lot to do there but it's so beautiful and a nice place to chill. The weather helped too! We all took a walk to see 'that Wanaka tree', which was slightly disappointing as it wasn't the grand tree you might imagine it to be, but it was in the lake so still pretty cool I guess! Chris also got his hair cut whilst we were there - hair cuts cost more than normal in New Zealand because it's classed as a trade, I think Chris paid something like $38 but he did need it doing!

Queenstown definitely has my heart in New Zealand - if only we could have stayed there longer! I loved everything about it, probably because it's set out like a typical ski resort which I love! The atmosphere and weather topped it off too. Before we made it to Queenstown we had a cheeky stop off at Puzzling World... the maze was fun for all of 10 minutes before I got frustrated haha and then we went to watch some of our friends do the original AJ Hackett bungy and get dunked into the water below. I have to confess, after doing my skydive I thought I was pretty invincible and a daredevil who would do anything, but no, I still do not see the enjoyment in dangling by your feet and having to let yourself go off the ledge rather than being pushed haha.

Once we checked in to our hostel in Queenstown we went out for a walk to make the most of the sunshine and ended up laying down on the green near the lake and taking a very long nap. All fun and games until I woke up and instantly got pooed on by a seagull! We had a meal that night with everyone from our bus as a 'yay we all made it to Queenstown' celebration and because usually everyone starts to part ways once you get to Queenstown so it was nice for us all to go out for some drinks afterwards! The boys all took part in a ladies night competition which chris ended up winning (he won a free Canyon Fox but because we weren't there long enough he couldn't claim it and they wouldn't let us swap it to someone else, boo!)

We had our Milford Sound trip on our second day in Queenstown. It's a long 12 hour day mostly spent on the Milford Highway which is the only road in and out of Milford. Milford is one of the places people say you have to see when you visit New Zealand. Unfortunately for us, it was a very wet/cold day, although some people say it's better to see Milford Sound like that because there are more waterfalls to see! We still had a great time on the ferry cruise even though the visibility was poor. The boys all stripped off to get dunked under a waterfall, but it turned out me and Lucy got just as dreneched on the top deck trying to take photos of them! Of course on the journey home the rain stopped and the sun came out... typical!

I thought our last day in Queenstown was going to be a write off as Chris woke up feeling really ill and ended up falling back asleep after his shower, but he woke up just after lunch time feeling better so we decided to continue with our plans for the day and got the gondola up the mountain overlooking Queenstown. It was a gorgeous day again and the views were simply stunning. We even managed to have a go on the luge (and the lady gave us a second go for free) which we loved - Chris got a bit cocky on his second go and ended up taking a corner on two wheels! haha think he pooped his pants. Not only was it our last day in Queenstown but it was also the last day with all our friends from our Kiwi Experience bus as they were all staying longer in Queenstown, so we had a good final night out, which ended with chips and curry sauce... nom!

To be honest, Lake Tekapo was a bit of a write off - minus the bus journey en route as we stopped off at Lake Pukaki and got some great views of Mt. Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand. Once we got to Lake Tekapo we were told there was a 98% cloud cover forecast so the star gazing in the hot pools was cancelled. We deicide to do some much needed washing, only to wash it all and find out the one and only dryer was out of order, so we went on a hunt and found a working one but after 2 hours our clothes still weren't dry, so we left Lake Tekapo with damp clothes! We also walked about a mile into town to get some food from the pub, only to order and get asked for our ID even though we weren't ordering alcohol! Like I said, Lake Tekapo was a bit of a write off! 

 

I'd like to formally apologise to Auckland. If you remember in my last blog post I stated that Auckland will probably stay as being our least favourite place in New Zealand... well, unfrotuantely and painfully I must admit I was wrong! Oh Christchurch, you top trump Auckland! There must be a reason you start and finish your kiwi experience journey in these two places! Everytime we seem to arrive in a city the weather is miserable, it didn't stop raining during our time in Christchurch! But, it meant we could rest and catch up on sleep before heading to Australia. We got a private twin room (which came with three beds?) at the YMCA which was really nice and because the room was nice and big, it meant we could empty our bags and reorganise and sort everything ready for Australia. The room also had a heater which I took full advantage of and kept making the room like a sauna, which Chris hated... I just love being warm! 

The city centre is a bit of a ghost town, and we struggled to find shops/places to eat, but we did find a good pub at the end of the road our hostel was on which we ended up eating at on both days we were there! They also had half price pool on one of the days which we took advantage of whilst it was raining outside! 

Whilst in Christchurch we did go to the Canterbury Museum and the Quake City Exhibition both which were really interesting. I definitely cried at the video of some of the stories told by people affected by the 2011 earthquake. 

We got to the bus stop to go to the airport with only 5 minutes to spare, only to discover you have to pay cash on the bus for your ticket and the one and only cash machine at the station was out of order of course! We only had enough money to pay for two tickets to the stop before the airport, which we were told was only a 7 minute walk to the airport but it was chucking it down! Luckily, the driers switched before we left the station so we just stayed on the bus until we got to the airport!

We visited so many great places and did some amazing things throughout our time in New Zealand but if I had to narrow it down these would be my highlights;

Queenstown, Wanaka, Lake Tekapo, Bay of Islands, the Tamaki Maori Village overnight experience and of course, my skydive!

 

So there we have it, 16 buses down, 3 weeks and 6 days later and our New Zealand adventure is over! Our adventure now continues back in Australia where we will be travelling up the east coast from Sydney to Cairns. Bring on the warm weather and ditching my coat... I know you'll be glad to hear that mum! 

Until the next post,

Lots of love #chollyontour xxx