I flew into Christchurch from Sydney and had 2nts there before beginning the Kiwi Experience. I had a day wandering around the city checking out the sights! It seemed a nice city, but was glad to move on and start the Kiwi Exp and meet some more people. From there we headed down the West coast to Kaikoura. In the afternoon there I went whale watching...this was a bit disappointing as I only got to see one whale, whereas people on previous trips i'd spoken to had seen at least 5....the boat was so rough aswell, so it wasn't the highlight of my trip! I continued down the coast to Nelson. Unfortunately I had only 1nt here due to lack of time, so I didn't get to go to Abel Tasman National park from there, which is supposed to be lovely. We did get to go to Nelson Lakes National Park though which was good. Our last stop before Franz Josef was Lake Mahinapua where we stayed at the "poo pub", which was in the middle of nowhere. This is where we had a fancy dress party - the theme being something beginning with "p". We got to stop off at Greymouth for about 1/2 hour in order to get something for the party...this is quite hard when you're strapped for cash and pushed for time! I ended up buying a garden stick and going as a pole dancer! It was such a funny night!