Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, was our final stop on the north island. Situated right on the coast amongst mountains and hills, it is certainly one of the most beautiful cities in the country. A group of us, who had become very good friends, took a long, scenic walk up to the top of Mount Victoria. You get a complete 360 degree view of the city from the top and was made all the more spectacular because we went up there as evening turned to night and all the lights in the city were turning on. A fact many people will probably not know is that wellington has more clubs and bars than New York. It would have been rude not to have gone out really! We had a very good night, though slightly sad as it was our last night with those from the bus who had decided to stay an extra night in Wellington.
We departed the north island at 7 the next morning thinking 'could this get any better', only to discover a few hours later that it really could! As our short ferry journey across to the south island drew to a close, we passed through the Marlborough Sounds, a sort of entrance to the south island. We went up to the top deck in time to see the stunning mountainous surroundings. Dolphins were reportedly seen but alas, we saw none.
We got off the ferry in Picton, and had to go through the dreaded baggage collection, although with the nice knowledge that any lost bags would only be on the north island, not half way round the world. We got talking to some Danish girls, taking the amount of nationalities we have met to 16.
Our first stop that night was Nelson, the centre most point of New Zealand and the city which sees the most sunshine hours a year in New Zealand. Just to rub it in a little more, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
After a quiet time in Nelson, we moved on to a place called Westport. Along the way, we were taking to Buller Adventures, where there are various activities to chose from. We chose to do the jet boating. The boat we went in was the powerful jet boat in New Zealand, and we went up to speeds of 120kph with complete 360 turns! So awesome.
The next day we were off again. Our first stop of the day was to visit a seal colony at the end of a scenic walk. We couldn't see any at first because they blended into the rocks well - plus they are really lazy animals! They were kind enough to move for us today though and a few of them even gave us some good poses.
Next stop was to do some shopping for the fancy dress party the kiwi experience do at the overnight stop at Lake Mahinapua. The theme was 'what you want to be when you are older'. The hostel we stayed in was an isolated but nice place, with the party in the bar. The place was run by a funny, 84 year old man called les, who put on a cracking steak dinner for us. For the party. I did what I do best and went as an old man; beard, glasses, hat, the lot. However, without knowing at all what he looked like, I ended up looking like Les the pub owner! The resemblance was uncanny. I got a picture. Chris went as a dragon, making his costume from scratch with materials he had brought earlier. I thought he looked brilliant, someone else said he looked like a chicken. I'll let you decide when you see photos. It was a really good party and there were some great costumes including a couple of girls dressed up as fruit and a man with four arms. Sadly we did not win first prize for costumes which was 190 dollars worth of activities.......we were cheated.
We left the following morning for Franz Josef, where New Zealand's largest glacier is found. This part of New Zealand is where the scenery has gone beyond stunning. Not to far away from Franz Josef is Mount Cook. It is the largest mountain in the country and if you stand at the top of it, you would be able to see both the east and the west coast.
On the way to Franz Josef, we visited a place called the Bushman centre. This was run by a crazy, possum-killing man who gave us a talk and a tour on how the introduction of mammals such as the possum and deers into New Zealand led to environmental disasters around the country. He also showed us a video about how they used to catch deer, ideas such as jumping out of a helicopter onto the back of deer. They regard this style of hunting and New Zealand's last truly great adventure.
As we were only staying in Franz Josef the one night, we were unable to get up onto the glacier. I decided to go kayaking, whilst Chris relaxed in the free hot spas. The kayaking was on a big lake with loads of really tranquil creeks and little streams at the edges. It absolutely poured down for the 3 hours we were out there, and was really windy, but that just made it more fun and challenging as it created lots of waves in the lake and there was a strong current. The lake and its surroundings had an eerie and Jurassic park sort of really to it in the mist, and I really enjoyed the trip.
The evening was one for goodbyes. As we have quite a tight schedule in New Zealand, we had to cut down the recommended two day stay in Franz Josef down to one, meaning we were leaving behind the Swedish couple we had been travelling with since the beginning of New Zealand, and had become very good friends with. We will see them again in Queenstown for one night and hopefully see them in Australia. Another person we were saying goodbye to was our bus driver, Kane. Us and the Swedish couple were in a group of 6 of us who had been on Kane's bus since Auckland. Kane is a really great guy and we've had many a good chat and drink with him, all the while he has made our kiwi experience one to remember, supplying us with many catchphrases and facts about the country. He will be missed.