Queenstown Queenstown is one of the nicest places I have been. It is a small town surrounded by snowy mountains, and has a great atmosphere; everyone is really friendly and always having lots of fun. The first night we got there we met the others from the stray bus and had a night out at Winnies bar which conveniently had 2 for one on drinks! It was really nice to get everyone together again. We also stopped for a famous Ferg Burger which was amazing, but s...

Wanaka Wanaka is not even a stop on the Stray bus, but after spending 5 minutes there you instantly ask yourself why. It is one of the prettiest places I have ever seen. We got off here and stayed for 2 nights and it was so worth it! We spent the first night all cooking a roast dinner in the hostel which was so luxurious for backpackers, everyone in the kitchen hated us with envy! We then went to the cinema which was really cool because it's a room of sofas, w...

Franz Joseph Franz Joseph was amazing! Despite hiking on the Fox Glacier in the rain, it was one of the highlights of the trip! None of us could get over just how vast the glacier was and as we hiked all day long, despite being so tired and cold, everyone was in disbelief! The photos do not do it justice; one only wishes it had been blue skies because the day would have been made perfect! We climbed up ladders, pulled ourselves up the ice with ropes and crawle...

Barrytown On the way to Barrytown we went wine tasting at Hunters Vineyards which was really cool, before heading to see the most amazing sunsets over the pancakes rocks (literally rocks that looked like stacked pancakes). We then headed to Barrytown which is literally a pub. We stayed here for a night out which involved fancy dress and it was one of the funniest nights I've had since being away. I dressed as a fairy and all the lads went as women, which was s...

Abel Tasman The journey to Abel Tasman was so long, starting with an early, rough crossing to the South Island followed by a long drive. We had a brand new bus who we ended up staying with for the entire South Island, it was another really nice group of people. We arrived in the dark, lit a fire and all sat under the stars getting to know everyone. The next day I woke up really early and went Kayaking for an entire day. We had an ex-army guy leading us which w...