SUN-FACE BURN WATCH

Stage 1 - Face turned red
Stage 2 - Face turned black
Stage 3 - Face started to peel like a rubber mask
Stage 4 - normal face returning, just in need of some Vitamin E (current stage)

We left Christchurch on a Thursday morning and boarded our bus bound for Franz Josef. The journey in total lasted about 6-7 hours as we drove through this varying and amazing country. We left the city in rain, struggled up the mountains with snow falling, crept through the misty forests and finally cruised down through the sunny countryside.

The journey took us through such amazing terrains adn scenery that it almost made the journey a better experience then the destination. We made a number of stops throughout the journey, including one of the smallest town in New Zealand with a population of 60 people, the place was full of wildlife and we saw a deer by the lake sipping on some water, the girls on the bus thought it was beautiful, but the only thing at that point i was thinking of was food and i ended up wondering what Deer tasted like!?

Once we did get to Franz Josef Nims and I were blown away by it. The town evolved around two small streets surrounded by forests and a number of big mountains covered with snowtops, whilst in the middle was the Franz Josef Glacier.

We found some good accomodation straight away and being the idiots that we are we spent the rest of our money in one of the two bars available. The next day we woke up early so that we can do the Glacier hike. We trekked up the mountain for about 6 hours, through cravasses, caves, rocks, ice and snow. The higher i got the more confident i got until the point where i was jumping off the cliffs and cracks in the mountians. At our highest peek we climbed 750 metres and walked 8 miles, but once you go up there it was an amazing view of the mountains, forests, waterfalls and lakes.

After the trek we went for a well deserved drink in the same bar, were we met loads of new people and drowned the night away. After three days we left the Glacier bound for a place called Makora, which was basically just a town with a motel, a cafe and a petrol station off the main highway. The only thing to do there was speed boating, which we did but was vastly diappointed with it, so after that was done we decided to take advantage of the quiet surroundings and go to sleep and get some rest.

Our next temporary destination was Wanaka, which was an amazing little town surrounded by mountains and lakes, after watching a few people jump out of a plane and a few other bungee jump off a bridge we went to our next destination,We planned to take loads of pictures of the bus journey, Franz Josef, Wanaka etc. but unfortunately Nims digital camera developed problems in Bondi Beach and finally went dead in Christchurch. The Sydney curse strikes again.

New Zealand is probably one of the best countries I have visited, the people are friendly, the secenery is amazing and the weather is great. The only problem with it is that it is working out much more expensive then i expected meaning i may not be able to do the skydive - which is frustrating but currently looking at ways to cut back other expenses including not eating out all the time, washing our own clothes and not going out drinking everyday (we were so proud when we went a whole day without drinking in Markora). The only other annoying thing about NZ is the damn sand flies. They keep biting me, i know look like i have a bad case of chiken pox.

We finally arrived to the party and adrenallin fuelled town of Queenstown on Saturday. It looks great so far, but once again expensive, we are trying to do as much activities as we can, but despite the expense and the damn flies it hasn't ruined my experience of NZ, because this place is just awesome - I don't think I want to leave.