I had high expectations of Queenstown from what my friends who visited told me. I am pleased to say I was not disappointed. I'm glad I booked 5 nights here, if not a little sad I had not booked more. Unfortunately if I was going to see the rest of the South Island I had to limit my time here. I had a spectacular view as I landed on 19th November by plane. I stepped off the plane and was taken by surprise by yet another drop in temperature... 12 degrees and snow t...

Unfortunately I was unable to do the infamous tongariro crossing as it was cancelled due to bad weather. We managed to do the first two hours of the walk which I was happy with as I still got got to see the mountains and the nice scenery. So I had to say good bye to my favourite austrian friends as they were heading back up north as their travels were coming to an end after 6 months. It was strange without them as we'd had a lot of fun together. I hopped on the s...

In taupo we had a close call when we nearly missed the bus! We took a wrong turn with all our backpacks and had to make a sweaty run to just make the bus in time! We were sad to leave taupo as this was our favourite place in New Zealand yet. We were on our way to the middle of nowhere though which I was looking forward to! We arrived 2 hours later at whakahoro and were welcomed by a family who moved here 6 years ago. They created a business and home for themselve...

After a sleepy breakfast in lake aniwhenua we got on the bus on our way to lake taupo. On the way we stopped by some hot water pools at the bottom of a waterfall which we jumped in for a swim! It was like being in a bath, it was lovely :-) we then hopped on the bus for a short time before arriving at the Huka Falls. This was absolutely stunning. It's the picture you can see with me stood in front. The water was so blue and pure, it was amazing. After lots of phot...

A lunchtime departure from rotorua meant we were back on the road again but not for long. We headed to the rainbow mountains to pick up our local Maori guide. He explained to us the local history and culture. He started by taking us through the forests which are the biggest manmade forests in the world. Previously the locals were employed in the forest, cutting down trees etc, until it recently became commercialised. This had the knock on effect of the locals los...