New Zealand South Island!

I arrived in New Zealand on the 12th February. As we landed into Christchurch it was about 11pm. The pilot decided to inform us of the temperature outside - 16 degrees! 16 DEGREES!!! I hadn't been in a country with 16 degrees for over 7 months, I was not looking forward to getting off the plane....

As I headed outside to get a shuttle bus I was absolutely freezing. I put my hoodie on and scarf and sat on the bus shivering. I was so cold, I had not prepared myself for this. The next day when I awoke in my hostel I was unsure of what to wear but it was really pleasant outside and shorts and t-shirt was sufficient to keep me warm. Again though, as soon as it hit around 5pm, it was chilly again and I needed to get changed. I have since discovered the days can be pleasantly warm, but as soon as the sun goes down it gets terribly chilly.

I spent 2 days in Christchurch before hopping onto the Stray Bus. I had decided to travel the country with a company called Stray - a hop on, hop off bus company. I spent the last 3 weeks with Stray and it was brilliant. I have made so many friends on the bus and we have stopped between towns at very cool spots which I would have missed had I been travelling on a public bus or in a car. As I have been to so many places since arriving, I could write forever on here. So instead, I will just give you a brief idea of where I went and what I did when I was there.

15/02/2010 First stop - Kaikoura.

This place rained and rained and rained. I was wearing a t-shirt, jumper, hoodie and rain coat and was still freezing. I really couldn't get used to the change in weather. I hadn't worn so many clothes in months. We arrived around lunch time so I had all afternoon to explore. Kiakoura is a very small town and the main attractions were swimming with dolphins and whale watching. Not to my surprise, very expensive activities. I like to settle for the 'free' activities and the main option on this front was doing the Peninsula Trek which is a 12km trek along the coastline up on the mountains. As the weather was so bad and most people have more money than me so were off doing more exciting things, I headed off on my own. The rain had stopped and I thought I would be able to quickly do the walk with no rain. But I was wrong. I got half way and it just threw it down with rain. I couldn't see out of my glasses, I was tired, I was grumpy, I was cold and I seriously wondered what was going through my mind when I decided this would be a good idea. On the up front, I did get to go through a seal colony and made friends with many fur seals. The scenery on top of the hill I am sure would have been nice had it not been for the weather. All in all, not a very successful day. I got back to the hostel shivering, aching and in need of a shower and sleep. I would recommended visiting this place when it is sunny as it is very beautiful, just not when raining.

16/02/2010 Picton

Picton is situated right on the top on the south island by the Marlborough Sounds. I loved it here. I thought the small town was very cute and had beautiful scenery. I spent my first day here doing another 12km trek along the coast line out towards the sea. It was so beautiful. When I got to the end I looked over the cliff and was lucky enough to see Sting Rays swimming along in the water. This was amazing to see. I tried to take some photos but they were just too far away. I was with 2 friends and we tried to climb down this cliff to get a closer look. It was quite slippery and scary but I made it. But then I was too close to the rays and the photos were even worse! Just couldn't win so headed back up. This took me ages as I had no grip on my shoes and kept slipping back down. Luckily my friends helped me return to the safety on the correct walking track. The next day I was all alone as the bus went on without me as it was full and I had to wait till the next day. This gave me a day to relax, catch up on laundry, yawn yawn yawn.

18/02/2010 Abel Tasman

I joined the next bus early on the 18th and hit it off straight away with a group of girls I was sat by. We arrived at Abel Tasman National Park around 6pm and I was shattered. I had an early night and was asleep by ten. I woke up at 7am to do a walk in the National Park. Most people were going sailing but my funds wouldn't allow it so I hit the track. I wanted to head off early so I could walk as long as I could and get to see more of the area. I ended up walking 25km's throughout the day and my body hurt so much by the time I got back to my accommodation, but it was so worth it. The area is absolutely stunning. Gorgeous little bays and beaches set upon gorgeous forestry. Was a perfect place and the sun was shining. I was so grateful I saved my money and went walking as the people who went sailing said it was so windy they were freezing! For the nights I spent here I camped in a tent with a girl I had made friends with called Alex. This was a very cheap and fun option! In the night I popped out to go to the toilet and the stars were amazing! As we were right out in an area with no big towns the sky was so clear and just covered in stars. I wished I could have taken a photo, was just so beautiful. I didn't spend long admiring it though as I was freezing and slightly scared in the dark!

20/02/2010 Barrytown

Good old Barrytown, Barry or Baz Vegas as it is commonly known as. This place was unreal. A very very very small village with a population of around 200 people, this place was the place to be! We stayed in accommodation at the local and only pub. The people here were very crazy and lived like stone age men. Well ok, not quite, but they were fairly close to being like them! We had a party night here where we had to dress up in plastic bags as the colours of our nations flags. This was a very entertaining night and some people went all out doing their best designs and fashion skills to represent their country! This was definitely a good bus team bonding night and if you didn't know someone's name, you at least knew where they were from and just called them 'Frenchy' or 'Swede'. Well of course, that is, as long as you know your flags. I, obviously, did not. But at least I knew who was English! We were also the ones who did the least effort! Shame on us.

22/02/2010 Franz Josef

Franz Josef, what a cool little place. We headed here after our night out in the big B, with red eyes and sore heads. Not much was done on night one as we didn't arrive till late but the next day everyone went ice trekking on the Franz Josef Glacier. I really wanted to join in the fun but I had heard some bad reviews from a trek guide I had met and it had slightly put me off. The price of the trek also made me cringe and I just knew it was way too expensive for my bank balance to cope with. So me and 2 other girls took the day to do lots of little walks around the glacier. We actually got to go to some amazing spots with fantastic views and even had a long walk right up to the bottom of the glacier. It was really interesting to see but did make me feel cold.

23/02/2010 Makarora

We stopped here between Franz Josef and Queenstown just for one night. I thought Barrytown was small, but this places was even smaller. I didn't know what the population was but when I asked, it appeared there were more tourists there than actual residents. We had the afternoon free so the only options really were to chill out in the accommodation or to go jet boating. I felt like doing something a bit more exciting than nothing so I went along. There were 9 of us in this jet boat and the guy sped us down the river at a very fast speed in water only inches deep. You could feel the stones under us as he would ride right up close to the banks and just miss obstacles in our way. It was meant to be a scary experience but I found myself wondering about what to cook for tea tonight. It was a nice way to see some of the scenery though. Very mountainous and areas where Lord of the Rings had been filmed. I have now seen so many places where Lord of the Rings was filmed, I should really sit down and watch the movie again.

24/02/2010 Queentown

I only spent a night in Queenstown as I knew I would be coming back so this night just involved going to a bar and then saying goodbye to a lot of my new friends as they would be heading in different directions from me from tomorrow. I knew I had to be up at 7am so I had a fairly early one ready for the next days excitement.

25/02/2010 Gunns Camp - Milford Sound

This was definitely one of the best days I have ever had. We travelled from Queenstown to Milford Sound. By now there was only me and 6 of my friends left plus some new people. The drive there is one of the most incredible drives in the world. The scenery is just breathtaking and all the photos I took really just do not do the place any justice. It truly is amazing. We were told how on average it rains here about 220 days a year. We were extremely lucky because it stayed dry for us all day. We took a boat cruse right into the sound and saw amazing waterfalls including the waterfall which Wolverine jumps out of at the end of the latest film! This was cool! Shame Hugh Jackman wasn't around today! We stayed in a place called Gunns Camp which is a unique stop just for Stray Bus travellers. We stayed in the old huts the workmen used to live in many years ago. This places was awesome. But FULL of sand flies. They were actually everywhere. You could see them just covering people! The places was so old and the electricity went off at 10.30pm and the water was heated but a tank on top of a fire. It was definitely an experience! I don't think I would have liked to have stayed more than one night though. We stayed in cabins which had little log fires and the kitchen we all shared was so basic it didn't really have many kitchen utensils and only a gas ring to cook food on. It was a brilliant day!

26/02/2010 Invercargill

We left Gunns Camp at 6am! Yes, 6am! Do you know how cold it is on a bus at 6am! It is freezing!!! We had to load our bags on the coach in the dark and board the bus with our tourches on our heads. It was so cold and the coach just wouldn't warm up. As soon as we got to a town we headed to a little coffee shop and all brought hot drinks to warm our bones up again with. We arrived at Invercargill early afternoon and as it was quite a big town with not so many attractions there we just decided to have a chill out day in the television room. I got some laundry done and we all had a nice night in chatting and eating crisps. How exciting this must sound to you all.

27/02/2010 Dunedin

Dunedin - Students Land! We arrived in Dunedin and had the worst ever receptionist check us all in. He was so old and rude. But... without boring you, there was a plus side. The backpacker dorms were full so for the same price we got to have twin rooms! Yeah! We had our own television, en suite and a fridge! How excited we all were! We decided to all have a night out but we soon discovered it was the first day of freshers week! The whole town was roaming with 18 year old students! It was dreadful. We ended up in a church that had been converted to a nightclub. I felt very old amongst these spotty teenagers! I grew tierd very quickly of the young guys trying to chat me up and decided that it was time to go home. I treated myself to a burger on the way home and was excited when I saw a fight kick off just because it reminded me of being back at home. Oh good old Devizes on a Saturday night, how I do miss it! We got home to hear about the earthquake that had happened in Chilli. We were warned there could be a tsunami to hit New Zealand. We woke the next morning and later found out that the beach in Dunedin had been closed and that we had in fact, had a tsunami that was about 50 cm high! You will be happy to hear - we were all ok!

28/02/2010 Queenstown

Back to Queenstown we went, and back to the rain and wind and coldness! What an exciting time I had here! On the 1st I did the Nevis Arc! It has only been open since around October and is the worlds highest swing! I can honestly say it was the most scariest thing I have ever done. It is a 300m arc, 120m high, with a 70m free fall. I did it with my friend Rhian. But Rhian weighed twice as much as me so we had to position that I was in front and she was behind me. As they strapped me in and I was hanging of the platform they realised the position they were going to put Rhian in wouldn't work. So I had to get back on the platform and stand on a teeny tiny plastic step and be strapped in differently. It was the scariest moment of my life. I was freeking out. It was so windy and I thought I was going to die. Check out my video on you tube to see what I am talking about - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQhTooj06u0
Afterwards I was relieved it was all over. It was amazing and good fun, but I wouldn't do it again!

02/03/2010 Twizel - Mount Cook

I left Queenstown at 7.30am and headed towards Twizel. After being on the coach for an hour the driver had a terrible confession to make. She had taken the wrong turning and had gone the wrong way right from back at Queenstown. So we had to turn round and ended up getting to Twizel 2 hours later than we should have. This was no problem for me as I was only going to have a chilled out day anyway. In the morning I got a shuttle bus at 8.45am to Mount Cook Village. I did the 'Hooker Valley' walk which was about 12km to the start of Mount Cook - New Zealands highest mountain. It was so gorgeous. The views and scenery were amazing. The weather though, was awful! On the way there it was raining and so windy I actually thought I was going to be blown away. I kept wondering if it is possible for wind to actually pick you up because there were a few times when I had to sit down and grab a rock because I actually couldn't walk properly. The way back though was a lot better. The sun came out and the winds died down a little. My time here in the South Island has been an amazing experience. I have loved every moment and have seen some gorgeous places. I would recommend this country to everyone. Sorry I have wrote so much, you can all wake up now, I have finished.

Missing everyone back at home. Hope everyone reading this is well and dandy. Will catch up again soon once I have more to write about.

Katie xxx