When I arrived in New Zealand I expected it to be just like Australia but colder? I mean they aren't that far away from each other - they speak kind of similar and they are always talked about as a pair in traveller circuits "Australia and New Zealand" because you rarely visit one and not the other on a round the world trip.

But I had completely underestimated the little country, I didn't realise when I landed on an icy evening in August that the next 6 weeks were going to be so action packed, so much of an adrenaline ride and I was going to find my place in a group of misfits travelling around on a big green bus …. This is part one of my Kiwi experience.

I landed in Christchurch after a pain free flight from Melbourne; it was chilly as I stepped off of the plane into the evening air. Christchurch has become famous over the past couple of years but not famous in a good way - it hit the news when an earth quake hit it. It caused major damage to the whole city centre and a year later most of the city centre was still cordoned off with houses, offices and even sturdy looking buildings like churches and police stations all deamed too structurally unsound to be walked past let alone used anymore. They say it will take at least 3 years for the city to recover, but what I did find in my short time there was that although structurally the city was damaged, the community within it was stronger than ever and I was welcomed in with open armed.

The Kiwi Experience is a hop on, hop off tour bus which does various routes around the two islands that make up New Zealand - during the summer it's packed with backpackers causing mayhem but I was there in the winter when the buses were half full and the people a lot more adventurous. My first stop on my Kiwi Experience was Kaikoura, a seaside village just up the east coast of the south Island. I arrived at night time after a long drive and so I spent the evening in this sleepy village with my new friend Jazz watching old films on vhs - VHS! Crazy or what?! And eating complementary biscuits provided by the lovely old lady who owned the hostel. It wasn't until the following morning that me and Jazz realised where we were, we were in Kaikoura and as soon as we woke and looked out of our window we realised how beautiful this place we found ourselves was.

Kaikoura has a bay which is known not for the water but what's in it - hundreds of dolphins can be seen when you swim in the water and I was lucky enough to see them that morning swimming past the bay, occasionally popping out of the water, the little ones jumping and playing with speed and ease - amazing. The other thing which makes kaikoura so beautiful is the snow-capped mountains which surround it, guarding the bay of dolphins and seals and protecting this special little fishing village.

As me and Jazz walked around in the cold morning air - nodding a fond hello to the local people as well as the local seal colony we both agreed that kaikoura may be small but there was a magical spirit to it and we could see why the Maoris had set up camp here so long ago. The bus picked us up early and we made our way to a larger seal colony outside of Kaikoura, the reason this seal colony was a great stop to make was because of the waterfall just up the hill, nestled in the trees where the baby seals are left during the day whilst their parents fish. The pups play in the water fall all day until their mums come back to get them, a crèche for seals and we had a great time watching them chase their tails and jump off of the rocks.

The seals weren't the only highlight of that day, me and Jazz also got to meet the other 25 people who would be touring with us on our big green bus - a funny group of mainly British nationality who piled onto the bus at the ferry port. To start off with I was a bit wary of this loud excitable group who already knew each other but by that evening we were already friends - especially after conquering the steep hill up to the "Centre of New Zealand" and then doing beer tasting together.

The following day when we set off to our next stop it was like I had been part of this group for weeks as we made our way through the windy mountains all snow-capped and icy breathed making brief stops at look out points and beautiful lakes where odd black swans with red eyes chased us and any number of jumping pics were taken.

The hostels that we stayed in were always a laugh, such as one we stayed in which had no ladders up to the top bunks so Kerry was seen running, jumping and clinging on for dear life each night, or the one which provided free dinner which always contained so much chillie no one could handle more than one bowl. New Zealand hostels are always consistent with one thing, their common rooms which are always warm, with comfy seats and plenty of movies to watch - perfect for a cold snowy night. In a hostel in Westport they had a huge living room with a log fire and plenty of couches / bean bags - everyone from the bus crowded in, snuggled up together and settled down to watch movies all night whilst the fire kept us all nice and toasty.

You might think that this blog sounds different to my others due to the lack of alcohol fuelled times but there is one simple reason for that - I was saving myself for Queenstown!! But the awesome highlight that was Queenstown will have to have a blog to its self J
Plus a lot of my time was spent doing activities, walking the coast line on a sunny day with the girls and finding the infamous distance post (shows you how far you are away from all the capitals in the world), going to the pancake rocks and seeing the waves create a blow of steam that forms a rainbow every 30 seconds and seeing the mirror lakes which portray the amazing scenery twice as it reflects perfectly off of the water.

One activity we did involved an early start, me and the girls booked to go to Milford Sound. Milford is not actually a sound apparently? Apparently it's actually a Fjord? I don't know but it's known for its beauty and its must see when visiting New Zealand. We all hopped on a bus and wound our way to Milford, the scenery on the way is breath taking! And the closer you get the ever more magical it all becomes! It's a very odd place, flat narrow stretches of land winding through menacing mountains all covered in snow and misty. At one point the bus was trapped and so had to go through a mountain, the tunnel was really long (possible the longest tunnel I have ever driven through) and completely pitch black! There is a crash in the tunnel every week as some parts are one lane as silly campervans get cocky. We made it through safely through but we emerged into a valley which was known for its avalanches?! Great! We were no longer worried about the bus getting trapped in the deadly tunnel but instead dodging 2 avalanches! It all made the bus trip more interesting though and we were all captivated as our driver told us stories of why Milford Sound is so famous. Milford is sat in the valley of a thousand water falls! I think we were there on a dry day because we only say a few hundred but it's still kind of cool to drive through. The boat ride into the sound was fun, simply down to the fact Kerry had me laughing for most of it as we stood on the top deck freezing her arse off looking like a penguin combined with Kevin (from Kevin and Perry). We all enjoyed seeing Milford Sound, getting followed by Kea birds, going on possibly the most dangerous road in New Zealand and seeing it all with a fab group of girls.

Of course we did make the odd stop which was less of an activity and more of an odd experience. Such as our stop at the Bushman's café "as seen on TV", this café is renowned for its owner who says his mind about all things Bushman and he has created a small museum in the back to help you understand his perspective. The first thing which happens when you enter the museum is that you sit down and watch a movie, aptly called "Bambi was a terrorist" which shows you how the Kiwi's use helicopters to capture deer. It was really gross at times but really interesting to see how the locals conquer the mountainous terrain. Then after the movie you walk around a small room full of stuffed animals?! As well as a couple of live ones, such as a little black possum who decided to bite anyone who got too close to his cage. It wasn't just the animals you had to beware of, it was also the booby traps placed around the room, things which jump out on you, squirt you with water and the occasional trap door.

The best part about this café apart from the foul smelling possum pies they were selling was the letters on display - the complaint letters sent in regarding the owner's views on animal slaughter etc. All of the letters were laminated and alongside was his response which was hilarious - many said things such as "I think you should be more concerned with your own frame of mind rather than mine you idiot - you're obviously a boring little man with nothing better to do than write stupid letters to people who don't care." The letters were so good and complimented the delicious hang over breakfast we ate in the café perfectly.

But this was just a funny 30 minute stop on another day in New Zealand - I also experienced full days of entertainment such as when I went trekking but not in a jungle or up a sand dune, nope just to round off my trekking experience on my trip - this time I would spend a whole day trekking through a glacier, a real life, solid ice, freezing cold, million years old, GLACIER!! Woo hoo

But that's story along with a few others will be in part 2 - the kiwi experience does Ice.