My month in New Zealand has absolutely flown by. Can't believe I'm getting ready to fly off to Singapore in 2 days time and I haven't even had time to write anything down about new Zealand yet.

I flew into Queenstown on a beautiful day with blue sky and sunshine. Didn't stop it from still being pretty damn cold, especially compared to Australia! The flight into Queenstown is quite dramatic as you have to fly between the mountains and then you can see the runway up ahead with a lake at one end and a vertical cliff face at the other. Your mind gets to thinking that the runway looks very short and that the plane you're on is pretty big! But we landed very smoothly and I was soon unpacked in my hostel and set out for an explore. The town really is beautiful, tucked between the mountains and the lake. It has a very alpine ski village feel to it aswell which is nice. I went for a wonder around the botanic gardens down to the lake but got pretty cold so ran back to the fire in the hostel! Went out and sampled some of the famous Queenstown nightlife that night and it didn't disappoint. Cocktails served in teapots for anyone? Next day treated my self to a lie in, and then walked to the top of Queenstown Hill for some amazing views of the town.

On Monday I left for Christchurch on the Stray bus. On the way we stopped for look at Lake Tekapo where the Church of the Good Shepard stands. There's also a view of Mount Cook across the lake. Arrived quite late in Christchurch so went and did some food shopping. Fun! Next day I went for a wander around the town. Came to the conclusion that it's pretty boring! They have a lovely Art Gallery and beautiful botanic gardens, but otherwise I couldn't find much to get excited about.

The it was back on the bus to head up to Kaikoura which is famous for its marine life. But all the dolphin swimming and whale watching was booked up so I went for a long walk along the peninsula instead. Once again, amazing scenery and beautiful views. That night we went to an incredibly cute pub and won a pub quiz with a $50 bar tab. It was a good night! Then we travelled up to Picton to catch the ferry across to Wellington. Unfortunately arrived too late in Wellington to see any of it and we left early the next morning to head to Auckland.

What to say about Auckland? Well, in my opinion, and I'm not alone in this, it's rubbish! For the size of city there just seems to be nothing going on! Having said this I did manage to entertain myself for a couple of days by visiting the National Maritime Museum and catching the ferry over to Devenport, one of the suburbs. I thought the museum was really good and recommend it if you're ever stuck in Auckland!

After a few days in Auckland it was onto Hahei which is where Cathedral Cove is. On the way we stopped in a town called Thames as apparently the river looks like the Thames. It doesn't. To get to Hahei from there you travel through the Coromandels National Park which is a really stunning area. Hahei is just a tiny seaside town which I'm sure must get pretty busy in summer. We walked out to Cathedral Cove and then I realised I'd forgotten my camera which is why I have no pictures of it! Very pretty though. That night we had a great kiwi BBQ with fresh mussels, yum yum.

On Wednesday we headed to Raglan which is a surfing town really. Reminded me of what Byron Bay must have been like before EVERYONE started going there. The hostel was really cool, tucked up in rainforest overlooking the beach. I attempted to go surfing and just got dumped on and lost a contact lens. All good fun though. Off again the next morning back across the peninsula to Waitomo, famous for its glow worm caves. I chose the sedate 'Spellbound' trip which involved floating in a boat in the pitch black in one of the caves looking at the glow worms. Was quite an eery experience really. We also saw these incredibly usgly bugs called wetters or something like that, similar to giant crickets. Yuck! That night we stayed in a traditional Maori meeting house. A group of children put on a cultural show for us and then the boys were taken off to be taught the Haka and the girls were taught a poi dance. A poi is just a soft ball on the end of a string and it's surprisingly difficult to swing right and catch!

Next day it was off to Taupo. On the way we stopped in Rotorua, which stinks of rotten eggs! Some of us headed off to the Polynesian Spa to soak in the hot pools there which was a very relaxing way to spend the afternoon. When we got to Taupo it was absolutely pouring with rain so there wasn't much to do except chill out in the hostel. We were allowed a bit of a lie in the next day before we headed off to National Park. This was when we were supposed to able to do the Tongariro Crossing, one of NZ's best day hikes, but because of snow and poor visibility the trail had been shut. Instead we did a shorted 3 hour hike out to the Taranaki Falls. In the background we could see the moutain they used as Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings. Was really like walking through Middle Earth! Stayed in a really cosy hostel that night with big wood burning stoves.

The next day it was back down to Wellington. We had a brief stop for a gumboot throwing contest and to take a picture of the giant gumboot (as you do!). In Wellington I went and had a brief look around the national museum, Te Papa. The museum was huge and really well put together, wish I'd had more time to explore it. The evening was a bit of a disaster as I managed to burn my hand on the stove and went to bed early with a load of very strong pain killers inside me!

Now it was time to leave the north island and head back across to the south island. Our first stop was Abel Tasman National Park. I think this is one of the most beautiful places we stopped and went walking. As it's a coastal park we hiked out for 3 hours and then took a sailing boat back along the coast. The scenery was just stunning. From there we travelled onto a place called Barrytown stopping for a couple fo strolls along the way, including pancake rocks and the blowholes. Barrytown is in the middle of nowhere and has about 3 houses. But what it does have is a pub with loads of dressing up boxes and cheap drinks. The rule is the boys have to wear drag. One of the most entertaining nights in NZ! Next morning I somehow got up to go bone carving. I made a traditional Mauri style pendadant which is supposed to represent new beginnings and change. That night we arrived at the Franz Josef glacier and all got an early night ready for the glacier hike the next day.

The glacier hike was fantastic! Definitely one of the best things I've done in New Zealand. It starts out with an easy walk to the face of the glacier through the rainforest. There you put on your crampons and get split up into groups of about 10. Then things get a bit harder as you have to walk up ice steps cut into the face of the glacier and this goes on for about an hour or something! Once on the 'flat' you get to start exploring properly. Our guide took us to an ice cave and then squeezing through crevasses. The first crevass we went through was really really narrow. I was the first to go and was convinced I'd got myself stuck within about the first 30 cm, had to get the guide back to talk me through, how embarrassing! The whole thing lasted about 8 hours so everyone was pretty tired by the time we were back at the hostel. Lucklily they had a huge hot tub for us all to soak in for an hour or so.

Next morning we were off again to a place called Makarora. On the way we passed the Fox glacier and also had a stroll down to the Blue Pools. Makaraora was an even smaller place than Barrytown, though the once thing it did have was karaoke. I'll leave you to imagine the rest of the night! After this it was back on the bus to Queenstown. We stopped in Wanaka which is like a smaller version of Queenstown and dropped a load of people off there. We also stopped at the A J Hackett bungy jump, which I did not do! Just watching other people made me feel ill! We all had a bit of a party in Queenstown that night to say goodbye to our driver, Apple, who we'd had since Auckland.

Far too early the next morning we were on the bus again to head off to Milford Sound. We all just slept and nursed our hangovers for the first couple of hours. After the sun eventually came up we could see how amazing the scenery was. The whole area is called Fjordland and, rather unsurprisingly, reminds me alot of Norway. Along the way we stopped for a couple of short strolls including the Mirror Lakes, and k*** Flats where they filmed the last battle scene in Lord of the Rings. The road to Milford is very twisty and turny going right up into the mountains. It then goes through a tunnel called the Homer Tunnel which was built as a works project during the depression and cost quite alot of lives in construction. During winter time the whole area around there is a no-stopping area due to the avalanche risk. Milford Sound itself is very impressive, with big waterfalls tumbling down the fjord's sides. We saw a pod of dolphins on the way out and they followed the boat along for quite a while. I was surprised how big the fjord was as it took 2 hours for the boat to get to the other end and then back again. That night we stayed in the middle of nowhere again in a place called Tuatapere, apparently famous for its sausages.

Another early start again, this time to head to Invercargill and drop off people who were going at the Stewart Island ferry. Invercargill itself is not a particularly special place. They have a OK museum and some pretty botanic gardens, but that seems about it. Having said that, the gardens did have a small farm and I saw the ugliest pig I have ever seen in my life, so there was some excitement! A couple of hours in Invercargill was more than enough so we headed off towards Curio Bay, travelling through an area called the Catlins. This area's pretty bleak and gets hit by pretty strong coastal winds so that all the trees lean in one direction. Near Curio Bay we stopped to try and see some sealions. We wandered around for 15 minutes or so without any luck so we gave up and got back on the bus. As we were driving back to the main road I spotted one lying in the grass by the road. As we tried to drive past the stupid thing decided to move in front of the bus and stay there, and none of us were going to try and shift a sealion! But eventually it shifted and we were able to get to Curio Bay.

Curio Bay is another in the middle of nowhere place. What it does have in its favour though is marine life, including a penguin colony who become active at dusk and dawn. We spent a good half hour that evening watching the penguins before it got too cold to stay out any longer. The next day was basically an express trip back to Queenstown, which is where I still am now.

I think New Zealand is a fantastic country and I'm only sorry that I'm not here longer to go skiing! On Saturday it's off to Singapore for some warmer weather and sunshine. Yay!