It was Tuesday 21st September and we were on our way to Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island. We were told that it was okay to travel there after the 7.1 earthquake which took place on 4 September. To be honest, we were going to go even if we hadn't received any advice. During our coach journey we passed through many picturesque towns; Fairlie, Geraldine and Methven and then across the Canterbury Plains. Just as we entered Christchurch, we saw man...

We left Dunedin by Magic Bus on Monday 20 Sept at 08:20 heading for Lake Tekapo. We planned to spend just the one night there and how right we were. When we were told the main convenience store was the petrol station we knew the place would be small. On the way to Lake Tekapo we stopped off at Moeraki Boulders, which are huge rocks scattered across the seashore renowned for their spherical shape. Our 2nd stop was at Oamaru, a Victorian style village, just to go ...

It was Friday 17 September and we were on our way to Dunedin with only 4 of us on the Magic bus!! I can only think it was due to the weather as it was snowing very heavy. Before reaching Dunedin our coach stopped off in a small town called Alexandra so we could stretch our legs and have some breakfast. There really wasn't much in this town that's probably why we only had 30 minutes! We arrived in Dunedin which is the second largest city in the south island. Loo...

It was Sunday 12th September and we were on the Magic Bus on our way to Queenstown, the adventure capital of New Zealand. It is also the South Island's major ski resort town and renowned for clearing your wallet of cash faster than you can say "adrenalin rush". En-route our bus stopped at the Kawarau bridge where the bungy jumping pioneers, AJ Hackett and Henry van Ashe, first commercialised bungy jumps in 1988. This is now the smallest of the Queensto...

We left on the Magic Bus at 07:45 heading for Wanaka (argh...another early start). We stopped off at Lake Mathieson and did a circuit through the trees which should have taken 1hr 30 mins but we sped round in breakneck speed and did it in 1hr due to only having a 1 hour break before jumping back on the bus to Wanaka! We were so hot after the circuit of the lake that by the time we got back to the coach we hardy had any clothes on having peeled off layer after lay...