Cant believe this is my first blog from NZ, feels like we have been here about 3 months but its only been a week and a half!

We started off in christchurch which is a very english town, i felt like i was walking around somewhere like cambridge. Quite a pretty place, has a nice river to walk along and nice gardens but other than that there isnt much going on. We spent 3 days there as all the kiwi experience buses were full when we wanted to leave. Had a couple of good nights out there, including a pub crawl where i got a WKD hat and we got to go on a rodeo bull, quite random!Also had to go and buy some warm clothes as its pretty cold here!I knew it would be cold but wasnt quite prepared clothes wise for it to be this cold!

Next stop was Kaikoura, a lovely little place surrounded by mountains on one side and a couple of nice bays on the other, got some good views from a lookout point. Wanted to swim with dolphins here but it got cancelled due to bad weather. Luckily we have to call through again so fingers crossed for next time. We saw a load of seals playing at the bottom of a waterfall which was cool.

We then headed to Nelson where we did a day trip out to the Abel Tasman national park. We got a boat trip along the coast, gorgeous views. Saw some seals splashing around in the water and also had a dolphin swim along behind the boat, amazing. Went for a 3 and half hour walk along a coastal track, really cool views but quite tiring as it was a little bit hilly at times!Had a roast dinner at the hostel which was lovely!

Next stop on the bus was westport, a very small town and bascially just somewhere to go out and sleep, nothing much to do around here!Best thing about this part of the trip was the drive through the mountains, along amazing roads, winding through the hillside and along a gorge. Stunning views every day in this country, officially the most beautiful place i have ever been to.

Next day we stopped at lots of places along the west coast and did a few walks and saw some cool rocks and things. Eventually ended up in the middle of nowhere at this pub that is called the poo pub. Kiwi ex stop here for the night for a big fancy dress party. The place is owned by an 83 year old called les, who was hilarious. The theme for the party was anything beginning withe the letter p, so i went as a playboy bunny and alex went as a picnic!Check the photos out. Some people put in so much effort, there were pilots, pirates, polos, pikies, puppets, pest control, painters, and the best were the punks who actually shaved their heads for it!Really got to know everyone on our bus as this part of the journey you stay together for about a week so get to make some friends for longer than a few days!

Yesterday we then drove to franz josef, a tiny place that exists purely beacuse of the glacier that is here. Was really worried that we wouldnt get to do the hike as it has basically been raining non stop for the last 3 days and all the walks yesterday got cancelled. But although all the full day hikes were cancelled luckily we managed to do a half day hike instead. Really cool walking on the glacier and through a hole in the ice but it was freezing, it rained all day and we had to wade through some rivers to get there so all our boots were soaking. We seem to have had so much bad luck with getting soaked!But it was brilliant and after a shower i feel warm again!I didnt get any photos of this as my hands were too numb and i didnt want to get my camera wet but alex has managed to take some so they will be on facebook so mum get andrew to show you at some point.

There was a power cut here last night and we were without power all night. Everyone was cooking in the dark and wandering around with candles, quite bizarre. So used to power coming back on quickly in england but it took about 8 hours here as we are in the middle of nowhere!

Off to lake wanaka tomorrow and then into queenstown where i think we are staying for about a week and are likely to spend a fortune on all the crazy activities you can do there!

xxx