Day 120 - Kia Ora!

Hello from New Zealand!!

We've been here nearly 2 weeks already and our time is going far too fast! We were both sad to leave Sydney behind, but excited about the next part of our journey. We started in Christchurch, thankfully the day after the earthquake. There was a lot of damage to see, and it felt strange walking around the town where some buildings were fine and the one next door had completely gone. We also managed to avoid the flooding, which cut off part of the south island - luckily it receeded quickly so we have been able to get to all of the places we wanted to visit.

We decided to get around using a hop on/hop off backpackers bus which has been a great way to meet people. The first place we stayed at was Kaikoura, which is famous for dolphins, whales and albatross. We didn't spot any from the beach, but we did see a colony of seals which was great.

For new years we were at Abel Tasman national park, which was a fantastic way to see in the year. We stayed at a great backpackers right in the park, had a bbq and drinks with the people from the bus and then spent new years day kayaking and walking in the park. Definitley one of our favourite new years so far!

We then stopped in a couple of small west coast towns, where the population was under 100! We had a fancy dress party in the local pub, the theme was OAPs and John Robbins made a fetching granny! We also visted Lake Matheson (in the photo) although it was a rainy day so we didn't get quite the same view.

We have also been to Franz Josef, where we spent a day hiking on the glacier (complete with crampons!) which was an amazing day. We got to walk through the narrow crevasses and the ice caves - luckily we did not get stuck as the guides were telling stories of chipping away at the ice to get people out! For one person it took 1hr30mins - very cold place to be stuck!!

We're now in Queenstown, which has some of the best scenery so far. We're spending a couple of days here, and plan to do the luge run tomorrow. We watched someone from our trip do the original bungy jump, we had both just eaten lunch so there was no way we were jumping!!

We're off to Milford Sound next, which looks beautiful. Then it's on to the north island!

Hope you're not too cold at home and that the snow has now gone!

Lots of love, Louise and John xxx