23rd January 2011 So, last night was our...err...last night in Queenstown. It's a shame to be leaving as I love the place so much. Definitely my favourite place in NZ so far. We went out to the pub but I wasn't really feeling it so we left quite early, which worked out well as we had to be on the bus at 8am. We had a new guy in our room last night as Nina had checked out to go to Base as Stray had given her a free night there. The new guy works at the hostel a ...

20th January 2011 Today we left Makarora at 9.30am and headed towards Queenstown. On the way, we stopped in Wanaka at a place called Puzzleworld which is full of optical illusions and a giant labyrinth which was GREAT fun. There was a room that made me feel sea sick as it was all sideways so I couldn't stay in there for very long! Very interesting place and I got a squashed penny for my collection :o) Just outside Queenstown, we stopped at Kaiwoura (sp?) Bridge...

19th January 2011 We left Franz Josef for Makarora at about 6.30pm and got there at about 9.45pm so we made pretty good time. We stayed at a cool place with 10 bed cabins that looked like tents! It was really nice. There was karaoke in the bar but we were all so tired that we just went to bed. And that was Makarora! x

17th January 2011 We arrived in Franz Josef in the late afternoon after having left Barrytown at about 12.45. We are staying at a nice place called the Rainforest Motel which has a free hot tub and $12 meal deal (not that I did that - even though they had spag bol). I am sharing a dorm with Jon, Nina, Jeanette and Isi. The rooms are nice and clean and a decent size with french windows. Tonight they had a competition in the bar at the hostel to win some bungy ju...

16th/17th January 2011 yesterday we headed to Barrytown but stopped off at Panakaiki or 'Pancake Rocks' as the rocks look like...yep, you guessed it - pancakes. It was pretty amazing to see. It was caused by layers of hard and soft rocks being eroded over thousands of years and the soft rocks eroding faster leaving them uneven. In the shop I found that they sold possum skin/fur. Nice. Then we headed on to Barrytown. Small place with nothing going on but we were...