Day 7 Queenstown-Christchurch-WellingtonI left Queenstown on Saturday morning and flew to Christchurch where I stayed the day. Christchurch was a very 'english' town, but was full of character. There were huge outdoor markets and street entertainers everywhere plus the sun was shining so it was easy to spend 8 hours just walking around! I left Christchurch airport that evening and got back to Wellington. I left Chritchurch in a T-Shirt with temp...

Day 5 Queenstown-Milford Sound-QueenstownWe left early again to do a 12 hour round trip to Milford Sound. Milford sound is heralded as being the must see attraction of NZ, famous for it's 3 day hike the Milford track. Unfortunately I didn't have time to do this and went on a trip that would get us back to Queenstown that night. We drove though some spectacular mountain scenary again, seeing avalanches happen before our e...

Day 4  Franz Josef Glacier-QueenstownThe next morning was the last leg of our trip and the longest one at that, to Queenstown. Again we stopped along the way taking in the spectacular scenery that was around us, brilliant blue skies and the snow topped southern alps. In the middle of nowhere we reached our breakfast stop, a beautiful mirror lake. I thought that this was the most beautiful place I had seen in NZ so far, although I found th...

Day 3 Greymouth-Franz Josef GlacierThe following day I caught the right bus that left at 7.30am heading for the Glaciers. We stopped in a little town famous for it's Greenstone and watched them making jewellery while having some breakfast. Another hour up the road we stopped at Ross which is a gold mining town and we panned for gold. No substantial sized nuggets in my pan though. Ross was a very small village with a large supply of gold be...

Day 2 Nelson-GreymouthI got up early the next day to get the bus but managed to miss it as I was waiting round the wrong side of the hostel! However, all was not lost I went to the bus station and got on a shuttle to the first destination they were heading for, Greymouth. I actually arrived in Greymouth before the magic bus so I booked into a hostel with a spa and free tea and coffee and went on a little walk to get some panoramic views of the town. Lat...