18 Jan. Interislander ferry from Wellington to Picton across Cook Strait. (Cook Strait connects the Tasmin Sea with the Pacific Ocean) Luckily we had good weather after hearing horror stories of previous crossings. Cook Strait is part of Marlborough Sound and the scenery was stunning and we even got to see dolphins swimming and playing along the way. We were picked up at the ferry terminal and drove towards Nelson. Along the way we stopped off at a winery where we had a wine tasting session from a little boutique winery. Nelson Is renowned for its wine as is the west coast NZ. We arrived in Nelson at midday and stayed in a fantastic hostel (paradisso) where it had a pool and sauna and Jacuzzi and free soup and brekkie! Nelson is known as the sunshine capital as it officially receives the most hours of sunshine in NZ and it didn't disappoint. I spent the evening at the pool working on my rapidly fading tan! 19 Jan: Today we made our way to Greymouth passing amazing scenery along the way. First stop was Cape Foulwind where we visited a fur seal colony. Next we travelled down the coast road - one of the most beautiful drives I have ever been on. Apparently it resembles the Ocean road in Aus. We stopped at Paparoa National Park to view the famous Punakaiki Pancake Rocks. The rock formations were amazing with water coming up through the blowholes and the scenery was equally spectacular. Greymouth itself is pretty uneventful but is the home of the Monteiths brewery which produces New Zealand Beer and cider. I did a tour of the brewery that evening where we saw how the beer and cider was made as well as getting to sample all the produce. As I don't drink Beer I was very familiar with the cider by the end of the night! We even got to pull our own glasses of cider/beer and then had half an hour to ourselves where we had control of the bar to drink as much as we wanted!! We had dinner in the local hotel where our driver Soap (yes that was his name!!) made us enter the bar imitating an animal. We pretended to be a caterpillar!! Dinner wsa great. The drinking games following dinner was even better! Soap broke us up into two groups and we competed against each other . These games included big Chris and little Alisha having to swap clothes. This was funny in itself. It was funnier when Chris took off his shorts to reveal he was not wearing any underwear! Although our team lost all the challenges it was a great night! 20 Jan: Journey to Franz Joseph where we first stopped off in Hokitika which is famous for its pounamu. Pounamu is the Maori word for jade or green stone and nearly every kiwi has a piece of this stone which they believe brings them good luck. We went to a pounamu factory where we could watch the local craftsmen working with this stone. Next up was the tiny one street town of Ross. Ross was at one time one of the largest cities in NZ with 18,000 inhabitants, numerous hotels, a casino and specially imported "entertainment" girls from Australia. Why? - Ross was the largest gold mining town in NZ. Gold can still be found in NZ and a kayak instructor recently found a gold nugget on one of his tours which he eventually sold for $150k! Our next stop was at Bushman Petes, one of the most interesting stops on our Magic bus ride. Bushman Pete is New Zealands answer to Crocodile Dundee! He is in his 60's, grey beard, wirey hair which has never seen a brush and wears the shortest of shorts along with hiking boots. He was a typical NZ farmer and has opened a museum displaying the unique deer farming ways in which he partook. Deer were too plentiful on the hills and mountains of NZ and were destroying the other wildlife. The government requested that the deer be culled. Pete became a deer hunter using many ways to catch the deer, the easiest being shooting the deer from a helicopter. From this culling the venison market was born. The venison market became so popular that the levels of deer dropped dramatically and the hunters could not keep up with demand. A new phenomenon was born. The deer hunters would try and catch the animals alive and transport them to deer farms where they could be managed. This involved shooting a net over the deer from a helicopter and then having eh deer hunter jump from the helicopter and wrestle the deer to the ground where they then transported the deer to the farm. Amazing stuff! We arrived in franz joseph at midday, a small town built around the tourism from the glacier. I opted to do the full day glacier hike the following day so that evening I went to the local hot pools which were lovely and relaxing. I then cooked nachos and chicken fajitas for the guys who had come back from the half day hike. Very relaxing evening. 21 jan: Full day hike of the Franz Joseph glacier. The glacier was not what I expected and parts of it was dirty and full of gravel and stones from recent landslides and avalanches from the surrounding mountains. But the experience itself was amazing seeing eh different ice formations, using crampons on the ice, climbing through ice caves, using ropes to climb up and down ice sculptures, using ice picks to carve out steps in the ice to walk on as well as sliding down natural slides and ice water "rivers". Great day. 22 Jan: First stop was Fox Glacier, another town on the west coast of NZ with a glacier where it is possible to hike. Fox Glacier is also home to Lake Matheson or "the mirror lake" - a very picturesque lake showing the reflections of the Southern Alps. Next we stopped at Gates of Haast - a valley lined with huge boulders, spectacular. In Makarora we took the blue pools river walk where again we saw some spectacular scenery including the famous blue pools. We passed both Lake Hawea and Lake Wanaka before arriving at Wanaka, home of Puzzling World and Cinema Paradiso. Wanaka is a very pretty town situated on Lake Wanaka. Myself and Zelda took a walk around town, had dinner and a few drinks before heading to the cinema to watch Sionnes 2. The cinema really was cool, with seats ranging from a convertible Beatle car to lazy boys, to your grandmas couch. There was an interval where freshly baked cookies and homemade ice cream was available. Cool!! 23 Jan: Queenstown!! Our first stop from Wanaka was the Kawarau Bridge, the birthplace of bungee jumping as invented by AJ Hackett. We saw a video of the history of the company and how the idea of bungee jumping came about and we also had a change to do a bungee jump, which I swiftly declined! Next stop was the very picturesque Victorian town of Arrowtown in the lakes district. The town was beautiful with old buildings and walks. Last stop before Queenstown was Arthur's point on the Shotover River where the shotover jet and the white water rafting take place. Later that night after meeting up with the old Irish crew we headed for a ferg burger (amazing!!) and into Altitude bar where there was karaoke, free drinks and lots of prizes. Me and Louise got up and performed a bon Jovi number as did many of the magic crew. Was a great night! 24 Jan: My first lie in in months!! Spent the sunny day in Queenstown gardens and on the beach relaxing before heading for more dinner and drinks. 25 Jan: Trip to Milford Sound. It really was one of the most spectacular journeys I have ever taken. Every time I turned my head out the bus window there was a new more spectacular mountain or lake or waterfall or river or valley or glacier or volcano. We travelled to TeAnau before entering Fiordland National Park where we saw numerous glaciers. Upon arriving in Milford Sound we took a two hour cruise on the Sound passing waterfalls, hanging valleys, mountains and seals. We were very lucky we had a sunny day and with free unlimited tea on the cruise I couldn't have asked for a better or more spectacular journey. That night a large group of the magic bus went on "the big night out" bar crawl, six free shots and six different pubs. Before starting the crawl, myself and Louise headed to World Bar to sample the teapots (yes cocktails were served in teapots!!) and listen to some live music. The pub crawl was good fun and a great way to meet lots of people. Lots of dancing, singing, dancing on tables, smooching and stripping (see pics of Scot dancing to the song "girl look at that body!!"). Good fun. 26 Jan: Hiked the Tiki trail up to the top of the mountain where the Skyline Gondola is situated where there were spectacular views of the city. (I know I've said spectacular one hundred times throughout this blog but there is no other way to describe the scenery!) Got back home just before it started to rain and snow! Myself Louise Kevin Chris Hollie and Lyndsey all went out for an Indian meal that night to celebrate Chris 27th birthday. Happy birthday Chris and goodbye to Queenstown. 27 Jan: After the excitement of Queenstown life slows down as we drive along the gold mining trail in central Ontago and make our way to the Edinburgh of the South - Dunedin. Dunedin is a small city full of Victorian colonial buildings. One of the main attractions in Dunedin is the Cadburys chocolate factory where we get samples of the chocolate. I still think the Cadburys chocolate is better at home! 28 Jan: I managed to sort out a family farm homestay located outside Herbert, in the middle of nowhere! However was one of my best experiences in New Zealand. We left Dunedin after climbing up the official Guinness book of records steepest street in the world and made our way to the Moeraki Boulders, huge sphere shaped rocked located at a fantastic beach. I was then dropped off at Herbert where John picked me up to start my farmstay. We drove right into the farming valley and arrived at John and Ann McKays fantastic home. My room was huge with a big double bed and a double glass door leading out into the extensive garden. When you consider that I had spent the last four months in 12 bed dorms, with snoring smelly boys, you will appreciate my delight! Tea (in the daytime teapot!) and home cooked biscuits were offered in the garden where I had a lovely chat with Ann and John. The garden was spread over at least three acres, with walk ways through the various flowerbeds. Beautiful. After afternoon tea I went and got ready for my work on the farm. Myself and John rode the quadbike through the fields and valleys, over dirt tracks and through rivers to the paddock where 500 sheep were currently grazing. Our aim was to move the sheep from one paddock to another. I jumped off the bike and directed the sheep, "shooing" and "huhing" them in the right direction as John rode the quad around the herd to round them up! I jumped on and off the quad as required to move the sheep, sitting backwards on the back with my legs dangling over the edge. Eventually we managed to move all 500 sheep without losing any of them in the bush! John then took me for a walk through the native bush located on their land and described the native trees and plants growing therein. I walked back up through the fields and we fed the alpacas. I felt I deserved a break after my hard days work so I took myself down to the secluded river located on their land and spent the next few hours swimming, sunbathing and reading. Dinner was being served at 7.30pm so before dinner I had a lovely bubble Jacuzzi bath accompanied by my book. It was divine! Dinner was a very civilised affair with specific seating arrangements, proper cutlery and tableware. I will admit I had to try and remember my table manners after so long on two minute noodles! Another English couple joined me, John and Ann for a home-cooked dinner of broccoli soup (broccoli from the garden of course!), beef stew with freshly grown potatoes, and a strawberry cheesecake. All this was accompanied by New Zealand Riesling and Sauvion blanc wine. After dinner we retired to the living area for tea (this time in the fancy teapot!). We chatted all night and had a fantastic time. I also had the best sleep in a long time!! 29 Jan: Breakfast included a selection of fruits from Anns garden including cherry plums and apricots along with a cooked farm breakfast. A lovely end to a lovely stay in a beautiful home with fantastic hosts. John dropped me to the magic bus where we made our way into Oamaru another Victorian style town. From there we made our way to Kurow, the hometown of the All Black rugby captain Richie McCaw before stopping for some amazing photos of New Zealands largest mountain, Mount Cooke. Our stop for the night was lake Tekapo and I had time to hike Mount John before our last meal together - a BBQ cooked by our lovely Magic Driver. The views from Mount John were stunning, with views of the lake as well as the surrounding mountains including Mount Cook. My last night in New Zealand was perfect, lovely food, wine and company surrounded by spectacular scenery. 30 Jan: We travel through the Canterbury Plains on our way to Christchurch stopping off at the CookieTime factory for some amazing cookies!! I had the full day in Christchurch before flying out that night so had plenty of time to see the city. The whole mood around the city was very sad. The entire city centre is closed off to the public and reminders of the September 2010 and Feb 2011 earthquakes as well as the aftershocks surround the city. Every local I spoke to mentioned the earthquakes at some point, describing their own personal horror. Empty buildings, ruins of old Victorian stone buildings, vacant lots where buildings once stood, pictures of former buildings facing now vacant lots, buildings with restriction notices taped outside scatter the parts of the city where the public are allowed to venture. The "main attractions" as I was informed by the local tourist information include the park, botanic garden and Canterbury museum, the only attractions not affected by the earthquakes given their distance from the city centre. The botanic gardens are very pretty and the museum interesting with a very good display on wearable art. A new shopping centre and district has been created, with the "buildings" made out of containers. While sad, it is quite artistic and was the only area of the city where I found any sort of life or atmosphere. The debate still rages on the location of the rebuilding of the city centre so the rebuilding of the city to its former glory will take some time. However I had a fantastic time in New Zealand and is one of the prettiest countries I have ever visited. I was sad to say goodbye but Australia here I come!!