Queenstown -

The Stray bus left Wanaka at approx. 9:45 am and we arrived at 'Puzzling world' about 20 min later having about 1 ½ hour to spend at 'Puzzling world' or do a walk to the nearby Mount Iron.

Since I had hiked for 5 hours the day before together with the Irish ladies I wasn't very keen on going on another hike this day and therefore placed myself at a table in the Puzzle world café.

The 'Puzzle' café has tables filled with puzzles to test your brain activity and also provided as the name states the facilities of a café with a bite to eat and drink. A souvenir shop is also located onsite to tempt the visitors to drag home one of the many puzzles, books or toys.

I bought something to eat and drink at the café and looked at some of the puzzle and games. Didn't really try any of it, was just too darn tired. To comfort my aching body and mind from yesterday's efforts I bought 3 small bags of sweets or lollies as the Aussies and Kiwi people would call it, and went back to the bus to read a book. Wasn't really very social that day but some days you just need to be left alone and relax ;-)

The Stray driver though who's nickname was 'Packman' asked me if I was on the right bus if I didn't want to try out the things and be social (implying that either you have to do all the activities and be social every day or you should have bought another kind of tour). And I replied, that it's not always necessary to be with other people to enjoy yourself ;-)

It can be a bit too much with all the activities and stops along the way from one destination to the other. Sometimes it just seems like the activities are forced onto people even though not all may like to participate (and I wasn't the only one thinking this).

About the bus companies in NZ -

There are two major backpacker bus companies on the hop on/hop off market in New Zealand which are 'Kiwi Experience' and 'Stray travel'.

Then comes the pre-arranged tours with a company called 'Haka Tours' and the local busses named 'InterCity'and 'Naked Bus'.

Kiwi Experience is the biggest company of the two hop on/hop off companies. The bus mainly attracts young gap-year travelers (year 18-25) with a desire to party whereas Stray is for the more nature minded audience. On Kiwi's website they state that Kiwi Experience is how the youthful travelers see New Zealand.

Stray's goal is to 'get you off the beaten track'. While they hit all the major destinations the Kiwi Experience does, they also take you to a few different ones - when comparing stories from the people doing the Kiwi Tour and the Stray Tour.

On most of the Stray buses I saw couples and people generally less interested in getting drunk every night. They went out, but it wasn't the only thing they were interested in.

What didn't I like about Stray: Size. Some of the buses seat around 40-45 people and when they're full they can get a little bit clicky. Little groups form. I had more fun when the bus was less full and you could get to know people better. During the busy season, the bus is pretty much always full. Furthermore, as I mentioned earlier I wished the bus didn't make so many additional stops. While it's sometimes nice to see something different and stretch your legs during a long haul, by the eighth or ninth stop, most of the people are simply like, "can we get to the destination already?" Also sometimes it felt like I had to buy the activities that the bus driver presented at each stop otherwise you were an outsider trying not to make friends.

What I did like about Stray:While there are many gap-year travelers on the bus, Stray tries to target older independent travelers as well. It seems like Stray has a better balance between getting drunk and activities than the Kiwi Experience. But this is of course just my point of view and may be a bit biased since I haven't travelled with the Kiwi Experience and only basing my knowledge on talking to people who have travelled with the Kiwi bus ;-) I found that it was a more mature audience travelling with Stray.

Queenstown - the adventure city with a great atmosphere

Just before arriving in Queenstown we made a stop at the Kawarau bridge where you were able to buy different activities, mostly Bungy jumping, at a discounted price due to travelling with the Stray bus. When we stepped out of the bus we were directed into the onsite building housing a huge screen, seating in front of the screen, a café and the mandatory souvenir shop.

We were all directed to sit in front of the big screen where we saw a video of the history of the place - the 'AJ Hackett Bungy' New Zealand, the first commercial Bungy jump site.

They sell Bungy jumps, swings and climbs and to sum up the different activities sold here;

- The Nevis Bungy, New Zealand's highest Bungy with its 134 meters

- The Kawarau bridge jump, 43 meter

- The Ledge Bungy, 47 meters (where your feet are not tied)

- The Newis Swing

- The Ledge Swing

- The Ziprides along the Kawarau river (3 x 130 meter ziplines)

Some of the people from the bus where tempted and some not so much including me who are afraid of heights. I did however, decide that I wanted to go Ziplining in Queenstown. More about that later on.

The first evening was spent eating a Ferg burger on the beach with the people from the Stray bus. Our driver offered to take down orders of which burger we wanted and go get them and meet us at the beach.

A very kind offer since the 'Ferg burger' place is renowned for its queuing of min 30 min to buy a burger. And are the burgers really that good that people will stand in line for hours - YES!! A simply answer to a simple question :-)

The 2nd day was spent doing a Ziplining tour with the company called 'Ziptrek Ecotours' together with a German girl also travelling with the Stray bus.

The company does 4 or 6 lining tours whilst educating the customers about the environment during the tours. The tours start at the top of the Skyline Gondola in Queenstown. The 4-line tour is designed to start off low and slow and gradually build up your confidence to go longer, higher and faster.

The longest zipline distance of the 4-line tour is 240 meters and can reach a speed of up to 50 kph. There are 8 tree top platforms with the highest being over 25 meters above ground level.

The trip lasted about 1 ½ hours and when finished all you would like to do is repeat the tour over and over again :-)

I really enjoyed the ziplining in the tree tops and tried to admire the beautiful view of the lake and mountains and when I say tried to, I mean whilst having to hold a camera to document my flying from tree to tree, and tilting to the side and also aiming for the platform to place my feet - I enjoyed the ride and views.

The third day was supposed to have included a 'flight-cruise-flight' tour to Milford Sound with the company called 'Real Journeys' but this tour got cancelled due to bad weather condition over Milford Sound.

I had checked with the hostel reception at around 8:45 am if the tour was still on since this was written in the terms and conditions - you have to get a weather forecast and check in at around 9:00 am. The girl at the travel desk at the hostel called the company and then afterwards told me that the company didn't do pickups until 9:00 am which I told her that I already knew but I just wanted to ask about the weather conditions. Then she just told me to wait for the pick-up, and so I did.

I rang the Tour company at 9:30 am since the ticket stated that I would be picked up between 9:00-9:15 am. Apparently the man the girl at the travel desk had talked to had told her that they couldn't tell anything before 9:00 am weather wise and therefore we should ring back at around 9:00 am which was not exactly what she told me. But now, unfortunately, he told me that the flight was cancelled due to bad weather conditions in the Milford Sound region.

I wasn't able to reschedule because I was leaving Queenstown the following day and I wasn't able to order a bus tour to Milford Sound either since they only depart in the morning.

Ohh well, I spent the day walking around the lake and eating lunch at a nice restaurant as a treat instead.

Later on I meet up with the Irish girls to go on a pub crawl. We started off at an Irish pub of course and then continued to 3 other pubs to taste their selection of ciders. We wanted to stay out late and go wild..haha..but it didn't really turn into a wild night since all the places being open until late were filled with very young people downing beers. So we decided to call it night and go to bed at 1am. But still had a fun night.

I was positively surprised by Queenstown. And the reason as to why I state this, is that everyone has been telling me that it is such a busy town and only caters for the adrenaline seeking people who wants to get drunk and either you hate it or love it. It has so much more than this and I am glad that I spent 3 nights there.