The ferry over from Picton to Wellington was 3 and a half hours and a pretty rough ride. It was windy and rainy for a start so we knew it wasn't going to be great and it was a shame really as the scenery is supposed to be amazing! When we got to Wellington harbour it was only a short ride to the YHA Wellington and the Hostel was just like a hotel and really nice. We shared a dorm room with Darren and Kirstie which had its own bathroom which was nice! We disc...

We arrived in Blenheim about an hour and a half after leaving our flying visit to Nelson. We found a couple of hostels but we were surprised to hear they were they were full because of hockey players! We really didn't think that people would be staying an hour's drive away from the tournament! After checking out a few places we were a bit stuck for what we should do, but we had driven through a small town about 10 minutes away called Renwick. We decided to drive ...

We arrived in the Golden Bay area after a long drive from Greymouth. We went straight to the YHA Hostel but after a quick look around we decided to check out some other hostels around the area. Takaka is REALLY small we soon discovered and a bit of a ghost town! We found another hostel which was closed down then ended up outside another hostel which also looked very quiet. Outside this hostel was another couple who said they had been in and it looked like it...

It was a lovely day when we drove from Wanaka to our next destination Franz Josef, and we were a bit disappointed as its typical when you're just driving around that the weather's nice and sunny! Franz Josef is a very small town on the west side of the South island and is home to New Zealand's two ice glaciers, the Franz Josef glacier and the Fox Glacier about 2o minutes down the road. We decided to stay at the YHA Hostel again as we are now members and get a bit...

After a 3 hour drive (with a French hitchhiker we picked up from our hostel!) we finally arrived in Queenstown and were pleasantly surprised at how picturesque it was. We had been told by all the backpackers that it was a party town with lots of activities and backpackers so we didn't expect it to look quite as nice as it was. Queenstown is surrounded by mountains and had a really large lake near to the centre. We stayed in the YHA Hostel on the lakefront which w...