New Zealand- South Island

Kia-Ora!

(Greetings)

I landed on the "island of the long white cloud" New Zealand! I was starting on the South Island in the city of Christchurch at 1am after a long days travel from Cairns but I would only be staying for a few hours at my planned hostel before departing on the transalpine express across the island to Graymouth.
I was staying at Prison hostel which was an actual prison which closed in the 80s! I arrived around 2 am and no one was up so I used the code for the door and found my key to the dorm room. The place was spooky with it's high ceilings and old prison uniforms and other memorabilia hanging up. I sneaked into my room but found that my bed was being slept in so found the nearest empty bed, removed my clothes and fell straight asleep.
I was woken at 6.30 by my alarm and had that brief.. Where am I thought as I looked out the window with bars. I pulled on my clothes, gathered my bags as silent as I entered and left without checking in or out! The hostel must have thought they had a ghost when they checked in the morning!

The morning was cold and wet just like being back home, but I have to be honest it was a nice change from the hot 3 months I had just had in Asia! It was a 20 minute walk to the station and I did it with a bit of a daze but I made good time and managed to buy a steak and kidney pie and tea before the train left the station!

I was on the Transalpine railway which travels across the country and apparently is one the worlds best train routes along with the Trans-Siberian or the Rocky Mountains or at least it would be if it wasn't foggy and raining! The railway passes through all four season in 5 hours from the coast on the east side through the flat plain lands used for farming up into the alps down the spine of the country into the rainforest near the west coast. Most of the landscape around me reminded me of home especial near the centre of the island as it looked like Bodmin or Dartmoor moors. The weather wasn't the best but it was still a beautiful train ride, winding our way through the mountains, over rivers and through an 8km tunnel.

I was excited to be in New Zealand as it was somewhere I have wanted to visit for a while, you hear it is beautiful and they always seem to be making films here so i should be in for some amazing scenery... And as far as I am aware, no temples to be found! I had decided the best way to see the island would be by booking myself onto the Kiwi experience bus. I had heard a lot about it so I thought it was a must do! The best thing about the kiwi experience is that your travel is all taken care of and they take you direct to the "must see" sights all around NZ. I had booked onto the transalpine dog leg tour which cut straight through the mountains by train and then down to adventure capital of the world, Queenstown then round the Deep South up the east coast past Christchurch again and then on to the north island before reaching Aukland.

We pulled into the sleepy town of Greymouth where I spotted the big green bus I would be traveling on for the next few weeks!
I was the only one joining the tour here but everyone seamed really friendly and the usual travel questions about where your from and why your traveling were asked. Most of the group were British with a few Germans, Swedish and a girl from North Carolina who was about as county western as you could find, a full on Southern American accent with the high boots and even called me "Darlin"!!
There wasn't much planned for this first afternoon except driving to Franz Josef which is a small town at the base of the worlds fastest moving glaciers. The glacier can move up or down the mountain by up to 5meters a day! The drive down was just as beautiful as the train ride across and when we arrived at the base of the glacier we were all amazed at the size of it, a tower of ice sweeping up around the mountain.
We were staying at rainforest hostel which was really nice! Very posh by hostel standards!

The hostel had a pizza night... All you can eat pizza, garlic bread and chips with a beer for £8! Bargain!

The next morning we were all booked to fly by helicopter to the top of the glacier then walk around for a while before flying back down, but the weather had came in over night and it was too windy to land on the ice! Bloody helicopters...easy day for the engineers was all I could think.

Well I had to get up close to the glacier so a group of us decided to head up on our own. The walk turned out to be a little under 10 miles but was a good laugh and I got to know a few more people! We couldn't get right up to the ice which was a little disappointing but a few people had died as big blocks break off unexpectedly! The glacier is now nearly half the size since 2008 about 6km long where it use to be nearly 13km! Global warming maybe?

The hostel had a nice hot tub so we jumped in that and had a nice relaxing hour or 2! Strange to be so warm I. Water when outside is so cold!

The next morning we left Franz Josef early with a few hangovers and a few less people as they forgot to set alarms! The driver waits for no man! On the way to Wanaka we stopped at lake Matherson to catch the mirror reflection of Mt cook on the lake which was beautiful followed by a nice full English breakfast overlooking the Fox glacier which as the name suggest is the place the Fox glacier mints get made... Or at least that's what the driver said.. Didn't seam right to me as the bag has a polar bear on it.. Not many of them around here!

We had a few more stops throughout the day at waterfalls and the hast pass which was all mountains and lakes! Super beautiful here, loving it!

We stopped at Wanaka for the night where the American who's name was Margo and myself decided to trek to the top of Mt Iron and watch the sunset which was really beautiful! Not much else happened tonight as most of us were hungover and it was Queenstown the next day which was definitely going to be big!!

We headed to Queenstown next which was going to be massive, definitely a few ticks on the bucket list coming up here!
First off today was Puzzle world, which to everyone's surprise was amazing! It was set out in different areas some of the better ones were the wonky house where everything looked very strange for instance you sat on a chair which seemed to slide up the stairs and not down... Very confusing and the water in the taps flowed up and not down... The next room had a great optical illusion where 2 of us went in and it made one of us look massive and the other really small! An unusual morning out that's for sure!

Today was the day I was going to tick another big box on my list of things to do... The Kawarau bridge Bungy jump! The worlds first commercial Bungy Jump! I have to be honest I was a little nervous when we arrived but I had to act brave as I was the only one doing it on the bus!
I paid and waited nervously for the others to assemble outside... I walked over the bridge and watched someone else superman off.. I was nervous here but I was soon strapped in place and no way I could turn back now! I stood on the edge looking down and asked everyone to count me down... 3..2..1... As they said 1 i felt the guys hand on my back and lent forward letting go of the bridge... It's so unnatural to fall like that and definitely not the nicest experience but once you feel that stretch in the elastic it feels much much better! You swing around in the air upside down and I started to get them adrenalin shakes. I had to catch this pole some guys on a boat had so they could pull me in. What a buzz and and luckily I had a great bit of footage from my gopro I managed to avoid dropping!

Queenstown came into view as we passed over the mountains and what a beautiful place it was. Queenstown is a large city by New zealand standards but very small for a European one! Most of the buildings are the old fashioned wooden ones and the town is surrounded by towering mountains and a beautiful lake. Queenstown is the adventure capital of the Southern Hemisphere you can do just about anything here... And I plan to do most!

The first thing to do on my list was to visit Fergburger!
Fergburger had become somewhat of "must do" In the town and has become so big that everyone from sports teams to singers head here for a bite on one of the burgers!
It all started back in 2001 when a hole in a wall started selling good burgers, at the same time Burger King opened but after only 2 years burger Kong s*** down and Fergburger had to move to a bigger restaurant as the queues would stretch down the street! Apparently today there are 32 Facebook groups for the burgers including "bring Fergburger to the world" etc but for whatever reason they have decided to keep it small and it still works! Unbelievable it's open 22 hours a day! So what's so special about the burgers... Well any burger you order is bigger than your head and ways the same as a small baby so ordering the amazing chips and and a drink really isn't necessary!
Everything inside the burgers just seen to taste better... The meat is hand made from 100% New Zealand beef, the tomatoes are juicy and the lettuce is placed perfectly inside and crunchy. When you get it and open the bag it looks as you would imagine... Unlike a McDonald's where you open the box to disappointment as it doesn't look like the picture and unbelievable this gourmet burger costs the same as a mcdonalds too! All in all it's an experience worth doing! By the end of my time in Queenstown I had 1 everyday but the best was the "chief Wiggum" which had pulled pork that melts in your mouth!

The bus group met later that night for a big night out, one of the highlights was a visit to "the fine" a bar which serves cocktails in teapots! Very unique and different but a great idea!

The following day a group of us headed up to the luge track at the top of a mountain overlooking the town. We took a gondola up to the top which gave us great views over the mountains and lakes.
The Lugee had 2 tracks one for the more scenic views and another one where you could go really fast! We had a few good races but I could never beat the Swiss guy who was with us!

The next adventure was the Shootover jet boat- "the worlds most exciting jet boat ride" which blasts along the Shootover river between very narrow canyons and does 360degrees spins! It was a good experience but my face was so cold when we finished!

That night England were playing New zealand in the rugby so of course we had to go and watch. A fairly big group headed down to the pub to watch but although we had a good time England still managed to do the typical thing of winning until the last 10mins and then throwing it away.

The following day a few of us had booked a day trip to Milford sound which Is another world heritage sight. We had a 4 hour drive down to the ferry but stopped off a few places for some photos as usual. We did see a few dolphins but it was mainly to foggy to see that much of the Fjord! When we got back I headed out with 3 boys who live not to far from me, we had a massive night out and it was great!

I hadn't planned to do much on last day in Queenstown but mark, Tom and I headed to Mini golf which was amazing! The best mini golf course I have ever seen, it had castles and rockets that moved and even a ski lift your ball went into up the lift! After that we headed for another Fergburger before we went into the haunted house which was of course was really scary!!

It was time to leave the amazing Queenstown, certainly a place I could spend more time a possibly live! I headed north back on the bus and eventually ended up back in Christchurch were I started. I never really managed to get a good look around last time I was here so when a group of us headed out into the city centre we were shocked to see that most of the buildings were either being rebuilt or more often than not just abandoned! The city had it's big earthquake nearly 3 Years ago now but you wouldn't think it.. We decided to have a few drinks in as the next day we would all be going our separate ways once again!

I would be heading to the north island next!