Mon 15th Dec - Kaiteriteri
Erghh.. a horrible early wake up call made worse by the previous nights consumption of alcohol.. our bus leaves at 7am.. so soon after crawling myself out of bed, I am boarding the bus and then onto the ferry for the crossing to the South Island. The majority of the bus crash on the ferry awaking to the stunning views as we approach Picton where we depart the ferry and board our new bus. The views from the off are beautiful! Even our driver Simon is in a good mood...partly because many of the talkative 'back of the bus crew' have stayed an extra night in Wellington..!
The sun is shining and there is not a cloud in the sky! Annie along with a few others on the bus head off to Skydive, then later me, Rachel, Annie and Saskia cook stir fry. We will stay here for two nights, so tomorrow I will go on a day's trip to Abel Tasman National Park.
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| Me and Annie.. in the moment pose! |
Tues 16th Dec - Kaiteriteri (Abel Tasman)
I'm up, lunch packed and all set for my days adventure walking the coastal route from Torrent Bay to Onetahuti in Abel Tasman. Again the day is hot, sunny, with blue skies and no clouds in sight! I take the water taxi to Torrent Bay.. on route we stop and see 'Split Apple Rock' a geological rock formation. The walk takes me around five hours, in which I walk the coastal route and stop at a couple of beaches to swim, eat lunch and relax. On route I listen to my spanish podcast.. 'En qué trabajas?'.. The views are stunning and it proves one of my highlights from my whole time travelling since september!
Back at the hostel, I meet Isa from Austria and see everyone else from Wellington, who have today continued to the south island. We catch up and later head to the beach to see the sunset.
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| Right to Left: Yannick, Rikard, Kai, Emilia & Anna (at the back), Kai, Rachel, Me & Elli |
Weds 17th Dec - Westport
At 11.30am we depart Kaiteriteri with our new bus driver Ben. The forecast is grey, cloudy and wet! We drive to Nelson Lakes, great views but on a better day would have been a lot nicer. It is rainy (memories of home..) for each of our stops to take pictures.
On arrival to to Westport we check and I'm in a room called 'The Unit' which is an 11 bed dorm with a kitchen and lounge!). In the evening we cook chilli and then watch Lord of the Rings 'The Two Towers' (The Fellowship of the Ring is only on VCR and doesn't work..). Here I meet Jack and Sophie, an English couple who met whilst living in Australia.. they lived there for two years!
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| Rachel, Emilia, Scottish..Cameron?, Annie, Saskia, Me |
Our journey today takes us along the Tasman Shoreline, great views reminiscent of the Great Ocean Road. We stop at different points on route including seeing New Zealand's largest Seal Colony and at Pancake Rocks we are at the closest point to mainland Oz. The weather is again mainly cloudy with some sunshine hitting us at times.
On arrival to Franz Josef we check in for (fingers crossed) the Ice Explorer trip to the Franz Josef Glacier scheduled for tomorrow morning.. it is dependent on the weather due to the helicopter ride to get to the glacier..the past few days it has been cancelled due to the clouds.
The hostel here is really nice with a rustic bar. After departing the bus we reunite with Moa, Anika, Edward and Emma! I go for a run with Ryan & Isa then after head to the bar for all you can eat pizza and begin drinking! In the evening we all head to bar for a fun night of limbo and dancing. Isa dances in competitions back in Austria and is awesome. Tomorrow Emma, Edward, Anika and Moa will continue on the bus. Emma will be flying out of New Zealand by the time we reach Queenstown so it's goodbye time.
Fri 19th Dec - Franz Josef
The weather outside is still cloudy and after a quick phone call find out that our Ice Explorer trip has been cancelled.. we are all gutted! Around midday we decide to all head off on a trek to the lookout to see the glacier.
The views are still impressive but it is a shame that we won't be able to be up close to the blue blue ice! On the long walk I blast out some music (mainly xmas tunes..) using Ryan's speaker. The whole journey, there and back, takes us 4 hours and we return as a few rain drops begin falling.. soon after it is pouring and this continues throughout the night.
Later the next Kiwi Bus arrives and we again catch up with Kai, Jonathan, Rikard, Anna and Ellie, having a few drinks and a dance before an early start tomorrow and another long bus journey!
Sat 20th Dec - Wanaka
....in the middle of the night Rachel returns back to the room drunk, waking us all up.. in the morning I am not best pleased..!
It is a wet wet morning and this continues throughout our journey. On route we briefly stop for a few picture/sightseeing opportunities. On arrival to Wanaka, me and Rachel try to rejig our plans in order to have guaranteed accommodation in Queenstown for xmas. When you arrive in Queenstown with the kiwi bus you are guaranteed 4 nights but at the moment we plan to stay for 1 night.. then continue on the bottom bus and return back to Queenstown on xmas eve.. but we currently can't book accommodation for xmas eve onwards! After calling to find out about changing our bottom bus route we are unable to as is will not be running till the 30th and our timetable doesn't allow us to wait around till then as we need to be heading back up to the north island for NYE's. We will continue pursuing accommodation options once we are in Queenstown.
Next to our hostel there is a Santa's Grotto, as I pass on my return from the shops, the lady dressed as an elve, stops me to invite me in! I tell her I will return with more people.. so back in the hostel I tell the group about the place and we all head there for some christmas fun!
In the evening we cook and eat as a group, and then me, Miriam, Charlotte, Ines and our bus driver Ben head to the cinema opposite the hostel to see the final installment of the Hobbit Trilogy. A visually impressive movie but in my opinion one movie too far, dragging the trilogy out and I watch with no emotional attachment to any of the characters! The cinema however is awesome.. with comfy sofas to watch the movie from and an interval midway through the movie at which point we go and buy warm cookies!
Sun 21st Dec - Queenstown
Our first stop today is Puzzling World.. to begin with we run around the Maze to try and get to all 4 corners.. taking pics.. and then finding the way out first in order to get to our driver to win a prize! It is very silly and a lot of fun. Next we explore the inside of the building, going through various rooms of illusion.. for example a room built at an angle which messes with the mind and another that looks normal except when two people enter from opposite doors they appear gigantic and tiny! There are many puzzles and interesting sculptures.
Soon we are back on the road and heading to Queenstown. There are great views to be seen. Before arriving in Queenstown we stop at AJ Hackett's Kawarau Bungy where we initially watch a promo video and a short documentary video about AJ Hackett starting to bungy etc, I find out that it was influenced by an African tribal tradition that young men did when they came of age.
After watching many people bungying off the bridge, me and Rachel nearly sign up for a tandem jump but it is too late for the bus to wait around now..we have already booked up.. along with Annie and Ines.. the Canyon Swing for this afternoon! On arrival to Queenstown Ben stop the bus by the lake for a group picture.
Soon after checking into the hostel in Queenstown it is time to head to swing centre.. sweaty hands.. the nerves begin.. Jack and Sophie also come along to watch (helping to take pics/film us!). It is a frightening experience but also a lot of fun. My first swing is in tandem with Rachel, we jump backwards from the edge. I decide to do a second jump on my own and opt for a run and a jump off the edge.. with a initial slight hesitation. I'm not too sure about the bungy though..
We have now managed to book up accommodation for xmas eve but still nothing for xmas day. In the evening we go on a boat party on Lake Wakatipu, great views and a lot of fun.
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