New Zealand's South Island

Last time I left my journey was at our last destination in New Zealand's north island, Wellington. It was a bit sad leaving Wellington as we'd met a great group of girls who were not continuing to the South Island so quite a few farewells!

But the journey must go on ...

We took the ferry to Picton (sunniest spot in New Zealand) and boarded a new coach with lots of new faces! Our first destination was the quiet town of Nelson. En route to Nelson we stopped at the famous Lake Rotoito, surrounded by snow capped mountains. Those brave enough for the icy waters, stepped down and jumped in for that once-in-a-lifetime-photo. James and I, however, just jumped up and down at the end of the wooden pier for the same effect!

Our day driving from Nelson to Westport was broken up by a couple of hours spent jet boating! It was pretty cool relaxing as we jetted up the river, learning about the area etc. On return we sped back, taking sharp corners and many 360 degree turns!! It was really cool and brilliant timing for seeing the sunset too!

Cape Foulwind Walkway was a lovely, albeit a rather windy, walk along the west coast that we took to break up the long drive inland to Lake Mahinapua. There is only motive for driving all the way to Lake Mahinapua, the infamous 'Poo Party'! Here, we stay with the oldest republican in New Zealand; 86 year old Les who works 7 days a week hosting the parties in his pub. As with every 'Poo Party' there is a theme assigned for the evening to which everyone has a two-hour slot in town to find a costume to fit. Our theme was 'P Party', i.e. you can go as anything or anyone beginning with 'P'. Experience of West Wickham's fine display of charitable retailers made it all the bit easier for me to delve into dusty boxes of clothes to find the perfect Pippy Longstockings costume. James had a brilliant find in a charity shop buying a two-piece suit, shirt, cardigan, tie, hat and shoes for the grand total of $6 for his Professor costume!! Now that's within a backpacker's budget!!

The night began with an almighty feast and then a couple of hours pre-drinking whilst the costumes came together. We had every kind of character; a Peeping Tom, Pamela Anderson (our friend Josh got into the leotard and blonde wig for it!), a Psychiatric Patient (our friend Sara remained in character all night and won the competition!), Pirates, Pensioners, Popeye and many more! The evening went on into the early hours as we all danced to the 90s fueled duke box.

All slightly frail the next morning we were driven to the Bushman's Centre for breakfast, aptly situated next to the Puke Pot...seriously, I'm not making it up! The cafe itself was attached to a museum detailing their possum-hunting business. Having become accustomed to a pie in the morning I was more than put-off by the idea of a possum pie! You could tell this place had a bit of a cruel sense of humour as they had possum fur on the toilet chain and plastic creepy-crawlies dotted around the sink. I quickly retreated back onto the bus!

Our destination for the day was Franz Josef, nestled in the Westland National Park and home to the Franz Josef Glacier. It was a case of 'when in Rome...' here as I handed over a wad of cash to spend eight-hours hiking over the glacier. Having viewed the glacier on a beautifully clear day on our way into Franz Josef, we were all rather mift at having to endure eight hours in non-stop rain. With a forty-minute walk to the bottom of the glacier I had already achieved two things: 1) blisters 2) good-old British moaning! I have to be honest, the glacier hike is something I am glad I have done but absolutely hated the whole time I was doing it! Aside from the sore feet and soggy sandwiches, it did feel pretty cool walking on ice but walking through slim crevices in the ice and hanging onto the walls to avoid falling into a metre-deep pool of freezing cold water made me pretty much 'lose my cool' - excuse the pun!

After all rushing back to the hostel to get the last bit of hot water in the showers, I think everyone was in bed by the latest 9 o'clock. We had a horribly early start the next morning which was all the more cruel as I couldn't put my heels on the ground due to sore calf muscles! I really did hobble for a couple of days but still I managed to take the short walk to see the reflection of Mt Cook and the Southern Alps on Lake Matheson, near the village of Fox Glacier.

Wanaka was our last stop on the west coast. Everyone was pretty frazzled but we all loaded onto the bus to a nearby little town to watch the rugby in a warm and cosy pub in the evening! En route the next day we stopped at Puzzle World which was full of weird and wonderful things that boggle your mind and also a Great Maze which was frustrating (but good fun) to say the least. We also stopped at the first bungy jumping site in New Zealand. It was even nerve-wracking watching people do it!

Queenstown was the destination everyone had been eager to reach. We had 5 nights to spend there. On our first day we took the gondola up to see views of the whole town. We attempted to go luging again but after a 40 minute wait to get to the course, we managed to get a refund! James, Josh and myself had a real laugh playing crazy golf. I managed to get the highest score, but for some reason James insists I didn't win.

On our second day in Queenstown many of our group booked on to the Milford Sound day trip. It was a long day with a total of 8 hours driving but, as we had heard, the sights were amazing. We stopped at some breathtaking photo spots and took a couple of small walking tracks on the drive down to the ferry port. On board the boat, in traditional backpacker style, we made the most on the buffet! The trip lasted a couple of hours taking us through this beautiful green scenery with waterfalls either side. Shortly before the end we hopped off the boat to visit an underwater observatory.

James spent a day skiing in the Remarkables whilst I ventured into town to check out the shopping! Queenstown is also home to the legendary Fergburger. THEY ARE DELICIOUS!! If you don't like the sound of anything I have previously talked about in New Zealand, these burgers are reason enough to visit! Five days in and two Fergburgers down, it was our last night in Queenstown and everyone was meeting up for farewell drinks. Everyone had become such good mates it was a shame to leave.

The next day we had a killer of a drive to Christchurch but it was lovely being met in town by Carole (James' step-dad's mum). We were spoilt rotten whilst we stayed, visiting a restaurant (a huge treat for us noodle chefs) where I ate a whole chicken!! In my defense you just can't rely on plane food! Carole was a star for getting up at 4am to drive us to the airport too!

As with all the other places we had visited previously, we were sad to leave New Zealand. But onto Fiji... sunbathing and lying in a hammock? I think I can adjust to that..