The tour started off well with our driver (Rob) who played reggae music all the time and made us hop off every chance he could for a swim along the way and also with some lovely views (which as you will see become a trend on the South Island)...
Here's the bus we had for the first 10 days or so. It was quite small and not very comfortable but seemed to be reliable enough.
Until the second day, when this happened and we got to do one of Stray's free activities called roadside sunbathing for 2 hours while we waited for someone to come and change the tire. All good. I'm so used to rolling with the punches at this point in my journey. No worries!
First stop was Abel Tazman. Along the way we stopped and saw some creepy looking seaweed which resembled a giant head of hair...
We also saw these pancake rocks aptly named for their appearance.
Posing on the Pancake rocks.
In Abel Tazman Amelia and I hiked for a few hours to Apple Tree Beach and hung out there for the day (it would take 5 days to hike the entire National Park. We stayed at a place called The Barn which had little cabins and had a BBQ and Mussels.
The South Island (and all of NZ really) is so stunning and beautiful. This kind of view came to be quite normal for us on our bus ride...
Our second night was spent in a very small town called Barrytown. We weren't told much other then there would be a theme night which happened to be Dirty Pirate Hookers that night and that "What happens in Barrytown, stays in Barrytown..."
Perhaps you can see why...
Um...
Uh huh...
Uh oh!
Yep!
Not much else to say really...
The much deserving costume winner (he's Canadian!)...
John promised us he would get at least partly naked during the night (he's from England after all!)...
Is that little innocent Amelia dancing on the table?
That about sums it up. You get the point.
The next morning we were up bright and early to make some bone carving necklaces from Possum bone. Pretty cool activity.
Here's my finished product.
That day we left about noon from Barrytwn and drove to Franz Joseph. We spent the night at a place called the Rainforest Retreat and the next day we did a full day hike on the Franz Joseph Glacier...
It was amazing!
We had these things that we had to clamp onto out hiking boots so we wouldn't slip on the ice.
The temperatures were all over the place. Sometimes it was really hot cause we were on the move and it was sunny that day while other times if we were wedged in between ice it was freezing and wet.
We were given all the equipment we needed.
Plus an amazing guide who literally carved steps for us in places where it was steep and slippery and installed ropes to help us climb.
Look how cool we are with our super trendy hip sacks!
Dedicated to Ashley Carter...
Dedicated to Greg Woolner (One knee on a glacier in NZ!) and yes, I know how hot I look!
This one was taken on the way down. Thought the contrast between the dark ice and the ice behind where the sun is going down was pretty neat.
After the hike we spent a few hours in the hot pools which was much needed after hiking for 8 hours. Although I seemed to be the only one who had sore legs for literally 3 days straight after the hike.
Just thought I would throw in another pic for further proof of how beautiful NZ is...
The next day we drove to Makarora and stayed in these A-framed huts for the night. The star gazing there was incredible.
That night we did some Karaoke in the local pub. Rob (our driver) started us off..
John seemed to be up there every second song...
and Zach did an amazing job rapping gangsters paradise...
The next day we stopped for a few photo opportunities, one of which was at Lake Hawea.
and the other side of the sign read...
and the other side of the sign read...
I guess it was kind f pretty...
I guess, if you llike that kind of thing...
Then I got dropped off in Wanaka and jumped out of a plane. No really!
Lina and Paula did it too!
If you ever have the opportunity to skydive, you should. It's amazing. The only time I felt scared was the few moments when you are hanging out of the plane (and the person you are strapped to is still inside). I'm sure it was only 5 seconds but it seemed like an hour and I had one of those "what the eff and I doing" moments. But then you are falling towards the ground at 200kms/hour and it's such an amazing and freeing feeling and then 45 seconds later the parachute came out, my heart went back into my chest, and I got to experience the sensation of flying for about 5 minutes with the most amazing views of mountains and lakes. Hard to describe. I have the DVD which was taken from the wrist of the guy I jumped with on a handycam if anyone wants to watch it when I get home.
On the way into Queenstown we stopped at the AJ Hacket Bungee bridge (first ever bungee in the world), and a few people from our bus jumped. I had had my fill of adrenaline for the day so I just watched.
This was the view from the bridge where they jumped.
I thought the sign on the ladies toilet was rather cute.
Did I mention that NZ is beautiful?
That night in Queenstown we went to a few bars and partied it up. Ended the night at 4am with a huge and delicious burger from Ferdburger. Highly recommended if you ever go there.
The next day Amelia and I rode the gondela to the top of a huge hill and enjoyed the views and did some walks for a few hours.
At the top we found one of those signs that reminds me how far I am from home:(
We also found this sign on the back of the toilet door.
and we thought it was weird and just a one-off but then saw this one a few days later. How many times did this happen for them to warrant putting a sign!?
After the gondela we found this cute crepe place on the way back to the hostel and stopped for a snack...
It was super cute and had recliners outside to sit on and enjoy the view while enjoying your crepe.
Um...beautiful!
The next day we drove to Milford Sound and went on a 2 hour cruise. It was breathtaking.
and we got to see Seals sunbathing! The one on the bottom actually slid down the rock and fell in the water but I didn't catch it on camera. Was pretty cute though, I'm sure you can imagine.
There were a few waterfalls along the way...
On the way back we stopped where there was still a huge pile of snow that had not melted from the Winter.
Even impressive to a Canadian!
That night we stayed at a place called Gunns Camp in cabins which were used by the workers many years ago who were building the highway. It was very rustic, as you can see by the springs under the matress on the beds we slept on...
Was pretty cute though, with a working coal stove (was also used to heat the water for the showers).
So rustic in fact that the whole place ran on a generator that shut off at 10:30pm. This is the fridge...
We had another group dinner of sausages and potatoes. It was nice but the sandflies were insane! We were covered from head to toe so as not to get bitten. Sandfly bites are like mosquitoes but more itchy and they last longer.
I wish...
The next day we left at the ungodly hour of 6:15am and drove to Invercargill, dropped some people from the bus off, and continued to a ferry which took a bunch of us to Stewart Island. 4 of us hired a car for the afternoon and drove around. It reminded me a lot of Magnetic Island actually, just not nearly as warm.
This was the oldest house on the island.
And we thought Gunns camp was rustic!
At least we had wood instead of dirt floors!
A pretty view from one of the walks we did on the island.
We walked for about half an hour to see this light house. Pretty disapointing to say the least but it gave us a giggle.
The sea looked quite pretty the next morning before we got on our 8am ferry.
On our way to Dunedin that day we stopped on the Catlands Coast and saw a Sea Lion.
He was just chillin' in the grass.
We also stopped at this pretty waterfall. Meh, it's no Niagara Falls!
Then we stopped at another beach and got to see more sea lions. These ones were quite lively, strutting their stuff...
This dude was huge!
Neat eh?
That night I was absolutely exhausted and had a good nights sleep. In the morning I walked around with Lina and saw some of (apparently highly rated) Dunedin. I had been here before with Nathan as some of you may recall but didn't do much walking around as it was raining that day.
Dunedin is quite old and has some lovely buildings.
It's apparently modeled after Edinborough, with the same lay out and street names. It was the Scots who first came to Dunedin.
This is supposedly the most photographed building in NZ. It's the train station.
When Lina and I were walking around we did some shopping, including these super cool sunglasses for $2.50 each. What a deal! Especially since I seem to brake mine on a weekly basis lately. Here's Lina modeling 3 pairs, each in a snazzy different colour.
On the way out we visited Baldwin Street, the steepest Street in the world (Although according to Cook who is from Israel, there are steeper streets where he is from that they haven't bothered to look at, whoever "they" are. The steepest street in the world finders, I presume).
That's one steep street! Lina attaempted to roll down it for about 2 seconds, until she realized this would quickly result in her death.
Apparently not a good place to open a pub, just in case you were contemplating it.
Dedicated to Katie. How did your bike get to NZ? Did you decide to ride here instead of Kayak? Where are you? Get in touch, yo!
We went back to Queenstown that night and had some drinks on the beach before heading out to a few bars.
Here's Robyn, Denise, Ronan and Cook.
Me and Lina...
and Amelia!
I guess, if you llike that kind of thing...
Then I got dropped off in Wanaka and jumped out of a plane. No really!
Lina and Paula did it too!
If you ever have the opportunity to skydive, you should. It's amazing. The only time I felt scared was the few moments when you are hanging out of the plane (and the person you are strapped to is still inside). I'm sure it was only 5 seconds but it seemed like an hour and I had one of those "what the eff and I doing" moments. But then you are falling towards the ground at 200kms/hour and it's such an amazing and freeing feeling and then 45 seconds later the parachute came out, my heart went back into my chest, and I got to experience the sensation of flying for about 5 minutes with the most amazing views of mountains and lakes. Hard to describe. I have the DVD which was taken from the wrist of the guy I jumped with on a handycam if anyone wants to watch it when I get home.
On the way into Queenstown we stopped at the AJ Hacket Bungee bridge (first ever bungee in the world), and a few people from our bus jumped. I had had my fill of adrenaline for the day so I just watched.
This was the view from the bridge where they jumped.
I thought the sign on the ladies toilet was rather cute.
Did I mention that NZ is beautiful?
That night in Queenstown we went to a few bars and partied it up. Ended the night at 4am with a huge and delicious burger from Ferdburger. Highly recommended if you ever go there.
The next day Amelia and I rode the gondela to the top of a huge hill and enjoyed the views and did some walks for a few hours.
At the top we found one of those signs that reminds me how far I am from home:(
We also found this sign on the back of the toilet door.
and we thought it was weird and just a one-off but then saw this one a few days later. How many times did this happen for them to warrant putting a sign!?
After the gondela we found this cute crepe place on the way back to the hostel and stopped for a snack...
It was super cute and had recliners outside to sit on and enjoy the view while enjoying your crepe.
Um...beautiful!
The next day we drove to Milford Sound and went on a 2 hour cruise. It was breathtaking.
and we got to see Seals sunbathing! The one on the bottom actually slid down the rock and fell in the water but I didn't catch it on camera. Was pretty cute though, I'm sure you can imagine.
There were a few waterfalls along the way...
On the way back we stopped where there was still a huge pile of snow that had not melted from the Winter.
Even impressive to a Canadian!
That night we stayed at a place called Gunns Camp in cabins which were used by the workers many years ago who were building the highway. It was very rustic, as you can see by the springs under the matress on the beds we slept on...
Was pretty cute though, with a working coal stove (was also used to heat the water for the showers).
So rustic in fact that the whole place ran on a generator that shut off at 10:30pm. This is the fridge...
We had another group dinner of sausages and potatoes. It was nice but the sandflies were insane! We were covered from head to toe so as not to get bitten. Sandfly bites are like mosquitoes but more itchy and they last longer.
I wish...
The next day we left at the ungodly hour of 6:15am and drove to Invercargill, dropped some people from the bus off, and continued to a ferry which took a bunch of us to Stewart Island. 4 of us hired a car for the afternoon and drove around. It reminded me a lot of Magnetic Island actually, just not nearly as warm.
This was the oldest house on the island.
And we thought Gunns camp was rustic!
At least we had wood instead of dirt floors!
A pretty view from one of the walks we did on the island.
We walked for about half an hour to see this light house. Pretty disapointing to say the least but it gave us a giggle.
The sea looked quite pretty the next morning before we got on our 8am ferry.
On our way to Dunedin that day we stopped on the Catlands Coast and saw a Sea Lion.
He was just chillin' in the grass.
We also stopped at this pretty waterfall. Meh, it's no Niagara Falls!
Then we stopped at another beach and got to see more sea lions. These ones were quite lively, strutting their stuff...
This dude was huge!
Neat eh?
That night I was absolutely exhausted and had a good nights sleep. In the morning I walked around with Lina and saw some of (apparently highly rated) Dunedin. I had been here before with Nathan as some of you may recall but didn't do much walking around as it was raining that day.
Dunedin is quite old and has some lovely buildings.
It's apparently modeled after Edinborough, with the same lay out and street names. It was the Scots who first came to Dunedin.
This is supposedly the most photographed building in NZ. It's the train station.
When Lina and I were walking around we did some shopping, including these super cool sunglasses for $2.50 each. What a deal! Especially since I seem to brake mine on a weekly basis lately. Here's Lina modeling 3 pairs, each in a snazzy different colour.
On the way out we visited Baldwin Street, the steepest Street in the world (Although according to Cook who is from Israel, there are steeper streets where he is from that they haven't bothered to look at, whoever "they" are. The steepest street in the world finders, I presume).
That's one steep street! Lina attaempted to roll down it for about 2 seconds, until she realized this would quickly result in her death.
Apparently not a good place to open a pub, just in case you were contemplating it.
Dedicated to Katie. How did your bike get to NZ? Did you decide to ride here instead of Kayak? Where are you? Get in touch, yo!
We went back to Queenstown that night and had some drinks on the beach before heading out to a few bars.
Here's Robyn, Denise, Ronan and Cook.
Me and Lina...
and Amelia!
So the next day, completely exhausted after hopping on and off a bus for almost 2 weeks and feeling like a kid at camp (which was quite an adjustment after travelling on my own for 15 months), Amelia and I took a bus back to Wanaka and are here now for 4 nights to relax and soak up the sun (although today I've done nothing apart from update this blog for about 4 hours). On the 21st we head back to Queenstown for the 3rd time for a few nights and then hop back on the Stray bus on the 23rd to head to Christchurch for 3 nights where I will catch up with Tania (Nathan's sister) for the last time. On the 26th we fly from Christchurch to Auckland where I will spend 2 nights hanging out with Nathan before flying to Phuket (Thailand) on the 28th! So excited. Amelia is coming as well and we will spend a month hanging out on beaches full of monkeys, limstone rocks and huts where we will sleep. We plan to spend the last 5 nights or so in Bangkok and then I fly home on March 29th, arriving at 8:05pm! So excited to see you all!
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