Backpacking

Well I got somewhere with my pestering Rob! He took us to Slope Point which is the southernmost point in the South Island of NZ! Bluff is actually the southernmost town! It was a lovely walk over farm land to another lighthouse and a sign saying 'Slope Point, Southernmost Point of South Island, NZ' and then so many miles to the equator and so many to the South Pole!

Our time was affected by this so we raced to Invercargill where we were an hour late picking this bloke up and got 10 minutes in the museum to grab lunch and look around! They had a Tuatara lizard which is one of the only animals that still survives from the dinosaur age!

There were about a million sheep along the way, lambing season has just been so there were loads of lambs as well! It was us girls at the back of the bus going 'aww' everytime we saw lambs! So quite a lot then!

We drove to MacKenzies something then, it was something to do with a bum so some of the guys pulled their trousers down and had their photos taken! Weird!

It was to Manapouri then where we picked up a couple who had been to Doubtful Sound! We hung out on Lake Manapouri for a while getting attacked by sandflies!

We drove straight to Te Anau then and got ourselves checked in to the hostel, went and did some food shopping and we all hung out at the hostel for the rest of the night!

Oh my god it was soo hot today! A perfect day to do the Catlins which is on the south coast of the South Island!

I got picked up by my new driver Rob who had decided not to bring a trailer so there was a tiny luggage section at the back and I had to put some of my stuff in the seating section with me! Luckily I was able to put stuff under the seats!

The bus seemed really friendly and everyone was chatting away straight away!

We firstly stopped at Nugget Point where there is a lovely lighthouse and some rocks that jutt out in the sea. These are the nuggets and what the point is named after - surprisingly! A bit of history - Captain James Cook, explorer extroadinaire noticed these nuggets whilst they were sailing past at sunset and there was a goldish hue cast upon them from the sun and he thought that they looked like gold nuggets! Now you get it!
We saw some seals here as well!

The next stop was at a gorgeous place called Cannibal Bay! It was amazing one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to! It's a gorqeous inlet and bay that has golden sand and the clearest calmest water! The best thing was the sea lions! There were only 3 of them but they were fantastic to see! We had to be really careful as they chase after you if you get too near! They went after one girl but she escaped! The water was so clear as well that you could see the fish in them! Little pods of silver fish! Walking back to the bus one of the sea lions had moved so we had to walk over the dunes around it! I had to put my shoes back on so I got left behind and lost in the sand dunes! Rob had to come and shout directions from a high dune as there were lots of shrubs! He then tells me that the only poisonous spider in NZ lives in the dunes! Agh! I think he was winding me up as he had told us earlier that there was a dolphin in one of the lakes that we wnet past! Apparently (his story) a scientist wanted to see what happened if he took a dolphin out of the sea and put it into a lake! It shrunk and it still lives there! Not true obviously, but I believed it for 5 minutes until someone said he was winding us up!

Next stop (a lot today!) was Cathedral Caves. These caves are only possible to visit at low tide and we had timed it perfectly! It was a 20 minute walk to the beach and a further 10 minutes along the beach to the caves! The caves were amazing, they were about 6-7 stories high and went back for ever, we tried going back but only I had a torch and it was mini LED one so not really that great! We got to the lake in one of the caves though! The seaweed was also huge! These caves would have been perfect for pirates! Ar ar me hearties!

The walk back was knackering as it was all uphill! Also the sun was seriously hot!

Finally we reached Curio Bay where we stayed at Dolphin Lodge, very nice and yes there are dolphins here!

Myself, Rob and 4 others went for dinner and it was really nice! We had a good old chat and I've been trying to persuade Rob to take us to Bluff, the most southern town in NZ!

After dinner we drove back to the hostel got the others and walked to Curio Bay itself, we were going to watch the yellow eyed penguins come in but we missed them and saw only one from a distance! Curio Bay is also a fossilised forest! I'll explain because it's quite strange! Basically you know how you get fossils of dinosaurs and sealife etc! Well they have fossilised tree stumps and logs! They are rock but you can totally see that they were once trees! A volcano wiped this region out and the trees got covered and fossilised!

Back at the hostel we had a few beers and played cards most of the night!

Well having a room to myself was conducive to staying in bed! I got up really late, had a shower and headed out for lunch! Hehe!

I went to Subway for lunch - I'm becoming addicted! And then I just wandered about the shops I did consider going on a Speights brewery tour or cadburys tour but hey I was having a lazy day!

I pretty much ended the day on the internet and then in bed reading!

Wahey a slow day!

Today I checked into On Top Backpackers. It is a really nice new hostel and only 6 beds in a dorm. They told me that unless they get really busy they only tend to put 3 or 4 people in at a time though!

I had booked on the Taieri Gorge Railway for this afternoon so I had a few hours to kill before then. I went and explored the city, mainly the shopping centre! I bought a cheap book and went for lunch in a food court. One of the best things about eating in NZ or OZ is the asian influence! I can get such cheap asian food - chinese/japanese/thai in food courts and it is pretty much always really nice!

After this I headed down to the railway station. Only one section now houses the Taieri Gorge Railways offices, the rest is a NZ Sports Hall of Fame mueseum!

I was a bit worried as it started to spit again as I walked down to the station and as it had been sunny for a few hours I had left my jacket in the hostel!

Well on the train I had been allocated a seat in the heritage carriage which was cute! The seats could be swung to face back or forward!

We set off and in the buffet carriage a bloke was giving commentary, this was quite good, he's obviously a rail buff!

The first part of the journey was reasonably flat and a bit boring but then we headed across the Taieri Plains into the gorge. It was really nice although it was quite cloudy! The river is quite famous for fishing and there was so much yellow gorse all over the hill sides. Gorse was actually introduced from the UK and it has spread like a weed all over the NZ bush! Everything in NZ grows at amazing rates. They have miles upon miles of pine forest that they use for logging. The pines take 25 years to grow to maturity here compared to 35 years in other parts of the world. Other plants are the Russell Lupins, these are gorgeous flowering plants that come out in Spring mainly in the alpine regions. I have seen a fair few but apparently they are the best up at Milford Sound! These have alos coem from the UK but I've never seen them in the wild like they are here! The drawbacks from all of this introduced growth is that it pushes out native bush which is very rare. Many trees and plants just die out as these take hundreds of years to reach maturity, this includes the Kauri tree which grows in the North Island. The Kauri can live up to thousands of years and is the second largest tree in the world after the Californian Redwood. Unfortunatly they were logged so heavily in the 1800s that only a few hundred remain and they are very young! So in many parts of NZ now they are leaving native bush to grow freely and trying to curtail introduced plantlife!

We went over several viaducts whch are made of steel. Much of this steel is Scottish steel imported in the early 1900s. The railroad took an age to build and the workers had to live alongside the track as they worked! It was mainly built to service the gold rush and then it was used to transport materials to build the Clyde Dam which I had visited yesterday.

We reached our destination of Pukerangi where we picked up a coachload of people joing us from Queenstown on a special connection. On the way back it was seriously chucking it down and a wee bit chilly on the train!

We arrived back in Dunedin and I got soaked going to the Supermarket but managed to stay covered on the way back to the hostel!

I had a bit of toast for dinner and then headed out to the cinema! I was allocated seats and the cinema although not many seats had massive sofa like seats that you could just sink into! No surprises what I watched! Harry Potter! I thought it was really good, the films are defintely getting better each time! Although Hermione annoyed me quite a bit in this one!

It was around 11.30 when I came out so I headed back to the hostel where no one had checked into my room so I had the room to myself - Nice!

Well not such a good start this morning. The lady from Kiwi Experience said that my start time would be 0650 but it was actually was 0750! So the Info and Track centre where I was meeting the bus held my bags for me whilst I went for breakfast!

On the bus there were a few faces from my bus trip down the west coast. I am only staying on today as I plan to jump off in Dunedin.

Our first stop was at Cromwell where the bus that is going Queenstown to Christchurch also stopped, there were a fair few people that I knew off of that bus as well! I said goodbye to a few people as they were all heading up the country to fly away or to the North Island, I still have a while before that happens!

Back on the bus our first scenic stop was the Clyde dam - not very scenic just alot of concrete!

We were driving down whats called the Gold Rush highway! Basically alot of the towns along the way were set up for gold mining so they play a large part in New Zealands history.

We only stopped once for a toilet break and then we headed hrough Dunedin to Tunnel Beach. This was about a 20 minute walk down and then we had to go through a tunnel down to the beach. It was so beautiful, the sun had come out quite a bit by this point so were were really hot. Walking back up took twice as long because of the heat and the steepness of the track!

We then drove into Dunedin City and we went to Baldwin Street which is the World's steepest street! A few people walked up it and back again but I walked part of the way and took some photos!

In town we were dropped off at our hostels. I was at the YHA which was lovely but about a 15 minute walk out of town. I walked down into town and they had a santa parade happening! Really christmassy! The main street was closed off for the floats and bands etc!

Dunedin is gaelic for Edinburgh and all the street names are named after the original - Princes Street, George Street, Moray Place! They don't have a Royal Mile though and in fact it's nothing like Edinburgh at all!

I went to Starbucks and then visited the tourist information office. I found out about another backpackers hostel behind the octagon (the main square) that was brand new. I went and had a look - really nice! So I made arrangements to move there tomorrow!

I went to Subway for dinner and back to the hostel where I met some people in my dorm and chatted to them before I went to bed!

I got up and checked out of my room this morning as I hadn't been able to get a hostel room tonight because they were fully booked so I was splashing out on a double room!

I went and looked around the shops - I have to try very hard not to spend all my money in Queenstown! I have limited myself to one activity a day!

I ended up in Kathmandu which is an outdoor clothing shop (there's one in Covent Garden) and they had a massive sale on 50% off of everything! So I ended up buying a hiking stick with worked out about 17 pounds! I got a few other little things too!

I decided that I would spend too much money if I stayed and looked around the shops to I went up on the Gondola to the Luge track on the hillside above Queenstown.

This was excellent I had six luge rides and I met a girl as I was walking down to the chairlift who was supposed to be doing a skydive but the weather was pretty bad so the skydive company had given her gondola and luge tickets to use whilst they waited to see what the weather would do!

We went down the scenic route first after having our photos taken by the staff! This scenic ride was alot more difficult than the scenic one in Rotorua! So we graduated to the advanced track! Agh it was a bit too steep for me! There were little kids overtaking me all the time but I was like I don't wanna fall off the edge of the mountain! So I stuck to the scenic route after that! We had an excellent time and after the girl I had met (forgotten her name!) went back to see if the skydive was on and I had a panini in the Gondola cafe!

Back down in Queenstown I had to sort myself out as I was starting the bottom bus tomorrow and I needed to put some stuff in a locker until I came back through!

It was great having a double room to myself, I also got to choose the movie being shown on all the TV's that night. As I planned to go and see Harry Potter in Dunedin I watched Harry Potter and Azkaban in the room!

I managed to put a few things into a locker so I didn't have too many heavy bags!

Well I got picked up early this morning to go to Glenorchy and the River Dart (doesn't look like the one in Devon!) and have 'a journey that touches the soul' - their slogan not mine!

Stu was our driver and he later turned out to be my canoe guide and partner! We drove up the Glenorchy Road to Glenorchy! It was so gorgeous driving up along the lakeside, Stu gave us some commentary but I can't remember much!

At Glenorchy - which is tiny - we went to the Dart River Safaris office paid our money and got kitted up. This was awful! Luckily I had been told to bring a swimsuit but others hadn't so had to put these horrible wetsuits over their underwear! Even getting it on was a challenge! Then we had to wear horrible booties! I couldn't even zip mine up and they were awful to walk in! Luckily we were given fleeces and spray jackets to wear over the top!

We were then bused down to the river and got in our jet boats! This was awesome! We jet boated for about an hour and a half and did lots of spins! It wasn't as fast as the excitor in Paihia but it did wicked stunts!

The views were absolutely fantastic! The area we were in was used for the surroundings of Isengard and Sarumans Tower in LOTR! Our driver was lovely he stopped every now and then and explained the history of the area and also about Lord of the Rings! One of the mountains was also where Gandalf fought the Balrog at the end of the first movie! There were two jet boats out at the same time and it was his son driving the other one so there was lots of friendly banter and competition! Especially spraying each other when doing twists!

We then alighted at the river bank where another boat had dropped off the inflatable canoe/kayaks (known as funyaks!). We had to inflate these ourselves (with help of course) and there were hundreds of sandflies. Luckily I had applied liberal amounts of repellent and escaped major injury! They managed to get my knuckles though! Once the funyaks had been inflated we were split into four groups of four kayaks. Stu was my group leader and as I was all by myself I was in the boat with him! He said 'this'll be the easiest day of you holiday!' - No joke I didn't have to anything really. i paddled now and then but he did all the steering with his paddle. I suppose this was cool as I just sat back and enjoyed the views but I was looking forward to a bit of paddling action after my amazing kayaking in Abel Tasman!

We stopped after 45 minutes for lunch, only problem was that we had to walk about a kilometre to where we ate lunch. Normally no problem, but having a wetsuit on and wet uncomfortable shoes over rocks! So I could only take small steps and could feel my scab coming off from where I had blistered on the heli hike in Franz Josef - AGH!

When we got to the clearing we then went down to another river area where the guys had pulled some funyaks up river and we could paddle into the most amazing gorge! I couldn't believe how beautiful it was and how clear the water was! It was obviously formed by water eroding the rock and the water runs straight down from melting snow which was visible from the river! It was so magical, I felt that I had well and truly stepped into middle earth!

Lunch was a buffet affair with make your own sandwiches and then a fruit and cake platter for dinner!

As I had found it difficult to walk in my wetsuit and was therefore last coming up to lunch the Dart River people let me go back in the funyaks! This was way better than walking! It was also a bit rough - small rapids - great fun!

We then all regrouped and made our way in the funyaks down the river! We had to raft up with another funyak as they were finding it very difficult to row! It was interesting though to talk to them, they were a chinese-american couple from LA on their honeymoon! The lady is a news anchor in LA!

Going downstream was so easy we just stayed in the current and it took us all the way down. We had to watch out for jet boats though! We ended up at another bank where we deflated the funyaks and boarded minibuses to take us back to Glenorchy.

On the bus trip - with Stu driving we were shown some of the LOTR locations! Where the ents come out of the forest to attack Isengard, where Boromir was shot by Orcs, Lothlorien woods. It was unbelievable how obvious these sights are! Also this area (called Paradise!) was used for Walking with Dinosaurs and Narnia!

We went past Diamond Lake - those of you have been in my room will know this sight as it is the one on my bathroom door! It was so cool seeing it in real life! The scenery is so amazing with snowcapped peaks, ice blue water, lush green trees - horrid sandflies!

Back in Glenorchy I was so glad to get rid of the wetsuit! I went for a coffee and ice cream in the local cafe before we got back on the bus to Queenstown!

Back in Queenstown I went and had a Fergburger for dinner! Fergburger is the most amazing burgers ever! They have your normal beefburgers, lamb burgers (little bambis), Chicken burgers, etc! And they are massive!

I went back to the hostel room after this and chatted with the dorm mates and went to sleep - I was so tired after today! I am never going near wetsuits ever again!

Waking up this morning I had to get in the queue for the one bathroom/toilet shared between at least 14 people!

I had breakfast and checked out and got a taxi down to the YHA. I left my stuff in storage and went to explore Queenstown!

I visited the information centre and found out about some activities. There are so many, and so expensive! I really wanted to do a Lord of the Rings tour but they are really expensive and I couldn't justify the cost when there is so much else to do!

I found a really good tour with Dart River Safaris who take you jet boating, then on inflatable canoes and you have lunch as well. I also found out about para gliding.

Whilst deciding what to do I walked around the shops and bought an ice breaker jacket, this was really expensive but the clothes are amazing!

I then made my mind up to do the Dart River Safaris and went back to book it!

I then went and checked into the YHA and got my room sorted etc! I walked down to the beach for a wee while where I buped into a few people from yesterdays bus. We sat on the beach for a while it was really hot so I was trying to top up my tan! Some of the guys went for a dip but the lake was freezing!

I then went and got some dinner - I ended up getting chinese takeaway and eating down in the park next to the wharf. I ran into the Yorkshire lasses and we sat and chatted for a bit!

I was still feeling funny from being ill so I headed back to the hostel for yet another early night! Plus the fact I had to be up and at em for the safari tomorrow! I did get chatting to the girls in the dorm, one of whom had done a skydive today so we were looking at her photos and they show movies in the rooms at 9 - it was lord of the rings! So we watched some of that as well!

We headed to Puzzling World this morning which is a bit of a weird attraction! There is a massive maze (1.2 km) and you have to find your way to all four corners and back out again! I found this easy enough but some people couldn't do it! The puzzling world has a holograph gallery with freaky holographs! There is a circular room where there are faces all over the walls with eyes that follow you! Then the weirdest room is the tilted room it's all on a slope and it messes something chronic with your balance! I felt really ill after this! The last room is the little and large room where you can see how in Lord of the Rings they made hobbits appear so small!

The cafe in puzzling world was great as well! They had loads of puzzles on the tables that you could play with and work out! The best was one called tantrix! Weird name! You had 8 blocks and had to make loops out of the lines on them! Sounds weird - it is! But it was addictive!

We then went to a place called Have A Shot where you can play mini golf, go on a driving range, clay pigeon shooting, rifle range and archery. We only had an hour - damn! So I started with the rifle range where I had 30 shots and I did really well (I have the targets so I can show you all when I get back!). I then did Archery where I had 20 minutes and got in about 45 shots and only 15 landed on the target paper! I wasn't so good at this! But it was great fun! I would have liked to tried the clay pigeon shooting but didn't have time. The golf driving range was a real one but it had sheep in the range!! I don't know if this is classed as cruelty to animals?!!

We stopped in Cromwell after this at a fruit shop and bought loads of fresh fruit and the most amazing fruit ice creams!

The next stop was AJ Hackett Kawarau Bridge Bungy Jump! Oh my god these people are mad! We watched stunned at these people jumping, some were flying through the air, some were silent with fear, some actually got dipped in the water and one mad pair did it together! They were off of our bus! It was great to watch but there is no way in hell I would ever do that! Also it is so expensive just for a 20 second experience (you do get a free t shirt though!).

We then headed into Queenstown and stopped off at Info and Track for people who are here to book activities, as I have 6 days here I decided to go back and book stuff tomorrow! I headed to Starbucks and ran into loads of people off my previous bus and off of other buses! I arranged to meet up later with Ruth and Emily who I had seen in Franz Josef last!

We then got dropped off at the hostel which was awful! It was a packed 8 bed dorm with no room to move! The building was really old and not very clean! So I went into town with some of the girls from my dorm and got some food shopping and dinner. Back at the hostel I phoned around trying to find somewhere else to stay!

I met Emily and Ruth in town and they were staying at the YHA Central, they showed me their room and it was massive, only 5 beds in the room, en suite and TV! So I booked myself in the YHA for tomorrow!

We all went to Starbucks then and got some coffee and sat on the beach watching the sunset! I went for a paddle in the lake but it was freezing! We then headed back into town and walked around and headed to the World Bar but it was dead so we went to Altitude which was a bit busier and they were giving away free margheritas!

We stayed in Altitude for a bit but the girls had to get up early to go to Christchurch the next day and they walked me back to my hostel. It was quite dark walking along and I'm glad to have had company!

The hotel that I stayed at was really nice (in comparison to everywhere else!). There were real mattresses! I normally get foam ones which aren't all that comfortable, and sometimes real spring ones are really old so you can feel all the springs! So staying here was lovely! The bathroom is en suite and has a bath tub, according to others on my bus this is luxury! I prefer showers so the bath didn't make too much of an impression!

As I had the room to myself last night I slept until about 1000 this morning! I then had some breakfast and wandered down to the lakefront. I went into the visitor information centre to find out some activities, there aren't many, mainly walks and such. I decided to go shopping instead! I sat on the beach for half an hour which was great! It's so beautiful here with all the mountains and crystal clear lake water! Some people were out on aqua bikes and kayaks, I found out that it was $10 an hour to hire a kayak but as I had only done it once before the guys at the kayak place reckoned I should do some more guided kayaking before I went out on my own! I headed across the road and into town and looked around the shops, ok so I didn't buy anything as I know that when I get to Queenstown I'll spend a fortune!

I had coffee and lunch at a cafe along the lakefront and unfortuneatly I started to feel really sick (my tablets make me feel ill!) so I went back to the hotel and laid down for an hour. I then went and sat in the garden with some of the girls from the bus, I had taken some panadol and was feeling better for it!

We decided to go for dinner, they were going to go to a restaurant/cafe but I didn't feel like a massive meal so I ended up getting fish and chips from across the road. At the chippie I ran into a girl I had met in Franz Josef who is working at the hotel for a couple of weeks! We ended up sat on a picnic table eating our fish and chips together!

The other bus was meant to come in today which I was going to be joining tomorrow but it still hadn't turned up at 2000! So I watched the movie waiting for the bus to come in which it finally did at 2030! I knew a few people off of the bus so we ended up sat in the garden that night chatting and drinking (well me on diet coke again!). They were so late as they couldn't do the glacier hiking the day before because the glacier was too dangerous! So they did it this morning and drove straight through from Franz josef!

One word - scenery it was was amazing today!

We got on the bus early this morning, I'm only staying on the bus for today then spending 2 nights in Wanaka! Thank God, I really don't like this bus driver!

Anyhow we got on early and drove to Lake Matheson to see the reflective lake. We drove through the town of Fox Glacier where there is another Glacier. The views here were amazing, we stopped just down from Lake Matheson where we got views of Fox Glacier and also Mt Cook, New Zealand's biggest mountain!

Lake Matheson was lovely but there was no mirror reflection as there was a bit of a breeze causing ripples over the water!

We then headed onwards and stopped for photos a fair few times as it was such a lovely day! We went for a walk to a falls and some of the guys went swimming, I paddled but it was bloody freezing! We also stopped at a place called Blue Pools, the walk down was through gorgeous country side and then we had to go across a massive swing bride! SO cool, some people were really nervous as it swings so much but no more than 5 people are allowed on at a time, great fun!

Blue Pools is so named because the water is so blue! Basically the water is so cold that the sun reflecting off it gives it a more blue colour than warmer water! Again I paddled - bloody freezing! But quite a few people went for a dip, lots of shrieks!

On the way to Wanaka we stopped at Lake hawea (might have spelt this wrong!) and the scenery was stunning, snow capped peaks, beautiful lake, gorgeous!

In wanaka we checked into the hotel, yes a hotel! They turn one floor into dorms in the Summer for Kiwi Experience, Only 4 beds in a dorm and en-suite, Some lucky people had tellys too!

I went out for a wander around town and got some groceries (we have fridges in our rooms - so posh), and then came back to the hotel. There were a couple of good movies on in the lounge so I stayed in with most of the bus crowd and we watched movies until late!

So I did my heli hike today! The helicoptor part was brilliant, I got about 25 minutes in a helicoptor right over the top of the glacier!

Unfortunatly my guide was dreadful! Before we left the base in the town we were separted into two groups - fast and slow! I was in the slow group as I wanted to take my time because I knew I would be a bit shaky on the ice!

Well when we got up to the glacier the guide asked if anyone was feeling un-confident so I put my hand up and he said that I was to stay behind him until I felt more confident! We walked a little way and my confidence rose and then we stopped in an ice cave which was brilliant and I walked up through it getting someone to take photos! After this the guide was taking quite steep routes and my confidence slipped and he wasn't very helpful! Other people were struggling but he didn't seem to notice them, people in the group also asked to stop so they could take photos but he said no because we had no time!

Back at the helicoptor site a few of the girls had a few words with him as he had been walking so far ahead that he was out of sight for at least 5 minutes at one point!

The helicoptor ride down was brilliant, when we got to the bottom we all filled out comments forms and made bad comments! Then 3 of us went into the main office and made a complaint! It wasn't just me who didn't have time to take photos!

We all left after making a complaint and I bumped into some girls that I did the Great Ocean Road tour with in Australia (small world!) I was still quite upset at this point as I had paid so much money and I'd had a crap time! They suggested I go and try and get some money back so I went back in and I got the guiding fee refunded!

The girls I'd just bumped into arranged to have dinner with me so I went up to the pub to meet them and couldn't find my wallet! I'd left it on a picnic table outside the guiding place! Agh - this day was just getting better and better! Luckily some one had handed it in and everything was in it!

Me and the girls ended up having lunch at a place called the landing and I had a really great dinner with them! I then went back to the hostel and played some pool with people off the bus and had an early night!

Ok so everyone was feeling really rough this morning, me as I was ill and my tablets are horrible! Everyone else was seriously hung over!

So what did the bus driver do? Make us go for walks up massive hills! We did 2 or 3 walks which to be honest I can't remember as I was feeling pretty rough! The doctor had said that walking would actually help so I couldn't even use that excuse! The final walk of the day was when we arrived in franz Josef, we parked up in the glacier car park and walked up to the glacier view point! It was pretty spectacular! Also it was really nice weather so the views were fantastic!

After this we got dropped off at our hostels and I sorted myself out! I'd bumped into Ruth and Emily from Base Auckland so we arranged to go for a drink later on. Back at the hostel me and a couple of the people from the bus went for pizza in the hostel bar - very nice!

I met Ruth and Emily and we went for a coffee in town before heading towards my hostel bar again as all the people off of our buses were there! They were also giving away a free bunjy jump! I put my name in the draw and I had a buyer all lined up if I won it! I didn't!

After this we called it a night and arranged to meet in Queenstown!

Today we drove to an exclusive Kiwi Experience stop the Poo Pub!

We had a later start today and drove up the road to Cape Foulwind where we did a short walk to see some seals. Captain Cook named Cape Foulwind after the blustery cold winds that come in off of Antarctica! The other Foul Wind that you can get here is the seal poo smell! We only saw a couple of seals and they blended in really well with the rocks that they had to be pointed out to me!

After this we headed to Pancake Rocks where the sea had shaped the rocks into pancake stack shaped rocks! It was pretty rough out in the sea today so there were some major waves crashing through the caves!

At Greymouth our next stop we were told that there would be a party at the Poo Pub tonight and we had to get dressed up as anything beginning with a letter P. Prizes included a canyon swing, river boarding and bunjy photos (all for use in Queenstown)! I thought well I don't wanna spend much and none of the prizes appealed to me so I bought a tiara and decided to be a Princess!

At the poo pub (actually called Mahinapua Hotel) I realised I wasn't very well and had to see a doctor so I arranged for this but I had to wait until 8.30pm! I had dinner with everyone else and then saw people getting ready. As I wasn't feeling well the manager Les arranged for me to have a room to myself that night!

I saw the doctor and she gave me lots of tablets to take! But no drinking - agh!

Back at the Poo pub the phone was busy and I needed to call my Mum to let her know what was happening so in the meanwhile I had a look at everyone elses outfits. One of the blokes was dressed as Poo! he had covered himself with chocolate spread and also some bits of sweetcorn (I later found out he won the prize!), there was Pamela Anderson (a bloke!), The panty girls (some ozzie girls), blokes dressed as prostitutes, a couple of girls dressed as pensioners, a girl dressed as a 'pot' plant! You get the idea!

People kept saying to come in later on after I had let the tablets start working but I fell asleep!

We set off early again and it was raining! I was a bit worried about kayaking in the rain so I was umming and ahhing about whether to go or not! We got to Kaiteriteri and it wasn't raining but it was overcast!

I met my kayak buddy - Liz from Lewisham! We got kitted up, what a laugh - we have to wear these skirt things which are really tight (to keep the rain out) and putting them on is really good cos it sucks you all in! We had some basic instruction and a few games to loosen us up!

We then got on the water! We got out and I thought that the kayak would rock quite a lot but it was really stable! We headed out and rafted together for a few more safty things! We then started to paddle, this also was really easy although quite a few people didn'y really get it and we had to push people off with our paddles! We went out a bit further but one of the girls really didn't like it so she had to go back! We waited for the guide to come back and then started heading out into the ocean. It had started raining at this point and the sea was a bit choppy but it was such good fun! If I had capsized it would have been more upsetting to have gotten wet than going in. The water was really quite warm! We kept heading out and me and Liz were doing really well so we had to keep stopping for the others to catch us!

We didn't get out as far as we should have as the weather was quite bad and it was choppy, alot of people weren't enjoying it but we were having such a laugh! We were soaked!

When we were told to head back me and Liz went for it and paddled as fast and hard as we could. We then cruised back in and paddled again to get the kayak up on the beach! I was so stiff from being sat in the same position for 2 hours that I had to get pulled out of the kayak! I was so wet! I then had to have the skirt pulled off me by the kayak guys! I got changed and we all had coffee before I had to get back on the bus.

Back on the bus we drove straight to Westport with a stop at Buller Adventure Tours for people who wanted to do Jet Boating. I figured I had got wet enough for the day!

We stayed at Bazil's Hostel which was really nice, a little bit basic but clean and friendly! I was really knackered so I cheated and had microwavable rice for dinner! This gets boring very quickly but it's all i can cook!