It may seem like I'm milking it with my New Zealand posts but its got to that stage where its seems like a strange a faraway place and I can't believe I went...
Nelson
South Island! We landed in Nelson and enjoyed our chatty taxi driver's stories about his life. Turns out his daughter married a British guy (they fell in love over rugby) and moved to the UK. He said he was planning a trip over hopefully this year. As we only had a precious day and half in Nelson, we wanted to make the most of it.
We jumped on a bus and walked our way to World of Wearable Arts museum which had been recommended to us by my aunty. WOW is an internationally renowned design competition that has been going for 30 years. A very friendly staff member of the museum told us all about the competition and even showed us a couple of bras (from the previous year's bra section of the competition) that were in the boardroom! There were some amazing pieces on display, some of which are above.
The hostel we stayed in was Bridge Backpackers which is very shiny and clean looking from the dinning area and even the kitchen. But we were in the rooms out back, the motel looking part of the hostel. We enjoyed a private bathroom complete with cracked toilet seat and broken door that fell on my friend. We also missed out, on both mornings of our stay, waffle breakfast which was only served between 8am-9am, so for all the people travelling to Abel Tasman (a huge reason why most of the people were there) would have to get the bus as 7am, so who actually gets to enjoy the waffles? Wouldn't recommend the play based on that above but apart from that an ok place to stay.
The next day we went to Abel Tasman, hoping to beach hop with the available water taxis BUT as we booked with ScenicNZ we encountered issues. We were booked onto the coach to Kaiteriteri with the rudest bus driver who can't tell time but when we dashed to the boat for the cruise we weren't on the list so were left alone on the beach while the boat sailed off. Luckily the Wilsons tours lady helped us out and booked us on to a better sounding deal, a cruise along the Abel Tasman coast and then a 2 hour beach stop at Anchorage bay which was beautiful. We had the beach to ourselves! Well, for most of the time.
My advice - don't bother with ScenicNZ, they are terrible! Use Wilsons instead.
Punakaiki
We stayed at the Punakaiki Beach Hostel and had amazing welcoming hosts who told us about all the places to go. A few tracks into the rainforest but they had been partly closed (no matter to us as we had no plans on going on a hike), the glowworm cave hidden in the rocks, a place to go after dark in order to see anything glow and of course the Pancake Rocks themsleves. It wasn't as warm as we had hoped but that didn't stop us exploring the amazing beach! We also went to see the rocks but unfortunately missed the blowholes which can be seen just before high tide. We attempted the caves BUT there was a person in there on their own, the dark, we freaked out and ran away.
We spent the next day attempting to go swimming but the rocky beach was difficult. The funny thing is the water was actually fine, just the damn stones digging into our feet was too painful. We sat on the beach instead, taking in the sea air before we planned for a late lunch/dinner at the local tavern, the only other place, apart from the cafe, that served food. Punakaiki can barely be called a villiage and would usually just been used as a stop off point for people driving but if you are lucky enough to be travelling in the summer months, its worth a few days just for the beacha and view alone.
Franz Josef
After two days of beaches, we took the coach to Franz Josef. We decided just to stay the night and pick up the coach again in the morning for Queenstown as we would have had to spend two days there if we wanted to try getting to the glacier, but it wasn't high on or list of things to do. Not wanting to waste our time there, we did book a private pool at the Glacier Hot Pools when we arrived.
After a relaxing evening and an early night, the drama began in the morning. We had been told by the bus driver the previous day to be outside our hostel at 7:45 am and the bus would then leave at 8am. Two guys from our hostel room were also getting the bus and were a minute ahead of us. We got to the bus stop maybe a 7:46am but no coach. The bastard coach driver had left without us. The guys in our room hadn't said anything either. We panicked and ran to where we thought the bus would be. No coach. We called InterCity who were useless saying he was still checking people in. If we had gone to the original bus stop, we would have been on that coach. After I had yelled at the useless InterCity, my friend calmly took over but they faffed around for too long until the driver said he can't turn back now. I spotted a coach pulling into a hostel where we were standing and in an act of desparation asked the coach driver if he could take us as far as he was going, a stop just outside Queenstown. Thankfully he said yes. We were saved!
My friend and I enjoyed a very sceanic drive to Wanaka, stopping off at Lake Matheson for brunch where we could collect out selves. My cousin thankfully picked us up from Wanaka and drove us to Queenstown. She had arrived a few days early to do some walks and had been exploring the areas herself. It was hectic day but we made it to our destination. The moral of the story is, NEVER USE INTERCITY.
Queenstown
Queenstown is situated right under The Remarkables (mountains). It was overwhelmingly beautiful every time we saw them. We stayed at Base Backpackers which was decent enough. Room for three with private bathroom AND we could see mountains from our window. Downside though, only free wifi between 7am-7pm which is useless as those are the hours you will be out of the hostel. Outside those hours they charge you. If I returned to Queenstown I'd book a hostel with free wifi for sure. Plus the so called breakfast was literally just bread, butter and jam.
Over the three full days there it did rain which dampened the mood on the day we didn't have anything special planned. That was the middle day where we had a fancy breakfast at Ivy & Lola's. The food was delicious, I think I had pancakes and loved it. We also had a wander around town, went to the cinema and endulged in ice cream at Patagonia (there are a few of them around).
First day, we travelled to the famous Milford Sound. This involved getting up early and a very long coach ride. There are a few tour and cruise options, we went with Jucy Cruise which wasn't too bad, but they do offer slightly better versions at different times. Best to look around for what suits you. If you have a car, no need to book the coach, you just need the cruise. Along the way we stopped off at a few places, a few hidden mini tracks that, to be honest would have been much better had it not been pouring with rain.
The cruise was fantastic. I think we were aboard the boat for 90 minutes (could be wrong, honestly can't remember) and went as far out as the sea. Milford Sound is located in Fiordland National Park and is in fact a fiord, not a sound. Even through the rain it was amazing, even better when the boat got closer to the sea. There were waterfalls to marvel at but the best part was when lots of people on the board (including my friend and cousin) stood outside to 'touch' the waterfall. As soon as I realised what was happening I rushed back inside. Everyone was soaked! The boat drove right under the waterfall, twice. As much as I love the water, I like to be prepared for things like that.
In the evening after the long journey back, we had ourselves a famous Fergburger. This is apparently the thing you have to do when you visit Queenstown.
On our last full day, my friend and I had booked a Lord of the Rings tour (plus other bits). We had wanted to do this the whole trip and as plenty of scenes were shot in and around Queenstown, this was the best place to pick. We ended up with a tour that took in sites off the beaten track and got to drive up the 8th most dangerous road in the world and a bit of gold panning in the arrow river. We also had a private tour as no one else was booked, so it was just us and Joe our guide, who was from Yorkshire! in Queenstown, you're always a few inches away from another Brit or Irishman/woman. We got to see some amazing views and found out where Peter Jackson's Summer house is. We also got to stand on the river bank where Arwen says 'If you want him, come and claim him!' and where Sam, Frodo and Gollum set up camp before being captured by Faramir, among other locations.
If you love Lord of the Rings, definitely see about booking a tour. We booked ours with Nomad Safaris.
Later that day we took the bus into Arrowtown where I fell asleep on the way. We had a look round the shops there, had a quick look at the remains of the Chinese settlement and enjoyed some delicious food in the hidden gem, The Chop Shop.
In the evenings we tried a couple of restuarants and cocktail bars, including one of the ice bars (try and find a free entry for this one). On our fourth day, we packed up and all went to the airport, only to find my cousin's flight had been delayed. She got home eventually but it took all day!
Bcak to the North island...
Auckland
We flew to Auckland for our final two days but by this point, it felt like it was time to go home. We stayed at Attic Backpackers which was pretty nice, but we only stayed one night there.
Our last day was more of 'what shall we do for the next few hours' as we had to get back to the airport. We went up the Sky Tower, regretted we went up (neither my friend or I are good with heights), had a calming coffee and had a look round a small part of the city. We also squeezed in two cinema trips over the stay in Auckland as well a last trip to Coffee Club.
We grabbed a last minute slice of pizza then packing up again and headed back to the airport. Fast forward 24 hours and we were home.
It felt strange being back for a long while, partly because of the jetlag that hit us both really hard and partly because we had to get used to not living out of one bag for a month (my friend for 2 months as she had been in Australia before). Back to routine again now but before I stop talking about New Zealand, I've got a couple film related places to talk about...