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I'm traveling in New Zealand now and loving every minute of it!!! I've heard so many people tell me that they wished they would've stayed in NZ for longer and that it's amazing and the south island is incredible, but I still remained a little skeptical as I boarded my plane in Sydney. (I went to Sydney for a few days to celebrate the Australia day, but I'll tell all about Sydney later on, as I will return there after NZ.) I'm more of a city girl than a nature lover, so I worried that NZ wouldn't have so much to offer me.. But boy was I wrong. New Zealand is awesome! Every day has been amazing here, so let's start from the beginning.
I arrived in Christchurch late afternoon and because my kiwi friend had described the city as depressing, I didn't have high hopes and planned to have a quiet night at the hostel. But lucky for me, the was a World Buskers Festival going on and of course I went to see the international talent. The show was great; the setting was beautiful (in a courtyard of an old arts center), the night was warm and eight out of the eight buskers that preformed managed to make me laugh or amaze me by their stunts. My favourite was this funny latino called Mario, who only played Queen while doing his show, so he gets my vote just for his good taste in music, but he also did cool stunts and made this poor fellow from the crowd to sing bits of Bohemian Rhapsody to get his girlfriend back.. Would've stayed another night just to see more of the performers at the festival, but I had booked my Kiwi Experience bus for the following morning.
So I hopped on The Kiwi Experience bus and the fun began. Kiwi Experience is this hop-on/hop-off buss network company, with like-minded travelers and it doesn't just drive from a to b, but does various stops on the way, like a stopping for a swim or for lunch or for some sights etc. First overnight stop was at Kaikoura, on the east coast of south island. There we chilled and had a bbq at the hostel and prepared ourselves for a early rise, since the following day we planned to get up before sunrise and go and swim with the dolphins. And it was well worth the 5 o'clock wake up. As we were on the boat, we saw this beautiful sunrise and then there were the dolphins! First just a couple, then more and more appeared and in the end we were surrounded by hundreds of dusky dolphins who were jumping happily around. I was so excited, couldn't wait to get in the water! We were like excited school kids screaming of joy as we hit the water. You were told to sing for the dolphins, to make them be interested in you (although I suspect it was only for the crews entertainment) but I kept getting water in my snorkel because I was laughing so much at everyones songs.. It was amazing and even a bit intimidating when the dolphins kept coming right up at you from different directions and it took you a second to make sure it was a dolphin and not a shark.. they were adorable, and my face started aching from all the smiling when the dolphins kept on circling me. A great start for the day, I'd say.
After Kaikoura we headed up to Nelson. We stayed there for 2 nights. First night had a big dinner and climbed up to the geographical centerpoint of New Zealand to see the sunset and get a bunch of fun group pictures. We had only been together for a few days but already we had formed ourselves a little family. The following day we rented out two cars and headed to Abel Tasman National park. We took fun jet-boat ride to a beach on the other side of the park, were we chilled and then started our 15km hike. It was supposed to take 3,5hours, but I guess we took over 7 hours, stopping for a swim, having picnic and admiring the views. Me and this swede kept on raving about the beauty of it all..
From Nelson we headed to Westport for a night. I went horseback riding and it was great. The horses wanted to go for a dip, so we ended up waist deep in the river! The others were quite experienced riders in a group apart from me and Brett, an american member of our extended family, so when we went cantering fast, it got pretty scary. Brett even fell of once, so I was getting a bit nervous, but at the same time it was so much fun, I felt like a jockey. In the evening we cooked dinner at the hostel and played games. If you lost in this one game, you had to go up and sing in front of everyone, a song they picked, but when I lost, they picked a lion king song, so I felt it was more like a prize than punishment ;)
Our next overnight stop was by lake Mahinapua. There was a beautiful lake, with snowy mountains at the background and on 800 meters to the other way there was the beach. Not a bad place for a days rest. In the evening we had a fancy dress party and everyone put so much effort in there costumes and we had such a fun night..
We're in Franz Josef now, but I'll tell you more about this place in my next blog, I'm knackered now and have to get an early night, since new adventures await tomorrow morning - the glacier hike! This is an incredible holiday; beautiful places, fun people, amazing activities non-stop..awesome! I'm just on a constant high on life!
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Noora Oi mä niin haluun takas Uuteen-Seelantiin! Harmi ettei me ehditty Kaikouraan! Oon kaikilta kuullu niin paljon hyvää siitä! Meinasitko Anni hypätä laskuvarjolla tai tehdä jotain muuta hullua? Musta tuli siellä ihan adrenalin junky :)