New Zealand - South Island (Part 1)

Kaiteriteri

Our first stop in South island was a lovely beach town called Kaiteriteri. We chilled on the beach in the sun for a couple of days which was nice as our itinerary had been jam packed the last couple of weeks! We had a BBQ with a few of the guys we had met and got on with really well and drank lots of sangria. The hostel was a dry hostel, meaning do not bring your own alcohol, but we decided against this which ended up with ed disposing of the guilty bottles (destroying the evidence) in a child's play ground bin opposite the morning after!

Westport

Next stop as we travelled down the west coast was Westport. This was a really strange town - think of maybe an american west style town in the 60s. One good thing was that I did get to go swimming with horses here! I woke up early leaving ed fast asleep and traveled to a farm near by. We got geared up and I was on a horse called Del who I was told was their newest recruit and a little ditsy! We rode through the forest with amazing views of the mountains and along the river. I haven't ridden a horse for years so I forgot how funny it was to trot and canter- literally makes me laugh so much and I can't stop! We went down to the river and walked through the shallow water which got deeper and deeper. It eventually got to the point where I could feel Del's legs swimming underneath me it was amazing - I got soaked of course but such a great experience!

After leaving Westport we drove along the west coast which had incredible views- it is apparently described as New Zealand's great ocean road. We stopped at the pancake rocks which we got great photos of but didn't get to see the blowholes that are usually there because the weather was too nice which was a shame (sort of!).

Lake Mahanipua

Our next stop was lake mahanipua. I feel bad saying this but we didn't actually see the lake! The main reason the kiwi experience bus goes here is for a massive party so we naturally went along with this tradition. On our way we were told that the theme was a 'P party' so we had to dress up as something beginning with p. As we didn't want to spend a lot we decided to go for a puzzle so bought one and stuck the pieces all over us (creative I know). Some of the other costumes we had were the pope, presents, palm trees, post-it note, pasta, plastic bags and the winner was a public toilet (absolutely gross you don't want to know). Was such a good night here which ended up with us all dancing and singing along with the guy behind the bar who played his guitar until the early hours! One of the girls we were travelling with, Ailie, also wowed us with her amazing voice that she had kept quiet the whole time! Feeling delicate in the morning our next stop was to visit the Frans Joseph glacier.

Franz Joseph

Franz Joseph is a very small town but like most other places in New Zealand, there is something very unique about it. Franz Joseph has the second largest ice glacier in the world. The glacier sits at the back of the town in the middle of a set of mountains that overlook the town and it makes for some stunning pictures.
Unfortunately, our time in Franz Joseph was a little bit of a wash-out. We had 2 days booked and on the day that we arrived, it rained so much that we just stayed in our hostel most of the day listening to music with some of the other guys in our room. There was a heated pool and jacuzzi at the lodge which sounded good  but when I asked about it, it was apparently not open due to a water shortage caused by the drought.......so I turned and walked back through the heavy rain back to our room.
The second day, the rain relented a little so we decided to go for a walk to try and get to the glacier, after walking through a forest for some time, we emerged at the foot of the glacier and could see the size of it. We took a few photos quickly before the grey clouds covered it again and then went back to the hostel.
In the evening we had a few drinks and despite my best effort to win a 64 man - rock, paper, scizzors tournament where the prize was a free canyon swing, I was knocked out in the second round. We also played a game of New Zealand trivial pursuit from 1980 something which, as you can imagine, made the game very difficult to play, let alone win. Other than that, it was pretty quiet in Franz Joseph, next stop was Wannaka.

Love Alex & Ed xxx