The south island...
After a trip on the ferry we made our way to Kaiteriteri on the west coast of the south island. The west coast is often referred to as the wet coast as it rains so much, but we had amazing weather the whole time we were there.
We spent our time there just sitting on the beach (in hats and scarfs). Next we made our way to Westport, it was a stunning place but nothing much to do there. The next day we had a stop off in greymouth to buy our fancy dress costumes for that night. We stopped off for a few walks and to see the pancake rocks and blowholes. We then went to lake Mahinapua and partied in the poo pub with a cute old man called Les lisle!
We had an early very hungover journey to Franz Josef the following day. At Franz Josef we took a helicopter up to the glacier and had a 3 hour walk along it, this was absolutely amazing and an experience we will never forget! On the evening we went to the glacier hot pools for a nice relaxing soak :)
We left Franz Josef 2 days later and headed for Wanaka where I planned to skydive but it got cancelled twice. On the evening at Wanaka we went to the movie theatre, it's an old cinema with sofas and old cars you can sit in to watch the film, they also have an interval half way through the film where they hand out freshly baked cookies and hot chocolate!
Next on the itinerary was Queenstown! We had a quick stop at puzzling world, where they have a 3D maze and other mind boggling stuff. We spent 5 nights in Queentown but didn't get up to much due to lack of money. We did both get our first tattoos there though!
We just spent most of our days walking along the lake and parks.
We then had a night in Kaikoura, we both wished we could've stayed longer here as they do whale watching and dolphin swimming at reasonably cheap prices. It's definitely on our list of places to visit again.
The next day before making our way to the ferry, our driver stopped for us to go on a walk, we walked along a little stream where we saw a seal nursery, with seal pups playing in a waterfall. They were very inquisitive and came right up to us, it was one of the best things we've done in new zealand.
That was our last stop in the south island before making our way back to the north island.
We had a stop in Wellington again for one night. We then stayed in Taupo again where I finally got to skydive!! The best thing I've ever done and can't wait to do it again. We are now in Rotorua for the second time, then heading back to Auckland for our flight to Melbourne.
We've absolutely loved New Zealand and plan to come back one day as its such a beautiful country.
Kerri & Paul
XOXO