Punakaiki was our next cultural stop, the accommodation there was lots of little holiday homes so we split into groups of 10-12 people and each group shared a house. Splash recommended for everyone to cook in each house, so our group decided to make Fajitas for dinner. The house was really lovely, nothing like dorms or a hostel so it was a nice change! There were 3 rooms in our house; 2 rooms had 5 single beds and one was a private double room - me and Odette wer...

We had a long drive from Franz Josef to Wanaka but it was a very scenic drive with lots of stops and little walks with amazing views. We were driving pretty much all day so by the time we got to our hostel it was early evening. Odette, me and the two girls we stayed in Franz Josef with (Emma and Kristeena) went out for a curry then headed back for an early night as we were all still recovering from the night out before! We got up early to fit in a little wander a...

We had an early start from Wellington in the morning to catch the ferry to the South Island. The ferry took 3 hours then we had a long drive to our next stop so the new driver (called Splash!) did a few stops along the way. First was a stop in Marlborough at a Vineyard for some wine tasting! Yum yum! We only sampled a tiny bit of wine as we didn't have long to stop there but it was cool for me to try my favourite wine from the source!! Then we visited a town call...

We arrived in Wellington on Friday afternoon, everyone decided we should go out because a lot of the people on the bus were doing different things from this point so we would no longer be a group. The bus only stops here for one night but me and Oddy wanted to stay longer so we booked in for 3 nights. A couple of girls on our bus were doing the same thing so we all got a room together which was nice because it felt like a private room rather than a dorm. We went ...

Tongariro National Park The activity on offer here was called the Tongariro Crossing, me and Odette had both heard it was a really good thing to do because of the amazing views, we thought that it was some kind of crossing, like a big bridge that you walk along...we could not have been more wrong!! It was a full on 20 kilometre hike up a mountain that is actually an active volcano! It took us 6.5 hours to complete and I think it was possibly one of the hardest t...