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After a stupid’o clock flight we arrived in Christchurch ready for a bit of a detox after crazy Sydney. Christchurch is very much like England – very green! We explored the city a bit then headed to Summer Beach for lunch.
The next day we started our Kiwi Experience tour. We spent the day traveling from the east to the West Coast stopping off at some stunning waterfalls and walks before arriving in Westport, which is a tiny little town! Once we were there we headed to Buller Adventures where we decided to go horse riding. I am a bit of a virgin horse rider, unlike pro Katy, but went full force, learning how to trot and gaunter (fast!). It was hard at first, had a very sore ass!!! But soon got the hang of it, and riding my horse Carlos through a lake was amazing.
Our next stop down the west coast was Lake Manipuri. We stopped off at a lovely walk called Foulwind where we saw wild seals and then the famous Pancake Rocks where we saw some wild dolphins. We got to a little farm where we were staying that was on the beach which was secluded. I have never been on a secluded beach before and it was amazing! We had a massive group dinner where I tried Deer (tastes ok just felt really guilty eating bambi!!) then a fancy dress theme night, you had to dress up as a letter of your name so me and Katy decided to go as the Kiwi Bus and our driver Jackie (will explain those odd pictures of me trying to drive Katy – I should know better than to drink and drive but her wheels were made of cardboard so I reckon I am still on the right side of the law).
With some serious hangovers we all piled back on the bus and headed to Franz Joseph, not before stopping off at the oddest museum where we learnt about the kiwi way of catching deer (throwing yourself from a helicopter onto the deer?!) where I also met a random huge black pig (I am not being Jade Goody, it really was black). We finally got to Franz Joseph, which really reminded me of The Rockies in Canada. We took a helicopter ride up to the Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers – was quite scary! And odd being on snow after being on the beach the day before. I felt like I was in some kind of Rambo film flying over the mountains like that. Then we relaxed in the Jacuzzi – traveling is SOOO hard!
After some rest in Franz Joseph we headed to Wanaka. It really is stunning here, a beautiful lake backdrop, which again reminded me of the Rockies. We stayed in a converted hotel so we had the massive luxuries of a TV and a bath so we never left the room! Just watched films till 2am! This late night nearly made us miss the bus the next day cause dippy me set the alarm wrong. Luckily the bus turned around for us and away we headed to Queenstown.
Queenstown is the adventure capital of the world and we felt obliged to do something stupid so we booked a Canyon Swing, which is a 60 meter free fall before heading down another 50 foot into a canyon (you may have just seen Jack Osborne do it on his ‘Adrenaline Junkie’ show). It was the scariest s*** I have ever done!! I really thought I would going to have a heart attack but it was incredible – much scarier than the skydive. I really was genuinely terrified looking over that edge about to fall into nothing and I did cry my eyes out when it was all over. Katy was hilarious too – took her 10 minutes to jump, I got cramp holding the camera! We spoilt ourselves a bit in Queenstown, going out to eat and going out on the piss. One night we ended up in a club that serves alcohol in teapots! That was a messy night, which resulted in me and Katy play fighting in our hostel corridor, her elbow dropping me to the floor and me rolling her down the corridor in a bin. Great pics of that night! We spent a few days in Queenstown, just chilling by The Remarkables (the famous mountains there) by the lake and doing little much else.
After Queenstown we headed back to Christchurch, stopping off at aqua blue Lake Pukaki, stunning Mount Cook (where unfortunately those 2 Japanese tourists just died) and Lake Tekapo. After a one-night stop in Christchurch we headed to Kaikoura. This place was stunning!! The wildlife here is incredible so we decided to go swim with wild seals. The water was freezing! But was an amazing experience, those things jump all around you and are actually quite cute, they copy everything you do. That night we sat around playing drinking games with some of the bus and how random was it that one of them used to go to uni with us – so we sat around reminiscing all night drinking snakebite!
Wed 17th Jan was a day I had been waiting over 3 months for – the day I finally got to see Noddy again! We left Kaikoura and I was so nervous as we headed to Picton where Apu picked us up. Apu and Noddy are guys we used to live with in Vancouver and I was seeing Noddy before we left Vancouver. Apu picked us up in his death trap van (which we ended up pushing up and down hills all week) before we made to two-hour journey to Nelson where they both live. That night we all went to Fozzys (their best mate) for a BBQ and far too much beer and wine – too much in fact that Noddy even managed to be sick on my foot – how romantic!!
The 10 days in Nelson consisted very much of drinking, driving (while having water fights) around the views, eating and hanging out with everyone in Nelson. We met some fantastic people, we had a lovely dinner with Apus mum and dad who are legends! They live on a boat! Fozzys beautiful daughter Taylor who made me chase her around his house, Corrine who told me to never marry unless I was 100% sure, Anne, (Noddys step mum) who looked after us and got Katy addicted to the tennis, Jimmy, (Noddys dad) who scared me! Crazy Katie, Noddys cousins and aunts and sister…(he has a big family!), Chris (Andy’s brother) who cleaned up after us and shot me in the arse when we played paintball for his birthday up in the hills (he was supposed to be in my team!!) and of course I was in my element being with my new boyfriend Noddy everyday – I think katy and Apu got quite sick of us being so loved up. I actually have to give a special mention to Apu who is a tank and got so drunk one night he actually pissed himself! And I thought you were the new bobby! How wrong was I? Bobby would never fire truck himself! But you were a legend Andy, thanks for looking after us.
We also went to Kaiteriteri beach (has golden sand); Tahunanui Beach (where I got the shape of my ipod burnt on my leg from the sun) saw the Milky Way and comets in great detail. I had an amazing time in Nelson and cried my eyes out when I left. Me and Katy arrived in Wellington and I was SO sad to have left Noddy I could not stop crying and those who know me know I am not a cry baby normally! I did not plan to fall in love when I came traveling but he is the sweetest, cutest, funniest man ever and it just happened. Poor Katy had to put up with me being miserable in Wellington but despite the tears we went to the Papa Museum which really was one of the best museums I have ever been too. Wellington was beautiful – for a city it had a beautiful beach and a great atmosphere. We also went up the old fashioned cable car but it was so windy after some pics of the view we came back down. After Wellington was Taupo, which to be honest by this point it just looked like all the other little towns I had been to in NZ – or maybe I was so miserable I didn’t care! Katy was pretty sick of my crying by now, as much as a sweetheart that she is I bet it was no fun for her so we had a long chat and I decided to go back to Noddy in Nelson for 5 days. I had had enough of the bus, towns and backpacking and just wanted to be with him – Katy was a diamond and could see that’s where I needed to be so we decided she would carry on to the Bay Of Islands while I went back to Nelson – not before stopping off in Rotura and Auckland first with her. Rotura is where we did our much anticipated Zorbing! Rotura stinks because of all the thermal activity! Even though its cool to see all that bubbling mud it really did smell really bad! Zorbing was wicked though. Basically they put you in a hamster type ball, fill it with water and push you down a massive hill. It was SO much fun we laughed so much, there were limbs everywhere! After Rotura we headed to Auckland which reminded me a lot of Sydney. That night I flew back to Nelson and the pain in my heart started to lift a little! Seeing Noddy again, and being able to spend time, just me and him, was perfect and just what we needed. We spent a lot of time watching films, driving around, going to the beach, visiting his friends and family and just chilling out. We also went camping for the weekend to Elaine Bay to do some fishing and it was a fantastic weekend. He is a fisherman and taught me loads about how to fish – Elaine Bay was beautiful (and romantic! – saw the moon rise!) and we had great fun fishing and camping. Was not great fun leaving him again after the time was up but felt much better than last time having made the most of the time we could and were really going to try and make it work – he is going to oz for a bit, then coming to live in England for a year so watch this space! Having missed Katy like mad I got back to Auckland and we had a nice couple of days chilling out, going out for dinner, walking around town and taking to ferry to nearby chilly Devonport.
We left Auckland on the 9th Feb and went to Perth for a night – which was very relaxed and much more Oz than the east coast but it was only one night there until we were off to Hong Kong……!!
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