Kiwi Experience

Sorry its been a while, on the West coast of New Zealand and there's not much in the way of reliable Internet access! After our brief stay in Christchurch we jumped on the Kiwi Experience bus bright and early in the morning. It was all a bit confusing, and nobody really knew how it all worked but our driver assured us all it would fall into place! We made friends very quickly on the bus as we were made to walk about and meet people as we travelled north to Kaikoura (might have spelt that wrong). On the way we stopped off at a seal colony and were able to get very close to huge seals, I got a little bit too close and he barked at me a bit and started to shuffle towards me, don't worry I moved just as fast away from him! We relaxed that afternoon in the hostel watching Lord of the Rings (they have copies of it at every hostel here, its their best form of advertising the scenery really!) and Gladiator.

The next morning we were up early (again) and were soon on a boat as we had booked ourselves to swim with dolphins! It was incredible. They are completely wild but were so keen to interact with us. We were in and out of the water a lot as the dolphin pod was moving, we had to follow it, but there were between 600-900 dolphins in the area of water we were snorkeling in. As soon as jumped in (it was freezing water by the way, but were given full wet suits) there were dolphins everywhere. I put my head down in the water and they were rushing past and then I would lift my head out and there would be fins surrounding us all. They were keen to play with us, we had to sing and make noises in the water to attract them. We could also engage with them by swimming in fast circles around them, and they would copy for 4 or 5 rotations. I even saw a pair mating, the guide wanted extra money for that! I was an incredible experience, we are all so glad we decided to do it and it was perfectly sunny weather which was a big bonus. That afternoon we explored the town, and headed to another hostel where Mel and Sara had just arrived. We won't see them again for a few more weeks as their tour takes them straight to the North island.

Another early start on the bus took us to Nelson, where the centre point of New Zealand lies. Here we meet up again with the friends we made on the first bus and have stuck with them since. After a brisk walk up a small mountain we reached the centre point which is marked out with a large plaque and statue. It was a bit miserable that day so the view wasn't too great. We had booked on a trip to Abel Tasmin national park the next morning but due to the bad weather the water taxi to get us their wasn't running, so we got straight back to bed for another few hours sleep! That evening we all went out to a local bar. Cez (one of the guys off our bus) and I got challenged to a pool game by a couple of locals, I'm afraid to say we lost so a victory for New Zealand over England.

Our next stop was at Lake Mahinapua Hotel, a small pub/hostel run by the oldest publican in New Zealand, a guy named Les who is 84 years old! He laid on a huge meal for us of steak and potatoes, went down very well. I should add that by now we were joined by another Kiwi bus so in total there are 100 of us travelling down the West coast. Its been great as it means we can properly get to know each other and we have settled into a group of about 10 or so who we spend most of our time with. That night we had a big party in the pub with a fancy dress theme, everybody had to dress up as something beginning with P (not sure where the idea came from, think it has something to do with the hostel being nicknamed the "Poo Pub"). We were given 30mins earlier in the afternoon in a big shop that sells everything to get our costumes together. I bought a black swimming cap, some yellow card and a ball of string and was soon transformed into a penguin. Ashling went as a pregnant teenager, Liam got help making his costume from a girl off the bus called Karen and they both went as postage stamps. There were also pandas, parrots, Pinocchio, pensioners, plants and plumbers. It was a really great night, also Cez's birthday so there was a big sing song and cake at the end of the night.

Our next stop (yesterday morning) was at a small national park that has impressive blow holes and rocks that look like stacks of pancakes. It was a really nice cliff-face walk, great weather. The kiwi experience drivers never drive for more than a couple of hours before we stop off and see something whether it be a bush walk or a museum or seals, it is nice to be looked after and know we aren't missing anything out. The views are also really stunning from the buses, makes a change from driving in Australia where there was nothing to see! We arrived at our next hostel called Rainforest retreat in Franz Josef and were put in a really nice log cabin. That afternoon Ashling and I went for a walk up to an old mining tunnel where you can find glow worms. It was a 40 minute uphill walk, snaking up a mountain and then we reached the tunnel. It was pitch black and very small with ankle-deep ice cold water flowing through it. So we took our shoes and socks off and started the long walk through the tunnel armed with my phone for light! There were quite a lot of glow worms in the roof of the tunnel but it didn't seem like there was an end in sight so after about 15 mins, and when we bumped into more people we decided our feet had taken enough punishment and headed back out. When we returned to the hostel it was straight into the outdoor jacuzzi to warm up again! After dinner we tried to get back into our room and realised we were locked out, the door handle had broken! A guy behind the bar took us inside for a free drink while he went at the door with a screwdriver and hammer. We got in an hour later with a kind of working door and no lock!

And now on to today! Franz Josef is a tiny township with only two roads each about 50 metres long, but it is famous for its glacial activity. We booked ourselves up for the half day hike. We were told to wear about 3/4 layers and shorts and then they provided us with waterproof trousers, jacket, wool socks, boots, crampons, woolly hat and gloves. It has been raining today too so we were not sure what to expect when we got on the ice! A fairly challenging hike through the bush, up streams and across a small river took us to the face of the glacier. It is an incredible site to see a huge block of ice in the valley, in some places it is moving up to 10 metres a day. We all strapped on our crampons and started the uphill climb onto the ice. The guides have carved rough steps out of the ice and provided rope handrails in places but with the strong winds and hail we were getting it wasn't the easiest of walks! It was very hard to capture the scale of what we were climbing in the photos as we were walking around in the ice through small channels. It was great fun, but freezing cold. At one point it was so wet and windy we had to stand still and just dig our feet in until it passed. Was glad to get into warm clothes when we got off the ice, even with all those layers and waterproof clothes on, everything got really wet.

We are going to relax tonight, next stop is Westport tomorrow, not sure what we are doing there yet, will find out on the bus!