Day 23- November 25th

We left Wanaka for Queenstown this morning at around 9 which was not too bad. On the way we stopped and Wanaka Puzzling World, a tourist attraction which started out as a single maze, but has now expanded to add 5 illusions rooms, a cafe full of frustratingly difficult puzzles on the tables to solve, and some funky toilets.

So lifelike! (Mural of roman bathrooms in the toilets)

The optical illusion rooms include a set of rooms built at a 15 degree angle, which completely throws off your sense of balance, as there are no windows so you can't see the horizon to gain perspective.
My favourite room of all though was a perspectively confusing room, where people could stand at in different places and appear different sizes. It would be easier to show a photo, as it's very difficult to explain!

Roles reversed

We did have an attempt of the Puzzling World's famous maze, but with the knowledge that the record time is still over half an hour, we weren't filled with confidence. With every twist and turn and dead end, we became increasingly frustrated.

So happy before we got lost

In the end we gave up and left to have a go and the café puzzles instead, which were possibly even more frustrating.

Concentration faces

We got back in the bus and drove for another half an hour or so before stopping at Mrs Jone's fruit shop in Cromwell, a town well-known for its fruit production, which it celebrates by a huge sculpture of fruit, proudly displayed in its town-centre. I didn't like our driver anyway as he was sexist and sarcastic, but when he said we only had 5-10 minutes in this amazing fruit shop I liked him even less.

Fruit heaven

Our final stop before Queenstown was the AJ Hackett bungy centre. Queenstown is known for its extreme sports, but I didn't really have plans to do any. However, it was a gorgeous day and after seeing the promotion video that the centre showed us, I had the sudden urge to throw my self off a bridge. Which a bungee attached though, of course. I'm not sure what was quite going through my head, but for some reason I transitioned from having no interest in bungee jump, to booking myself into the Nevis jump, the highest bungee jump in New Zealand at 134m, 90m higher than the next one down offered by the centre. I had, however, just eaten lunch, and so decided to book in for the next day to be on the safe side.

Looking all inviting...

We finally arrived in Queenstown at lunch time and checked into our hostel. We actually didn't stay in the kiwi recommended hostel this time. When we were in Taupo, we were recommended the Adventure Queenstown hostel by our room mate. Adventure Queenstown was fully booked for the first 2 nights, but we managed to get rooms in her sister hostel- Adventure Queenstown 2- and then would spend the third night in Adventure Queenstown as AQ2 was fully booked for then. Safe to say all the faffing around with bookings was completely worth it. This was by far the nicest hostel we
have stayed at to date, and it was even cheaper than what we have been paying for the base and Nomads hostels- only 28$ per night!

Where's Wally? in the hostel toilets! How thoughtful...,

There were free towels, wifi, computers, Netflix and PlayStation in the living room, hi-tech kitchens, an iPad on the wall to choose your own music while cooking, and much, much more. And don't get me started on the beds. Even though we all were on top bunks in or 6 person dorm, each bed was in its own little pod with a little curtain to draw across, a little shelf with a power socket, and the softest mattress- even more comfortable than my bed at home!

So cozy

We went for a little explore around town, and then I decided to hike up Queenstown hill, as it's the top rated activity on trip advisor, but the others didn't come with me as they wanted to get ready for the bar crawl. It was sunny and surprisingly hot, and I got very hot carrying my heavy rucksack up the steep pathways, twisting up through the pine forest. Pine trees are actually an invader here in New Zealand. Brought over by the British colonists in an attempt to make the country feel more like home turf, they were planted here in Queenstown to give the place the feel of an alpine ski town, however the plants soon stifled native plant life by making the soil too acidic to grow anything else other than pine easily.
The views from the top were impressive- the surrounding mountain ranges, lake and Queenstown itself. Hikers here were very friendly and willing to chat as well.

I think I should end this post here as it's getting quite long. Goodnight!:)

Day 22- November 24th

Early departure- left at 7.30 this morning. It was raining. As much as I thought Franz Josef was a sweet little village, I wasn't sad to be leaving. There wasn't really much going on except the kiwi wildlife centre, which I had my qualms with. I can't knock them too much as they are doing a brilliant job protecting the endangered kiwi, but their entrance fees were way too high which made it quite unattractive to backpackers like us, and also I felt there was something not quite right about how they manipulate the body-clock of the kiwis using artificial light, in order to trick the nocturnal creatures into thinking it is nighttime so that tourists can look at them.
The drive was long, but we made a few stops on the way. The main one was Westland Tai Poutini National Park to see Lake Matheson, the mirrored lake. The water is so still that the surrounding pine trees were captured in a perfect reflection on its surface. Well, they would have been, but it was raining lightly which slightly distorted the image, but you can't really tell in the photos!

Our final stop was the beautiful town of Wanaka. We were only staying here for one night unfortunately, but I wish we could have stayed longer! It had the feel of a small, Swiss alpine village, and was set on the southern edge of its namesake, lake Wanaka. I believe that it is actually a ski village in the winter, gateway to Treble Cone and Cardrona ski resorts.
The area used to be a huge glacier about 10,000 years, and our bus driver Rob told us a story about how the lake was formed by a giant, who was set on fire and rolled down the hill by a price rescuing a princess from the giant's clutches, but I'm pretty sure he made it up as I couldn't find anything on the internet.

Jet skiing on beautiful lake Wanaka

We arrived at Base hostel, which was one of the nicer accommodations selected by kiwi experience. It had social activities going on each evening, and that particular night was boozy bingo, which was quite entertaining. It was like regular bingo but there were key numbers which, when called, meant you had to do or shout something out, and the first one would win free drinks or something. I don't really know. I didn't win anything.

Base Wanaka

After arriving, I went for a little wander around the town. It was stunning, definitely the most beautiful place we've stayed at so far. There was a little artisan market going along along the lakeside which definitely added to the atmosphere, selling breads, soap, cider, flowers etc. I walked round the bay to the famous Wanaka tree, the most photographed tree in the whole of New Zealand. It stands alone in the water, 10 metres or so from the shore. It's a very photographic tree I must say.

Photo creds: Lily Bayliss

I also visited a nearby park. There was an archway of roses and I didn't really understand what it was though; it was completely empty. There were houses around which I though were museums or protected buildings. Although, looking back I think it might have been someone's house. Oops.

Trespasser or park-goer?

Another cool thing that Wanaka has is terracotta tiles lining the Main Street which make up a time line of the years, and have memorable events which happened in each year written in sharpie on them. That explained why I had seen people earlier walking down the street with their eyes on the ground and their necks twisted sideways at an awkward looking angle.

Interesting...

Day 21- November 23rd

One month until my birthday! Woke up this morning and it was looking pretty grey out.  Everyone else was still asleep so I went down to the kitchen to make breakfast. Most mornings I have been eating oats soaked overnight in water, sometimes with some chopped fruit on top. It sounds bad. It's not that bad. It's like cold porridge.
I was minding my own business, eating my breakfast when someone came to talk to me. It was fairly early and I wasn't really in the mood for talking, but one thing I've learned from travelling is everyone is always at their friendliest, and it would do you good to be friendly as well. People always have tips they can give you about places they've been, or just general interesting things to say. It was the boy from Westport again. Turns out we're going to be in Australia at the same time, so may possibly see him again at a later date.

Rainforest terrain

Yesterday, Emma had booked herself onto a quad biking tour, so Lily and I decided to head up to the glaciers for a hike. It was cold and wet and disgusting. We walked through rainforest terrain which really confused me- we have a climate just like this in England, so why don't we have rainforest there? We got to the viewing point where we were supposed to be able to see the glacier from, but it was way too cloudy and we couldn't see a thing. It was still pretty scenic though, and the valley looked all mysterious in the fog.

Don't fall

We headed back to the hostel and by the time we were got there, we were absolutely drenched. It was mid afternoon so we didn't do much for the rest of the day; FaceTimed some friends, tried to do some laundry but had no money and the only ATM was out of order, cooked dinner, chatted with some people.
Meanwhile, Ems was having an amazing time out on the quad bikes. Unlike hiking, where rain ruins everything, rain and mud makes everything even better on bikes apparently! I will end this post with a guest entry from Emma Davenport herself, about her quadbiking experience...

It'd been raining non stop for the past 2 days so quadbiking was an awesome way to spend the afternoon. We all had to complete a test circuit to learn how to counterbalance and go over steep terrain. Our guides were kitted out with a fire extinguisher and a shovel so we knew it was going to be fairly intense but heaps of fun. We went in a line and had to keep to a max speed of 30mph. Me being confident and probably a bit dumb revved it up to just under 50mph. The quads were proper 4 wheel drive, off roading toys and looked pretty mean! The scenery was stunning, sadly as it was raining we couldn't see the glacier but we weaved between the old river bed at the foot of the glacier and the rainforest. According to the guides this was the site were the directors of Avatar got their inspiration for the movie set. So all in all, it was pretty spectacular and proved a great landscape to ride on with deep mud trenches, rocky beds and a fast flowing river. Fortunately we were kitted out with wellies and full waterproofs so we were prepared to get drenched! Definitely recommend this trip, had an awesome time and it's perfect for everyone even if you don't wanna drive and just be a passenger! 

Don't snap and drive, they said.

Day 19- November 21st

We left Westport at 9.30 in the morning and started on the long trip to Lake Mahinapua Hotel.
Some people had gone surfing that morning, so whilst waiting to pick them up, we went on a short coastal walk in the drizzle. The views were dark and brooding, and reminded me of something out of Wuthering Heights or Pride and Prejudice. I actually think the rainy weather helped enhance the atmosphere of the place!

Mysterious

Near the end, we looked down from the cliffs and saw some seals on the rocks below! They were rolling around and looked pretty playful and cute, but were well camouflaged and it was hard to photograph them.

Spot the seal

We drove a little more and then stopped at Pancake rocks for lunch. They were no where near as exciting as they sound, but were still quite unique. Apparently, mildly acidic rain, wind and seawater sculpted the bizarre shapes in the rocks.

The layers in the rock (to the left) look like stacks of pancakes

Our final stop before Lake Mahinapua was Greymouth. The town got its name from a disease that originated there many years ago. It affected sheep, and caused the infected animal to lose its teeth and its mouth area would go grey and nasty, and eventually it would start foaming at the mouth. A bit like zombie sheep.... Only joking! This was the story our bus driver told us, but it was funny how many people believed him!

A friendly duck

The purpose of our stop in Greymouth was to buy costumes for the fancy dress party we were having that evening. We only had one hour and the theme was 'under the sea' which should have been fairly easy, but we were lacking in inspiration somewhat. Well actually, I had lots of good ideas I though, but they just weren't appreciated!

'You could go as a sea-troll'

I already had a blue dress so I was going as the sea, and Emma managed to find some yellow marigolds and blue paint and was going as Dory from finding Nemo, and Lily was going as a piece of seaweed.
We arrived at Lake Mahinapua hotel which was in the middle of no where, and were welcomed warmly. We actually had the whole place to ourselves which was probably quite a good thing. The dorms were quite small, but the showers were clean and hot.

Cows outside the hotel

Before we started getting ready, we had chance to do some jade carving, a traditional stone for the Maori tribes. We made necklaces; mine was the worst- it was a wonky diamond shape. But Lily made a sweet star and Emma made a droplet shape.

Sanding down her jade stone

The party that night was good fun. The music was good and there was a lot of dancing. And there were some seriously creative costumes going on! One guy had gone full out and was wearing a pink women's dress and had a clear umbrella with pink crêpe paper hanging down in strands for his jelly fish outfit! It was actually a competition for the best dressed, and the prize was a gorge swing in Queenstown. We find out the winner tomorrow.....

Looking good

Day 20- 22nd November

We were only leaving Lake Mahinapua at 10.30AM today, so I had time in the morning to go for a long walk along the beach. It was very peaceful, as no one was awake yet, and I had the whole beach to myself.

Sweet solitude

It was only a short drive to the small village of Franz Josef, so we did the journey in one go, with only one short toilet break (there was a playground so we got to go on the monkey bars!). We arrived in Franz Josef at Rainforest Retreat late afternoon and had a welcome talk from the owner. This is a seriously nice hostel, and they treat the kiwi experience passengers very well. There is free wifi, a free 20 person hot tub and sauna, a pizza buffet every other night, 2 free mountain bikes for hire a two hour happy hour at the bar with $5 drinks (usually $8), a giant kitchen and hot, powerful showers.

Rainforest Retreat, Franz Josef

We were fairly tired from the night before, so we had a chilled afternoon. I went for a run along the river towards the glacier which was beautiful. Then we cooked dinner together and chatted with some people we had met, before heading to bed.

Cloudy blue glacier water, caused by tiny, silt-sized particles of rock which make the water appear cloudy

Oh and the winner of the fancy dress was an American boy who dressed up as sponge bob square pants.

Day 18- November 20th

ANOTHER travel day. It seems like there isn't much going on down the west coast of the South Island, and the stops we are making are only really to break up the journey to Queenstown in the South. Don't get me wrong, it is really beautiful. We stopped off at Kerr Bay on the bus journey from Kauteriteri to Westport, where we took some stunning scenery photos of the water and mountains. But the drive took all day, and we only arrived at Westport in the evening.

The hostel was so nice! It was called Bazil's surf school, and was part of the BBH hostel group, like the one we stayed in at Rotorua. The kitchen was the best bit- it was fully equipped and had a huge spice rack. With a bit of tumeric, fennel seed, chilli flakes and cumin, our normal, slightly bland dinner was transformed into something way more exciting and restaurant-worthy!

That evening some people got the bus to the beach to make a bonfire but I stuck around at the hostel because, to be frank, it was absolutely freezing outside, and I had met a couple of guys whilst I was cooking, who I had got talking to. One of them was really interesting- he was Austrian and a film maker, and was travelling around New Zealand to get inspiration for his films. He showed me some of his movies- he had done a few music videos which were actually really good, considering he barely had any budget to work with. I wish I could remember the name of the band so I could post the link! He also told me that he had done WWOOFing in river valley where we had been the week before. WWOOF stands for World Wide Association of Organic Farming and basically, volunteers can go and work on a farm, usually with food and accommodation provided. This is something that I would really like to do, perhaps when I get to Sri Lanka, because I'm interested in learning how to grow and maintain crops so that I can have my own fruit and vegetable garden some day!

NO PHOTOS were taken this day......

Day 17- November 19th

We had no activities booked to day. We were free to do whatever we wanted, which was a very nice feeling indeed after being constantly on the move for the last few weeks. We were torn between biking and hiking today, and ended up choosing hiking as it meant we didn't have to spend any more money!

Kaiteri lodge 

We had breakfast and made sandwiches to take with us, then headed out for the day. We were planning to get to the closest big town to Kaiteriteri- Motueka. We were following some very loose instructions from the receptionist, who told us to follow the 'easy rider' bike path. However, after walking for around two hours, maybe more, we had that crushing moment where we realised we had actually been walking in a circle and were heading back towards the hostel.

Information on Maori spirits

There was no point in going back on ourselves as we had already come too far, so we carried on to Kaiterteri beach, where we climbed up to the cliff top and had lunch with a view.

Not bad

Then we had another go at Motueka. We walked along a nice coastal path which was all well and good, until it stopped and we hit the road, and we had to decide which way to go. We were faffing around with the map by the roadside, when a woman came out of her house with her dog, Ewok, and gave us some directions. Ewok was a Tibetan Spaniel, an adorable and fluffy breed of dog which were originally kept by Tibetan monks in their monasteries as watch dogs, and slept with the monks to keep them warm at night!

Hi Ewok (this is actually Ewok's brother from google images)

We had to walk along the road a bit, but then found a trail which took us through orchards, vineyards and hops fields until we reached a town. Unfortunately, it wasn't Motueka, but it had cafés and so we managed to get a smoothie, a milkshake and a coffee, before starting off on the long walk home.
We were so lucky today, because the weather was gorgeous and we had a lovely day, but it could have so easily gone the other way if we'd been stuck in the middle of nowhere and the heavens opened!

Good vibes     

I cooked dinner again for everyone tonight- roasted potato and pumpkin slices with spiced black beans and some seasonal greens, requested by Lily!