The Westland

Moving down from Nelson and Westport we have seen even more: New Zealand's landscape is absolutely amazing, even in the rain! It seems as though this country is in itself a wonder of the world, every day we have travelled the west coast of the South island it feels like we have visited numerous different countries!

Our first stop after Westport was Lake Mahinapua (Ma-hee-na-poo-ah) where we stopped at the 'Poo Pub' for one night. This place was in the middle of nowhere and was all part of our Kiwi tour. Basically it is owned by a Kiwi leg

end, 83 year old Les Lisle, who accommodates bus loads of Kiwi Experience passengers every night in his cosy pub! We were given the task of dressing up in anything we could make out of black bin liners, fed a huge meal of steak and Venison stew (extremely yummy) and allowed to dance the night away to the juke box! At the end of the night we all put warm clothes on and walked down to the lake in search of glowworms which were absolutely amazing to witness...it was as if the trees and bushes had been lit up by natural fairy lights under the full moon - brilliant!

Our day hike of Franz Josef glacier was definitely one of the best days of the entire trip. We were properly kitted out in warm and waterproof clothes and led by a professional guide up the ice, witnessing some of the most unbelievable sights ever; crawling through ice tunnels and across! In spite of the cold and wet we laughed our way up and back down the glacier.

Upon reaching Queenstown we both decided to get involved in the real extreme sport

s, Dunkley for the Shotover Canyon Swing and Evans for the Nevis Highwire bungy (which, at 134m high is the third highest bungy in the world!) Our bravery has certainly been  tested  and luckily we have photo and video evidence to prove our madness!! Unfortunately we have been plagued by rain in Queenstown but it has been a good excuse to indulge ourselves in many an infamous Furgburger and have a few nights out and long-awaited lie-ins!!

From Queenstown we also took a day trip to Milford Sound. Luckily we had beautiful weather, and were able to stop at the foot of huge mountains to play in the deep snow as well as having clear blue sky for our cruise  through the stunning fiord and under waterfalls! 

We've definitely been filling every hour of each day, most days up before 7am and on the road shortly after. It means we have been able to enjoy lots of walks between each town, and visited the pancake rocks and blowholes of Punakaiki, as well as having some fun being baffled by the maze and mind tricks at Puzzling World in Wanaka (a perfect little lakeside town).

This week we are literally moving onwards and upwards through New Zealand: Back to Christchurch for a couple of days to see Larry and family again, before making our way up to the North Island (which we will hopefully be able to fit into our last week here!)