A piece of advice, New Zealand is very beautiful but DO NOT go in Winter, i am not joking when i say it is freezing. There have not been many days when the temperature has been above zero.
As i mentioned in my last entry i was in Queenstown and planned to do some horse trekking in the afternoon. I really enjoyed the horse riding and we rode in an area called Glenorchy, alot of scenes from Lord of the Rings were filmed here, its all very beautiful (v.cold) . After the horse riding Fay, Hannah, Anna and myself could no longer feel our feet so we went to the pub for a drink before being picked up and taken back to our hostel. That night was fairly quiet as we had to be up early for the trip to Milford Sound the following day.
19th June (my birthday, yippee made it to 32) as mentioned we were up early, about 5.45am to make our way to Milford sound. My group and the tour guide had decorated the living area in balloons and streamers for my birthday, i got a card and some pressies which was really nice-a good start to the day! The drive to Milford was four and a half hours long, the scenary was fantastic, lots of snow (unusual for a June birthday) but very cold. After the coach journey we then had a boat journey of two hours before the long haul back to Queenstown. Everyone was shattered but i had a really nice birthday tea, and Sue (tour guide) made me a birthday cake with a big 32 in green shrek M and Ms, which was kind.
The following day (Wedensday 20th June) a few of the group went skiing while some of us went for a walk around the shops in Queenstown centre. It is great booking activities but then you miss out on getting a feel for a place. Had a very nice day anyway and in the evening off out to the pub, which turned out to be a very drunken evening indeed-but very funny!!!
Thursday 21st June in the morning we made our way to Arrowtown, a quaint little village with nice shops and just to the side are the remains of a Chinese settlement. There is lot of history in this town but again, very cold. We had a lovely gourmet pie to eat and had a few hot chocolates and by the time we went outside it seemed a little warmer. Then the snow came and it didn't stop snowing for quite some time, so much so that we stayed in Queenstown for 7 days, missing out on Mount Cook, which was such a shame but i do not think we would have seen anything anyway. By the time we left Queenstown (Sunday 24th) moral was a little low, but we were just glad to get out and carry on our trip. We had a one night stop in Christchurch and then made our way to Nelson. Before Nelson we were to stop at Kaikoura to go whale watching, unfortunately due to the bad weather it was cancelled, so instead we went wine and liquer testing-mmmm!That evening we stayed at a lovely hostel called the Accents of Trafalgar, really homely. We were here for two nights. The following day we spent in Able Tasman National Park, first sailing and then we did a 15km hike. (good scenary). Shattered that night we had an early night and then the following day we made our way to Wellington in the North Island of New Zealand. Wellington has a really good feel to it, lovely botanical gardens and an interesting museum. I like it because i was asked to prove i was over 18 in one of the bars, this also happened in Queenstown ( i like it there too). Today i am in an area called Ohakune where i am meant to be doing a 7-8 hour hike on the Tongariro crossing, however due to bad weather it has been cancelled and i am full of a cold anyway so probably for the best. Only five days left of this tour now, even though New Zealand is very beautiful i must say my enthusiasm is waning a little, plus i just can't get warm-craving tropical weather!! Will be in touch soon.
Andreax
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