Franz Joseph Glacier

On our very long route back to Christchurch we stopped off in the Westland National Park - Glacier country! We had already driven through Fox and Franz Joseph towns in January while our parents were here. Chris and his folks spent a day on the Franz Joseph Glacier, while my parents and I took a trip to the Doubtful Sound. So I missed out on the glacier trip, and felt I couldn´t really leave New Zealand without climbing on some sort of glacier.

We decided, as our money was quickly running out, that only I would do the trip, and although he loved it the first time, Chris wasn´t overly keen to spend a day trekking over ice again. I was lucky..it was a perfect day-lovely and sunny with completely blue sky. I was so relieved it wasn't raining as I really didn´t fancy walking up a glacier in the cold and rain! Apparently this region gets about 6-8 metres of rain per year so it really was a miracle the sun was out.

I opted for the full day adventure and got kitted out with boots, big waterproof trousers and jacket, gloves and the very important crampons- I was ready to go! We got the bus to the entrance of the park and then walked for about 5 minutes before the impressive glacier was in view. It was big! 12 kms long to be precise!

We walked another 20 minutes to get to the start of the glacier. I got my crampons on and got on the ice. It was amazing how stable I felt walking on ice..the crampons were great. There was a great stairway built by ice axes for us to get onto the path ..and a few more along the way-very cool! Our guide was great, hacking away at the ice to make us steps and pathways all day.

It was a great day, we spent about 6 hours on the ice, we were sliding through ice caves and squeezing through very tight crevasses! It was pretty hairy at some points- the gaps we were getting through were tiny! It was all so impressive though..amazing to actually be walking on a glacier. I loved how blue the ice was too..the higher up we got the bluer the ice. The scenery all around us was incredible as well- we were surrounded by huge waterfalls and stunning forest. It was such an experience and I´m so happy I got to do it before we left New Zealand!

Queenstown- Lovely But Too Cold!

We had big plans for Queenstown, we wanted to stay here for 5 months, get a job, then ski and snowboard to our hearts´ content. Unfortunately it was raining when we arrived. And it didn't stop for a week. It was cold and miserable. The plan was to get out of the van as soon as possible as it was just getting too cold to live in it anymore. But we had to get jobs first. This proved to be really difficult..we walked around for a week or so with our CV´s and nothing came up- we got really fed up and so so cold..it was -2 outside and we were living in a van!

Queenstown itself is a lovely place, set on a beautiful lake with some of the best scenery in New Zealand surrounding it. The town is really lively and great fun to be in. I bumped into 2 old school friends while we were there- they were trying to do the same as us-work and play in this amazing place! We had a couple of good nights out with them- the night-life in Queenstown is fun! We found some great spots to sleep with amazing views (as well as sleeping in a car park after a night out and getting woken up at 6am by a banging on the window to tell us we´re breaking the law..whoops!)


I think our highlight of our whole 3 week stay in Queenstown was Fergburger. We had heard great things about this burger joint and was recommended it by everyone! It certainly lived up to the hype..the burgers are simply amazing. Probably in our Top 3 burgers of all time. And the choice..there were so many to choose from it was so difficult to make a decsion! On our last trip Chris had the Big Al- this is a double serving of prime New Zealand beef (1/2 lb), lashings of bacon, a huge amount of cheese, 2 eggs (yes 2 eggs!), beetroot, lettuce, tomato and relish! It was a seriously BIG burger. He ate it all, and some fries and half of my burger too! It was hard to stay away from Fergburger, it was the busiest place in Queenstown..everyone loves it!

So after about a week we really got fed up with the lack of jobs and the freezing temperatures. However my Mum came to the rescue..she surprised us with a week in an apartment nearby! Amazing! We were so happy..Tom was with us too and we´d all got so miserable being so cold so this was so exciting- to be warm for a whole week! The apartment was great - Sky TV, heating and with a gorgeous view over the lake. Perfect. Unfortunately by this point we had pretty much run out of money and made the big decision to leave Queenstown to look for jobs elsewhere. In the meantime we had a fun week in the warmth and really enjoyed Queenstown without the stress of getting jobs.

We walked up the Queenstown Hill one day which was so good..the walk was quite steep but we were rewarded with stunning views across the lake and far beyond. We also took part in one of the many extreme activities on offer in Queenstown..I´ll leave that for Chris to write about!

It is such a lovely area- we were so sad that things didn´t work out and we weren´t going to be staying there all winter. It was a really hard decision to make as we´d dreamt of spending a whole season up the slopes but getting jobs was just so difficult- we had got there too early in the season and people just weren´t hiring at this time. There was also 1000 other people there trying to live the same dream as us- not great when jobs are sparse!

So we were sad to be leaving, but excited about the next chapter in our travels..wherever that may be! Overall, I think the hardest thing about leaving Queenstown was that we hadn´t eaten all the burgers on the menu at Fergburger. Disappointing.

Lake Tekapo and Salmon!

After finally leaving Christchurch we drove south towards Lake Tekapo. The drive was a great one, we passed Mt Hutt, the nearest ski fields from Christchurch and of course those great big Southern Alps came into view again.. and what a view! We arrived at Lake Tekapo in the morning and was immediately amazed at the colour of the water..it was such a bright blue! We, along with herd and herds of Japanese tourists, visited the Church of the Good Shepherd which was built right by the lake and is one of the most picturesque little churches ever.. apparently very popular for weddings.. people come from all over the world to get married here! There is also a monument of a sheepdog in memory of all the sheep dogs that helped to maintain and build the beautiful Mackenzie Country.

We did a fantastic walk up Mt John where we were greeted with the best ever 360 view (I know I have said this before but this really was the best!) It was incredible, the bright blue lake below and then the Southern Alps behind us and fields and fields of …. It was such a good walk..I took an enormous amount of photos!

It suddenly occurred to me while we were up there that this is the reason people love the South Island so much...it really is stunning.

The next day we drove on with the intention of getting to Mt Cook and spending a few days there. We passed another beautiful lake called Lake Pukaki on the way, and reached the first view point of Mt Cook. We were very excited to catch a glimpse of the majestic Cloud Piercer mountain..the biggest in New Zealand. Unfortunately it was completely covered by clouds! We asked at the Isite nearby what the weather forecast was for the next few days and were told to not even bother going to Mt Cook as it will be raining and covered in cloud for 3 days! Oh well. We were disappointed and decided to cheer ourselves up by visiting a salmon farm! The Mt Cook Salmon Farm is the worlds highest commercial salmon farm at 790 metres. Now this was exciting!

We got to feed the salmon and watch them fight and jump out of the water for the food..they were massive! And of course we bought a huge amount of salmon to eat! We had the salmon as sashimi later that evening with some avocado and some sushi rice and it was the best and freshest salmon we have ever tasted! It certainly made up for missing Mt Cook.

Christchurch for Chris´ Birthday!

For Chris´ 27th birthday we decided to rent an apartment in a lovely place called Lyttleton, about half an hour away from Christchurch. We´d been told the restaurants there were some of the best in New Zealand so we were quite excited!

The apartment was great, it had fab views over Lyttleton harbour and across to the mountains beyond. We had had a fun drive there from Christchurch, stopping at Sumner Beach for a walk and admiring the views across to the southern alps.

Once in Lyttelton, we had the difficult decision of where to have Chris´Birthday dinner at! There were so many amazing restaurants to choose from and we would have quite happily eaten at them all! In the end we chose a the very colourful Cafe Volcano. Our meals were so yummy..we made a great choice and had such a fun evening!

We spent about a week in Christchurch and loved it. We spent a day walking around the city which we loved, my favourite part was Sol Square where there are bikes on the walls, colourful graffiti rubbish bins, a Mini car on a wall and some cute little bars. We saw the old tram creeping through the streets and I loved the old colourful Spanish style balcony's on New Regent Street. We walked around the Botanical Gardens, which were a lovely Autumn colour.

We met up with Laura who we had worked with at Highfield, we had dinner with her and then to a great bar with interesting bar stools..as you can see in the photos we enjoyed these a lot!

We also spent time with Stuart, who was leaving for Australia and then home, and his mate Toby..his last night in New Zealand was a very drunken affair of bowling-great fun!

We also went to a rugby game..a must in New Zealand! We watched the Crusaders, the local Christchurch team, beat an Aussie team in the Super 14 competition- we managed to get free tickets after meeting one of the players at dinner one night! It was a great match..very cold though!

We were also taken in and fed up by the Moore family, friends from Sway which we are very grateful to for their kind hospitality!

On our final day we made the 2 hour trip from Christchurch to Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula. The drive their was fantastic with spectacular views of rolling green hills and the gorgeous blue bays ahead of us. Akaroa was a sweet little place to spend a day but a bit too cold to go swimming with the dolphins!

Nelson Lakes National Park

After a quick visit to Nelson Lakes on our way to Abel Tasman earlier in the year I really wanted to come back and see more. It was only an hour and a half drive from Blenheim so we were able to go on our days off. We stayed by Lake Rotoiti which was beautiful with snow capped mountain ranges behind and all around. It was absolutely freezing-it was the beginning of April and we had noticed how cold New Zealand was getting..mainly because we still lived in a van! It was especially cold at Nelson Lakes though..we had to wear a lot of clothing to sleep in and even got the sleeping bags out!

There were a few good tracks to walk around the national park and we chose the St Arnaud track, a moderately steep climb to about 1,700 metres. For about 2 hours the walk up was in forest so when we came out at the top of the tree line the views were amazing over the lake below and the mountains surrounding us! There was a huge amount of snow at the top and it was freezing! We walked another hour or so to get to the summit. The views at the top were some of the best views I have ever seen...I was not expecting it at all-it was simply stunning! We could see for miles each way and had the most beautiful 360 view!

The photos don´t do it justice..it was so good to be up there..we loved it! But it was far too cold up there to hang around sadly so we made our way back down to the lake. I´m so glad we returned to Nelson Lakes..the walk was one if the best day walks we´ve done!

Life in Blenheim

We had made it 1 year and 2 weeks on our travels and unfortunately we ran out of money. We think it was a huge achievement to have made it this far without having to work..others think we are just lazy! Anyway, we realised if we wanted to travel anymore we had to get ourselves some jobs! How exciting. Or not.

We chose to work in Blenheim as this is where all the wine is made! I got a job as a waitress in a winery called Highfield, one we had visited on our wine tour here earlier this year. Chris got a job in the vineyards attending to the vines. His duties included wire lifting, undercutting the vines, pruning, netting and general maintenance with the vines. The money was awful but he enjoyed the outdoor labour. We decided to stay living in the van to cut out on rent costs and we found a lovely spot by the beach called Rarangi. This was home for about 3 months! It was a beautiful beach with amazing turquoise water. We witnessed some incredible sunsets that would turn the sky purple and orange. Due to our silly routine of getting up at 6.30am to go the gym and shower before work we got up with the sun every morning..the only good thing about this was the sunrises..they were magnificent!

We quickly got into a routine, and started to feel at home at Rarangi. We met Stuart who was living in the van next door, he worked with Chris in the fields and we often shared a few bottles of the local Pinot Noir in the evenings. Unfortunately the vineyard work dried up a bit and with about 10 minutes notice Chris was told there was no work for 3 weeks! So he came and joined the waiting team at Highfield which was great..we both earned a lot in tips from the tourists. (unfortunately Kiwi's don't tip so we had to rely on the Brits and Americans!) It also worked better this way as we were able to have days off together- we had a few trips away from Blenheim to Kaikoura and Nelson Lakes National Park. We also went to the local Mussel Festival about half an hour from Blenheim in Havelock. It was a really fun day out and we enjoyed the mussels and wine! We also went to the Marlborough Wine Festival in Blenheim which was a very drunken day out!

We had a few issues with the van while we were in Blenheim..we were on our way to Kaikoura on our day off and he broke down! It was terrible, we got towed to Kaikoura where a mechanic had a good look and kept him overnight. Something to do with the carburettor?! Still not too sure but he told us he fixed him, only to break down again on our way back to Blenheim! It was so sad..we left the van in Kaikoura for a week and we had to stay in a hostel near the winery so we could cycle to work! It was actually quite fun staying in a room but we were so happy to have the van back all fixed and running like a dream!

I think my favourite part of our stay in Blenheim was all the wine! We tried so many and really got to know all the different flavours and tasted some really really good wine. The Highfield wine was superb and we got to drink a lot of it which was great! Its turned into a bit of a problem now as we are now “wine snobs” and only really like good wine..not good for the budget! The staff at Highfield were all lovely and good fun to be with, I organised a staff meal at the local Thai restaurant one night and we also had a yummy BBQ evening, as well as enjoying a few glasses after work every week. Another reason we loved going to work was to see Astro, the winery dog! He was amazing..we will miss him the most!

Tom arrived after about a month and started picking grapes in the vineyards so he was staying at Rarangi with us too living in his car! It was a great little set up and lovely to stay in one place for a while and really get to know it, and also being an hour or so drive away from so many amazing places..it was a good time and I will miss the wine!

Abel Tasman National Park

The next day we made our way up the west coast (and eventually had my birthday dinner which was fantastic!) and onto Hokitikia where we met my parents again. Hokitika seemed lovely and we enjoyed the sea views (and a shower) from my parents hotel room! We then made our way up to Punakaike to see the Pancake Rocks. We arrived just before sunset so the place looked amazing in the light and I enjoyed taking pictures of the funny shaped rocks! There were blowholes in the rocks and we caught a few glimpses of huge amounts of water being blown up and into the air..a great sight!

The scenery along the northern west coast was stunning and we passed lots of golden sanded beaches. We turned inland and had another great drive through the Buller Gorge. That night we camped at Nelson Lakes National Park, just by Lake Rotorua. It was so lovely and we made plans to come back to this area and explore. Unfortunately we did get attacked by hundreds of sandflies though which made the morning washing up and brushing teeth duties quite unbearable.

We arrived in sunny Motueka on the beautiful north eastern coast, also the gateway to the magnificent Abel Tasman National Park. We met up with both sets of parents who were staying in the fantastic spa resort Kimi Ora in Kaiteriteri (who very kindly let us stay in their car park!) We enjoyed tasty vegetarian meals from the restaurant and lovely refreshing showers from our parents room!

We all discussed how and what we would do to explore the amazing Abel Tasman National Park. Chris and his parents decided they would walk the whole park, taking trips in the ferry each day where they finished the day before.


On day 1 they started at Marahau and walked about 4 hours to Torrent Bay where they met the ferry to take them back to Kaiteriteri. The next day they walked from Torrent Bay to Tonga and on Day 3 they went all the way up to Mutton Cove and walked down to Awaroa. They pretty much walked the whole park and did about 40k..great effort!

My parents and I had a great walk on our first day, we got the ferry to beautiful Torrent Bay and walked about 2 hours to Bark Bay. The walk was lovely, the views were great of beaches and sand bars in the distance, and there was a huge swing bridge to walk across too. Bark Bay is one of the most amazing beaches I have ever seen..it was perfect! In fact all of the beaches in the Abel Tasman National Park are spectacular..the sand is so white and the sea is a lovely bright blue, and the backdrop of green forest makes them so picturesque. But we really fell in love with Bark Bay, we had lunch there and waited for the ferry to take us back to Kaiteriteri.

Tom arrived from the North Island that evening, it was great to see him again and hear what he´d been up to! We had a lovely evening out by the beach and Chris cooked a huge Spaghetti Bolognase for everyone from the van. It was a great meal and definitely the most people we had ever cooked for in the van!

The next day we decided to do some kayaking around some of the lovely bays. Chris came with us this day, we set off from Kaiteriteri and kayaked around to the next few bays, passing islands and the Spilt Apple Rock..which looks a lot like a split apple!

The highlight of the day was yet to come though. While sat on the beach waiting for our kayaks, we spotted a very fun activity. It basically consisted of a very fast speed boat towing a rubber ´donut´ ring around the bay and a lot of screaming! We had to do it. And we did. And it was amazing!!

It was so so much fun -I can´t even describe how funny it all was. We just couldn´t stop laughing and screaming the whole time. Tom kept signalling the driver to go faster..and he did! We were going so fast that Tom and I fell out..twice!! I still have no idea how this happened, especially as I was in the middle and apparently the person in the middle never falls out..but of course I did! Chris was definitely the ultimate winner and stayed in the whole time! It was just absolutely hilarious and we wanted to do it again immediately!

The next day Dad, Mum, Tom and I hired a boat from a man called Dave and took it up to explore the park. This was another very funny moment. The boat was bright green and didn´t go faster than about 7 knots. It was a very slow motor boat. We had imagined sailing up the Abel Tasman National Park in style, Tom and I sunbathing on the deck, Mum making cocktails from the bar and Dad relaxing at the wheel. Mmmn, not quite..take a look at the boat..named Ahsleigh Stevens.

So we motored off in our bright green boat. Mum drove it most of the way and Dad directed. I sat and admired the scenery- which was of course amazing! Tom meanwhile, was asleep on the back of the boat. He´d been asleep for most of the morning and we thought nothing of it, he normally slept until about midday anyway. We visited Tonga Island where we saw lots of lovely fur seals lazing around and sunning themselves and then made our way to Bark Bay for some lunch.

Dad very carefully drove us into shore and Mum and I found a spot on the beautiful beach to have lunch. Tom was still asleep. Dad tried to wake him to get him to help with some carrying of bags and he reluctantly got up. For some reason he was so tired..a little bit too tired. We then realised that Mum had given him some sea sickness pills early on in the morning and these had knocked him out! Poor Tom, well at least he didn´t get sea sick!

We had a yummy picnic on the beach and relaxed on land for a bit. I wanted to use to toilets across the other side of the beach so started to walk over there. Unfortunately I walked right into a very angry oyster catcher bird..a jet black bird with a bright red beak. It would not let me pass! Each time I tried it would fly into me and attack me with its beak. I was terrified! Then another one appeared and they both flew at me and poked me with their sharp beaks! I gave up, walked back and told the others. Tom gave it a go and so did Mum but the birds would not let us pass! We figured out they had an egg and a nest and were protecting it (very well!). We wanted to see the egg so took it in turns to distract the bird and the other would run to see the nest! It was really scary but we all managed a quick peek at the lovely big speckled egg!

I was quite glad to get back on Ashleigh Stevens and away from those scary birds! We slowly motored back to Kaiteriteri past incredible yellow sandy beaches and forest backdrop. It was a very funny day- a silly green boat, Tom being drugged by his own mother and a bird attack! My favourite part about our funny boat was the toilet facility at the back- an open air loo!! Fantastic! The wonderful toilet is modelled by Tom in this hilarious photo!

We all loved Abel Tasman, it was definitely a highlight of the trip- Chris, Tom and I made plans to come and walk the whole trek in a few weeks and I couldn´t wait to get back there. Sadly though, it was time for our parents to fly back home. We travelled to Nelson where Ian and Aly were flying from and said our goodbyes. It was such an amazing holiday we´d had with them and it was sad it was over. My parents were getting the ferry back and we had one last night in Nelson..where we went for the best meal we have had so far in New Zealand at Hopgoods restaurant. Mmmmn we loved it!! The next day we said our sad goodbyes to my parents. The whole month with our parents had been amazing-what a holiday!

Wanaka- My Birthday!

My parents and I left Te Anau after a very successful Doubtful Sound trip and drove across to Queenstown for lunch..it seemed a great little town and I looked forward to returning in the winter. We then had a fab drive through the Cardrona Valley onto Wanaka.

Cardrona has a special meaning for us as it was the name of my grandparents house, so we stopped at the old Cardrona Hotel for some cake. Cardrona pretty much consists of the Cardrona Hotel and a ski field nearby..and its a fantastic drive through to Wanaka from Queenstown. Wanaka was lovely too, the lake is beautiful and although it was summer there was snow at the top of the mountains behind it which made it even more stunning.

The 3 of us enjoyed a walk to the top of Mt Iron where we had amazing views of the lake, Mt Aspiring National Park and the Cardrona Valley.

After a few days apart with our parents, Chris and I were reunited on the eve of my birthday. We met about half way between Haast and Wanaka and found a lovely spot by the beautiful Lake Wanaka to stay and spend the next day lazing around.

It was the quietest birthday I have ever had! We had a great big birthday brunch of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs sat by the lake admiring the turquoise lake and the snow capped mountains surrounding us..the sand flies stayed away which was nice! I was then ordered to sit outside while Chris transformed the van with balloons, party poppers and birthday cake!

The rest of my birthday is a bit of a blur..as we watched the sun go down we started the celebrations with a bottle of Rose we picked up in Blenheim the week before..it went down VERY quickly..so we opened another..and then another. We had a huge dinner planned of roast lamb, mint sauce and creamy mashed potato but unfortunately the drinking kind of took over and it was midnight and 5 bottles of wine down before we knew it. Oh dear. We thought about starting the meal but we were both in such a state we decided it wise not to. It turns out this was a decision well made as I then ended my 26th birthday in style by throwing up most of the wine I had just demolished. It was not pretty. Thankfully I then passed out very quickly.

I thought it was all over but at about 5am I was a suddenly awoken by a horrible retching sound from outside the van..then a very high pitch scream and another more ´manly´scream after..what on earth was going on outside the van!?? My head was pounding and I felt so awful I didn´t even contemplate going out to see..then I realised Chris was out there..was he being attacked or something?! Suddenly the van door opens and Chris shouts ´A possum just stole my shoe!' WHAT?! I very much doubted a possum had just stolen Chris´shoe..how and why?! Chris explained he had been vomiting outside when a possum ran into his feet and past him, this possum was apparently being chased by another possum and also ran into his feet and took one of his flip flops. Right. Not what you need when you´re throwing up in the middle of the night! So we both went outside and started searching for this stupid possum who had nicked Chris´flip flop. We found the flip flop pretty soon and Chris later realised perhaps the possum had NOT stolen his flip flop but maybe it had just fallen off..he was in such a drunk state he´d really thought the possum had taken it! What a night! It was an absolutely hilarious birthday!