Day 5… Westport to Lake Mahinapua

Today we stopped at the Punakaiki Pancake rocks on the way to our hostel. The rock cliffs were at the end of a short walk through a rainforest. There was a really powerful blowhole in the side of one of the cliffs. The blowhole reminded me of The Rescuers Down Under, which was one of my favorite childhood books.

We stayed at the Poo Pub; it’s a combination pub and hostel in the middle of nowhere on the West Coast. The pub is located in a town with a population of one… the oldest publican in NZ. Every Kiwi Experience bus stops here for the night and has a bus party to break the ice and awkwardness. We all voted on a party theme… stereotypes. I was a stereotypical American: blonde wig, cutoff shorts with leggings, I ♥ NY tank top, red lipstick and fingernails. It was a lot of fun, though not necessarily my scene.

Day 4… Nelson to Westport

We had another long day on the bus today. Thankfully it’s the last long day for a few days. The scenery is out-of-this-world though!! It’s impossible to describe and also to be captured by camera. We stopped at the Nelson national park. Kelsey and I took a two-hour hike with several American guys around the Nelson Lake. It was great to be surrounded by familiar accents for a little while. Although several of the guys from the bus decided to jump in...

...I only made it up to my knees.


The water was 5.4 degrees Celsius. That’s a bit too cold for my tastes. Now a bunch of us girls are sitting around the fire watching Bridget Jones Diary. We watched the first Lord of the Rings film with the guys, and then they decided to go into town. Hooray for chick-flics and warmth! It’s been a great day.

Day 3… Kaikoura to Nelson

We stopped along the way to Nelson for lunch at a national park. We hiked for about 15 minutes to a swinging bridge and had lunch overlooking a beautiful river.




After a long day on the bus, we arrived in Nelson at 3:30pm. Nelson’s claim to fame is being the sunshine capital of New Zealand and also the geographical center of New Zealand. We hiked to the top of the mountain during sunset and took pictures at the center.



Most of the bus hung out around the hostel after dinner, so the night was full of great conversation.

Day 2… Christchurch to Kaikoura

It always make you feel safe and secure when you cross a bridge with a maximum load of one person...

We boarded the Kiwi Bus at 7am, which was really 6am because of daylight savings time. If you can’t guess, I was not thrilled to “spring forward” twice in one year. The bus is nice and big with lots of friendly people. After one stop for breakfast, we arrived in Kaikoura around 11am.

Kelsey and I decided to take the three-hour hike around the peninsula. We ate a quick takeaway lunch from a seafood stand. I had a L&P soda with a Whitebait and egg sandwich. The fish still has eyes in the sandwich… I love when my food stares at me. Kelsey and I enjoy ordering different dishes and going halvies. She had a tasty Blue Cod sandwich. Because I lost my camera, I don't have pictures of our food, but we met a Whitebait fisherman who let us take a picture of his catch. This is Whitebait...


Check out the beautiful views from our hike… the Kaikoura mountain range took my breath away all day... and we saw seals for the first time!!

Skipping to the present...

It's really hard for me to reflect on my school life, but I'm working on updating the past few weeks. I didn't want you guys to miss the sick awesome vacation I'm currently on though. I typed this blog post when I didn't have internet. The [] marks are supposed to be pictures. However, I've lost my camera (and actually think it was stolen), so please pray for a miraculous recovery. Seriously! I have to get it back. So use your imagination when you see a [] and hopefully I'll fill in with some of Kelsey's pictures later.

Kelsey and I are doing a 14-day Kiwi Experience bus tour of the south island during our school holidays. We flew into Christchurch and arrived at our hostel around 11pm.

After a great night sleep, we woke up to explore the city. We ate a great brunch at Bailey’s Bar and Grill. Kelsey had hot cakes with a side of scrambled eggs. You know you’re a teacher when you notice the fraction example of your leftovers. I had Eggs Benedict with a side of fruit and yogurt. One of my favorite things about NZ is how cheap kiwifruit is.


After filling up, we rode the tram around Christchurch to get an overview of the city and take in some of the beautiful architecture.


We weren’t able to tour the Christchurch Cathedral because of a funeral, but we hope to catch a tour on our last day of vacation. Look at all the priests outside!
Check out the link below if you’re interested in seeing our upcoming stops: http://www.kiwiexperience.com/bottoms-up-backpacker-tour.aspx

We got free tickets to the Canterbury versus Northland rugby match. Kelsey and I know nothing about rugby, but it was fun to be around screaming fans and cheer a team to victory. We cheered when the Canterbury fans cheered and yelled when they got upset.




Then we went to Countdown (the NZ grocery chain) and bought cheap baguettes, meat, cheese, and other snacks. We took our food to Victoria Square park and ate by the river.

Christchurch is such a beautiful town. It reminds me a bit of Charleston, SC in its historical beauty and quaint personality. After watching a few episodes of Friends, we went to bed in preparation for our 7am bus start.