Day 6… Lake Mahinapua to Franz Josep

I am very excited to be in Franz Josep. We’re staying at a nice hostel called the Rainforest Retreat. It’s great to be back in a town with reliable internet and a clean laundry facility. We had a short training for our ice hike tomorrow. Then Kelsey, Brittany, and I had dinner at a local restaurant. I had a delicious chicken burger with avocado and a side of wedges. Kiwis put avocado on almost every sandwich, which is such a tasty idea. We are back at the hostel and watching X Factor (similar to American Idol) and Project Runway with some girls from the bus. Hopefully I’ll get to sleep soon… just waiting on the dryer to finish.

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!!