Howdy folks. I love New Zealand. It's class. It's so laid back here, the people are dead on, and of course the scenery is amazing. To really enjoy it to it's fullest, you need a lot of time and a lotta money. We don't have either, so let's all pray the weather holds out so we can do all the adventure activities ;-)

 

We've travelled around the South island with a tour company called Stray. There are a few different tour companies here in NZ, but I strongly recommend these guys to everyone over 22, those who like to get some sleep every few days, and those who want to see New Zealand without beer-goggles. Otherwise, go with the Kiwi experience. They call these buses the 'F*ck Truck'. They're usually full of younger backpackers on the piss the whole time. Might suit some people but I'm just getting old.  The people on the buses were great, we all go out together in the evening times (or drink in the hostel, depending on remoteness). So check out www.straytravel.co.nz.

 

Anyways, we started off in Christchurch, which is a nice little town, plenty of bars & cafes. From here we bussed to Barrytown (You wont find this place on most maps). Along the way, we passed through Arthurs Pass, amazing scenery. In Barrytown: there's nothing here. You can make knives at some local's house if you stay longer but we moved on.

The next day we arrived in Franz Josef. This is a class town at the bottom of mountain glacier. We got a helicopter ride upto the glacier, then hiked around on the ice for a few hours. This was class. It wasn't really cold here either (being Summer here), so we were wearing shorts & t-shirts. It was quite bizarre climbing on ice with the sun shining down on us. We had to cover up with sunscreen. The hostel we stayed in at the bottom of the mountain was in the middle of a rainforest, pretty funky.