Day 63 & 64 & 65: New Zealand, South Island

Day 63: Today we took a ferry to across from Wellington, which is on the North Island to Picton, which is on the South Island. The ferry ride was nice I hung out with Richard, Peter, Rijerio, and Silvo. We exchanged emails and talked about visiting each others countries and had a great time. Once the boat docked, Peter the gentlemen that he is offered to take my bag for me as he knew my arm was hurting me from the JetBoating ride. It was a little sad to say our goodbyes, as I had truly enjoyed meeting these people. I joined my new tour group ‘Stray’ once we docked. Our first stop was a good way to break in the tour which was at the Hunter Winery in the Marlborough wine region. We sampled wines for only $2….I even bought a bottle of the Sauvignon Blanc 2006, which was quite good. Then we headed to Abel Tasman National Park. As we drove down I noticed all the beautiful scenery around me. The big green mountains with the sheeps, and deers. The South Island is definitely more mountainous than the North Island. Once we got to Abel Tasman we saw llamas and more deers. Once I got to Abel Tasman I settled in than went out later that night to watch the moon rise between the mountains. Abel Tasman is named after the Dutch explorer who named New Zealand….


Day 64: We left that morning and headed for Barrytown, which has a population of 40. The North Island reminds me of a small country town field. We visited the Pancake Rocks, they look like Pancake Rocks….That night we had a ‘Bad Taste Party’, we had to wear something of course of bad taste. It was a fun night. I tried some ‘Tui’s’ beer which was quite good.

Day 65: That morning someone of us went across the street for some bone carving. We made necklaces from bones. Then we headed to Franz Josef (named after the Austrian emperor), which is amazing glacier located in the Southern Alps. When we arrived I ran into the German couple that I had met on my Magic bus tour a couple of days earlier I was happy to see them as I hadn’t quite gelled with the Stray bus group yet. That night we stayed in hostel in the rainforest.