I have been on the Kiwi Experience Bus now for nine days … and what a time I have had so far.

Having left the very English-style city of Christchurch, complete with it’s very own mini St Paul’s Cathedral and street names more accustomed to the city of London rather than the centre of New Zealand, I hopped aboard the big, green adventure machine.

A pleasant drive north followed to the small town of Kaikoura. The main attraction here is swimming with dolphins but all the trips were fully booked so I will return there towards the end of my Kiwi adventure, complete with life jacket, rubber ring and armbands, so the dolphins can swim with me whilst I attempt to paddle.

Nevertheless Kaikoura fits in nicely with the rest of the country in being stunningly beautiful, very relaxed and a great place to chill and let time peacefully go by. So, complete with a bottle of red wine, purely for medicinal purposes, and some very decent company in the form of my new found Kiwi Ex mates, Hannah and Lindsey, we did a great deal of chilling for a couple of days sat in the middle of some stunning mountains, beautiful coastline and bright sunshine.

From Kaikoura we headed to New Zealands sunniest city, Nelson. On arrival we made the short, yet painstaking, hike to the centre of New Zealand - quite literally. The views were stunning, if not a little cloudy, and to have been stood at the centre of this simply stunning country was extremely satisfying. Mountains galore, a gorgeous lake and the night skyline. Wow.

It was an early start the next day as I was joined by Hannah, Lindsey, Henni and Naiomi to play my own personal role as the Sugar Daddy on our adventure around the Abel Tasmin National Park (ATNP).

The ATNP is NZ smallest national park but what it lacks in size it more than makes up in beauty. Now I say small, but covering over 22,000 hectares, it isn’t exactly tiny.

A 10 mile stroll around through the stunning rain forest ensued, whilst the coastline, a matter of metres away provided us with some time on the soft sand, although my swim in the sea left me shivering somewhat, much to the amusement of the girls.

What a day we had. The ATNP is simply stunning and the mocha and cake at the end made was just as satisfying too.

We left Nelson the next morning for what was to be the beginning of our journey down the west coast of the south island - the countries most stunning area accordingly to many past visitors.

And what a drive we had to our first stop - Westport. Now this small town is not exactly lively. In fact, the driver of our bus told me that “most people just want to get back on the bus when they arrive here.” But, like anywhere I visit I try and find some positives. The hostel we stayed in was lovely, complete with a proper bed as opposed to the bunk variety and some stunning landscape outside was clear for all to see. I seem to be saying stunning landscape a lot and falling into the trap Jason did in his account a few weeks ago but now experiencing the journey myself I can see why he used the phrase so much.

We left Westport the next morning, which in all honestly was quite a nice town and really nothing near as bad as the driver made out. In fact, I wish i had stayed an extra night there as they had quite a cool hike that ended with a brewery tour that interested me, never mind.

From Westport we headed to Lake Mahinapua. Yes, it was stunning here too in case you were wondering. LM is visited for one reason by Kiwi Ex - for the famous Pooh Party.

Hosted by 83-year-old Kiwi legend and the oldest publican in NZ, Les, the Pooh Party is an evening event where travellers dress up, enjoy a splendid dinner of steak, venison stew, pasta, potatoes and veggies before the evenings main party in the pub, before everyone falls asleep in their cabins at the rear.

Now, every bus is given a different theme. Some people have to dress in things beginning with ‘P’, others it’s to dress as a super hero but ours was for boys to dress as girls and for girls to dress as rubbish, quite literally. So, the ladies were given two bin bags each, and the boys an opportunity to shop or borrow for their skirts, bras etc.

I enjoyed this far too much. So, complete with a black bra, white tank top with frilly attachments, pink hot pants, bright pink finger nails and a pink hat with “crazy girl” written on the front, I was ready to perform. I say no more but I think I may have a new fancy dress outfit for life as I worryingly got quite accustomed to my feminine side, although how women wear bras is beyond me.

The rest of the night is a blur, as is the following mornings bus ride to Franz Josef, although one thing I did remember from the journey is, yes you guessed it, the stunning landscape. Wow. More lakes, waterfalls, stunning mountains and valleys than you ever imagine. Postcard picture stuff.

I arrived in Franz Josef two nights ago (Sunday) and immediately booked myself onto the full day hike up the Franz Josef Glacier (FJG) in the Westland National Park.

What an experience and I think possibly the best thing I have done on this trip and I include the Great Wall of China, motorbike tour and dressing as woman when I say that!

Now for those that do not know, a glacier, according to answers.com, is “a huge mass of ice slowly flowing over a land mass, formed from compacted snow in an area where snow accumulation exceeds melting and sublimation”. In other words, a mountain of ice.

Unlike any other glacier though, this is still very much alive and working with it advancing some 20cm a day and continuously changing. Even rarer is the fact that the FJG is located right in the middle of a national park. So picture the scene - big trees, big mountains, lots of green, lush grass and then smack bang in the middle of it all a big ice mountain or glacier. Surreal.

The walk was challenging, particularly for me with my fear of falling disorder. Yet, I challenged myself once more and once again I am so pleased I did so. The views were stunning, walking through ice tunnels was the strangest, yet most satisfying experience ever and the experience was completely unreal. Once more, another moment where I had ‘the time of my life’.

Today, a little sore but nothing major, is a rest day and a chance to reflect on what an amazing nine days I have had. With more to come I cannot wait.

From this stunning setting in Franz Josef, where the sun is shining and the views out of the window are once more amazing, enjoy the English snow.

Footnote: Pictures should be up by the time you guys wake up in the UK!

This entry was posted on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 11:31 pm and is filed under On the move, New Zealand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.