We said a fond (and hungover) farewell so Australia on 17 September and took a flight to Christchurch, New Zealand! As we flew over the west coast of New Zealand I couldn't believe the views of the snow covered mountains! Such a contrast to Australia!
When we got to Christchurch we had a wander around, it reminded me very much of a cross between Dublin and Prague mainly because of the architucture.
We spent 2 days there, second day was pouring with rain so we didn't do too much. We then embarked on our Magic Bus tour, first stop being Kaikoura. There was saw two lots of fur seal colonies, some of the seals were sleeping on the grass so we were extremely close to them! There were a few baby seals as well which were very entertaining to watch! We spent one night there then headed to Nelson for a night. The scenery in New Zealand is spectacular - everywhere is surrounded by hills and mountains, very little of it is flat. The colours are just fantastic. There seems to be very little, if any built up areas even in the cities.
From Nelson we headed to Greymouth for 1 night. On the way there we stopped at Punakaiki pancake rocks. The Pancake Rocks that Punakaiki is famous for, are limestone formations that began forming 30 million years ago, when lime-rich fragments of dead marine creatures were deposited on the seabed, then covered by weaker layers of soft mud and clay. The seabed was raised above sealevel by earthquakes to form the coastal cliffs and coastline. The sea, wind and rain have since created the soft layers to form the unusual rock formations. They were lovely to see, although it was raining very heavily and we both ended up like drowned rats!
Next stop was Franz Josef. We arrived at lunch time and as the weather was clear we went on a Heli Hike on Franz Josef Glacier! 6 of us went up in a helicopter, I was lucky enough to be able to sit in the front so I had amazing views over the town and the Glacier. As the Glacier cam into sight I was amazed by how white and rugged it was, the formations of the ice were spectacular! Once we landed we were kitted out with crampons and set off on a 2 hour hike. It took a bit of getting used to walking with the crampons, the ice was very steep as we clambered across and I was sure I was going to fall! As we hiked over the ice we came across a few ice caves and tunnels which we were able to climb through, this was breath taking! Inside the ice was a brilliant blue, it was such a fantastic experience!
At times we could hear/see chunks of ice falling off and tumbling down the Glacier. It was like another world up there! Definitely another highlight of our trip!
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