Affys' Travels

Hi all Sorry its been so long since my last installment, I have been having such a great time, I arrived in NZ glowing from the fiji sun, not too pink (thank God for factor 50!) and was met by James and Amy Ridapth, amazing people and friends of the lovely Amy Stock. Who picked me up, housed me, fed me, even found me a car to drive around in! i also got to help out with some Youth work, James heads up the Youth Alive Trust and I took some of the youth to rock climbing and the cinema and got to help out making Candy Floss on the family fun day. it was such a great laugh and a great way to meet real NZ-ers. Loved it!! I was there just a week before I headed off on my Magic Bus adventure. On boarding the bus i made my first friend Hannah from the UK and we soon were joined by Matt. We stayed at Kairkorua and went fishing, it was an excellent trip, we saw dolphins, seals, albatross and caught lots of perch and crayfish. We went back to the skippers house where we cooked the crayfish and had a large amount of wine! Great night. We went back to the hostel and the hot tub!! The next night we breaded (wheat free for me) the fish and had it with chips, the NEST fish and chips ever! From there we went onto Nelson, and stayed in the Paradisio and walked to the centre of NZ! We also paid a visit to the world of wearable art! very odd stuff not allowed to take photos boooo! we also did a day walk through the Abel Tasman National Park with a cruise in the middle, lovely views and lunch on a beach! We went from there to Greymouth, not a lot in the town but there is a brewery tour with free tasting yum! i liked their cider! We also stayed int he Noah's Ark hostel with animal themed rooms!! very cool!! Next stop was Franz Josef! Here the glacier stood, it was magnificent and we hiked it!! we had too rather lovely guides Cruddy and Caleb! (swoon) who where our guides, they cut out steps and guided us through crevices and through small holes, SUCH a good time, totally loved it! Our reward was the local hot pools, so good on aching joints! Slept a good 10 hours that night! :) We took a leisurely three days in Wanaka (yes that is how you spell it !) enjoying the sun, hiking up hills and visiting the Magnificent Puzzling World! my photos show the fun we had but the maze was crazy, the balance room made you feel sick and the illusions were so much fun! Next stop Queenstown! I love it here, we did a day trip to Milford sound, which was in a word WET! beautiful, stunning waterfalls but very very wet!! We went luging, see the recent photos! the most amount of fun I've had on 4 wheels!! and really randomly i walked round a corner and bumped into 4 friends from Fiji, who had just bumped into each other, Tom and Sophie and Neish and Rhonda, it was so fab to see them and we went out for drinks last night Will eave it there, needless to say i am having a really great time!! Much love to you all x