Milford Sound and Queenstown

Well June may be the month of saving money but we couldn't let a whole month going by without going somewhere exciting so we said forget you savings and went to queenstown - which i like to call the most expensive city in NZ. We had a classy night out on saturday and rose early sunday to catch our kiwi experience bus out to snowy/rainy milford sound. Our bus driver described it as the 8th wonder of the world and it is pretty amazing. The rain created all sorts of waterfalls which made the scenary pretty spectacular.



Yup touques on - it's officially winter.

We discovered a new hostel and loved it. We had our own room! And free breakfast! What's not to love really?


Isn't it weird that we really are on the exact opposite side of the world? Bracebridge, ON is 45 degrees north and queenstown, NZ 45 degrees south.

And it wouldn't be a kiwi style trip without some sort of adventure so we hopped on the shotover for "the world's most exciting jetboat ride". Slightly chilly but very fun.



Beautiful queenstown. We took a pic in this exact spot last time we were in queenstown but it was so beauiful we decided it was worth recreating.

May in Wellington

We kicked off May with a visit from Yvonne. She flew in from her home in Auckland to see Wellington for the first time. Our first night involved lots of ice cream and m&m's, and our second night was a yummy dinner at East West followed by Fruit and chocolate fondue and drinks at Jet. This weekend was already starting off right. On Saturday I (Debi) took Yvonne out for the Deb and Kitch's tour of Wellington and then for some much needed shopping on Cuba Street.

In the afternoon we met our friend Hayley and she drove us out to the famous Chocolate Fish Cafe. It is right on the coast with gorgeous views. It is a popular spot for Wellington locals. Yvonne and stood out as tourists taking lots of pictures.



Then it was time for a night out on the town. We met some friends at a bar called Red Square followed by lots of bar hopping!


Debi's Lonely Planet collection



In the middle of May we went out for a nursing social. Jen being an honoury nurse came. A couple of Debi's friends were leaving the unit for more travels.




Richard (Debi's friend from Aus who she met in England) came to Wellington for a couple days. Matt was here at the same time so we all headed out for some drinks in town!

We replaced Matt with Tom - Kaikoura and Christchurch

We headed back to Wellington to pick up Tom who was here for a visit from England. He arrived saturday afternoon and we headed out saturday night to show tom the sights and sounds of NZ. First stop Flying Burrito Brothers, our fave restuarant here with fantastic fajitas and pitures of Marg's.

We headed back across the strait and rented a car to head down to Kaikoura - the best place for marine life in NZ. Whale watching was a bust thanks to the weather but we found seals which made it all wothwhile.
A traffic jam in NZ. Pretty funny.

We arrived in Christchurch and headed out to see the city in the day. We rode the tram and tried to go up the gondola but the rain foiled us once again so instead we used our saved money and went out for steak dinner before hitting happy hour (s) at our hostel. We joined a rock, paper, scissors tournament but sadly were bumped out by a 6 -year old. Now that's why children really shouldn't be allowed in bars.




We had a late night chocolate craving so deb, kitch and mon made a quick star mart run for cornettos. Ice cream and beer my two favourite things (and kelly's too)

We had to get up early the next day for our datw with the bone dude. After a little car trouble (and a quick visit from the auto association) we were on our way to learn to carve our own traditional bone necklaces.

Finished products (we're so artistic!) From there it was on to the airport where we said our sad farewells before heading back to recuperate (and sleep a lot!) back in welly.