New Zealand – South Island
We only had ten days planned for New Zealand´s South Island and wanted to see a lot so we looked into joining a hop-on hop-off touring bus (after chatting to a few people who´d done the same) and ended up going with Stray. There are quite a few companies that do these trips in New Zealand, but this one had the reputation of having a slightly older crowd (with the average age being about 25 instead of 19 – sometimes when you´re at the other end of your twenties you really notice it!). We and about twelve others were whisked around the South Island over ten days by a bus driver and guide called Spike who proved to be a blessing, as he was an ex-driver for the company who was filling in for someone for a few weeks and didn´t hesitate in telling us what was worth going to see or do and what was a complete rip-off (something that most of the other drivers don´t do apparently). He also had a diploma in Maori and knew every legend and story about the place, kind of like a younger, less hairy Eddie Lenihan ;-)
Ten days to see the main sights of the South Island seemed like a very short time at first, but it worked out pretty well as New Zealand requires a healthy budget if you want to spend any amount of time there.
The cliche is true, it´s an adrenaline junkies dream, but unless you´re fairly well off, there aren´t too many of the traditional activities you can do (like bungee jumping, sky diving, jet-boat trips etc). We stuck to the less expensive ones to get more of them in and ended up doing a half day´s kayaking trip in Abel Tasman National Park, a days hiking on the Franz Josef Glacier, a bone carving workshop in a funny little town in the middle of nowhere called Barrytown (where we made ourselves some nice little necklaces out of a cows leg) and some luging in Queenstown which was great value and a really good laugh (see below!).
New Zealand is a lot like Ireland to look at, only everything is on a much larger scale. The people are really nice and there´s a real laid-back feel to the place, in particular to the South Island where most of the locals we met were that little bit different, a little bohemian. There were lots of artists around the place, and one village in particular near Abel Tasmen had a little commune of sculptors living in it who worked primarily with big dead trees, turning them into great pieces of art.
After ten days on the road with a great bunch of people, our time had come to leave for the North Island. Although expensive (about 400 NZD each for the bus pass, which didn´t include accomodation), the Stray tour was definitely worthwhile for having a local guide alone and we wouldn´t have seen half as much had we rented a car or gone by public transport.
Tags: Abel Tasmen, Barrytown, Franz Josef Glacier, Jewellery-making, Kayaking, Luge, New Zealand, Queenstown, South Island, Stray Bus