Sheep and German backpackers

So I'm back, having spent two weeks being alternately rained on and sunburned on that green island across the ditch. I swear there are more German backpackers in New Zealand than there are New Zealanders. I read a stat at a hostel that only 5% of the New Zealand population are human, so at least the sheep are still outnumbering the German backpackers.

Starting in Christchurch, we drove clockwise around the South Island, visiting the following places, to which I have applied ratings out of 5 stars: Christchurch, 2 stars; Oamaru, 3 stars; Dunedin, 3 stars; Te Anau, 4 stars; Milford Sound, 6 stars; Queenstown, 4 stars; Wanaka, 5 stars; Franz Josef (incorporating Fox and Franz Josef glaciers), 5 stars; Hokitika, 3 stars; Nelson, 2 stars; Blenheim, 4 stars; Kaikoura, 5 stars.

I am not going to go into massive detail: I kept a travel diary, but am not sure you need to hear everything; instead, come talk to me for amusing stories and grouchy rants (it'll be great!). I'll just run you through the stand out goods and bads.

Highlights include:

- Fudge tour in Christchurch. Seriously, this was THE best thing we did in C, and we were there three days all up. Great fudge, lots of tastings, interesting to watch, lots of tastings, freebies and discounts. Also lots of tastings, which I enjoyed.

- Some of the buildings are stunning, especially in Dunedin. The railway station is the most amazing I have seen, and the town hall, courts and cathedral are also quite beautiful. Dunedin is a nice city, although disappointingly quiet nightlife. I love that the central street is called the octagon, based on its shape. The cathedral and Town hall buildings in Christchurch were also extremely cool.

- Milford Sound, and the surrounding mountain areas. Utterley amazing. Milford is actually a fiord (body of water carved out by a glacier), about 22km long (I think), sporting waterfalls more than three times higher than Niagara Falls. Due to excellent timing, we also were delighted by heaps of temporary waterfalls streaming down over mountainsides and striated cliffs. Our boat captain enjoyed getting people wet, and steered us under a few waterfalls, which was drenching, but AWESOME! Later, having driven THROUGH the mountain (Homers Tunnel, really cool), checked out lots of far off snow and chased the keas off our car, we climbed Kew Summit (919m, 3 hours round trip. Boy could I feel the kgs melting off. But we shared a block of chocolate on our return home, so no visible effects to my body...) for fantastic views and to check out bogs and tarns. Cool.

- Dinner at the top of Skyline Hill in Queenstown was pretty cool. Amazing views, amazing smoked salmon (ate SO much salmon in NZ), and a hell of a lot of Hokey Pokey Icecream. Not much more to say, really.

- Beer icecream in Wanaka. Wanaka is really nice and relaxed, very peaceful. A holiday town, rather than a tourist town. Loved the pub which recommended beers to complement your meal, and gamely tried the beer icecream, which had a dark, malty/ chocolatey beer as its base. YUM.

- Glaciers. Cool (Ha ha). Franz Josef Glacier in particular was stunning, especially when you learn that the glacier is currently descending at a rate of a metre a day- pretty fast for a river of ice! Following a guided hiking tour, we sneakily went past the recommended stopping point, and got close enough to check out enormous chunks of ice in the river, the huge tunnel mouth from which the meltings of the glacier gush, and to touch the glacier (cold and dirty). So much fun, would love to climb it if I return to NZ.

- Marlborough, oh Marlborough. An awesome afternoon spent driving from one winery to another, drinking a lot of Sauvignon Blanc (the regional speciality), eating fab food, enjoying the pretty scenery, getting briefly lost and carefully choosing the few bottles our alcohol limits allowed us to bring home. Bliss.

- Dinner at the organic restaurant in Kaikoura. Lambs are so cute... and they taste so good. Amazing food, lovely wine, and oh, the desert- pomegranate creme caramel. A very happy meal :)

Lowlights:

- Christchurch was kind of a downer. I'd expected cooler. Oh well.

- Allegedly the Only Castle in NZ, Larnach Castle outside of Dunedin. I know, I know, I wasn't expecting historic architecural mastery in a young country with no land enemies. But I also wasn't expecting my half hour drive through atmospheric mist to culminate in a $20 fee to see a house less impressive than most of the offerings on Glenferrie Rd, in my home suburb. Call that a castle? Bah. Amusingly, Scottish tourists to the Scottish- inspired castle in the Scottish are of New Zealand were heard complaining about the weather...

- Driving five hours to Nelson, only to find our hostel booking had been mucked up, and they didn't have a room for us. Happily another hostel was booked for us, with grand rooms and a cool view, but it just topped off a really ordinary day. And then I couldn't get cake ANYWHERE in Nelson. Maybe Nelson is less crap on a weekday, but I though it was a real bummer :(

- Having our whale watching tour cancelled after we'd all very nicely crushed into the AV room, watched the video, had the speech, and filed onto the bus. Poor sea conditions prevented us from going on the later tour too. Instead we went to a petting zoo, where we hung out with llamas, had donkeys follow us, and met chinchillas who lived in water jugs. That was cool, but not quite the same.

As you can see, the highlights far outweighed the lowlights. A really fun, relaxing trip, and gave me some ideas of things I would love to revisit or do in more detail should I return to New Zealand (white water rafting, sea kayaking, glacier climbing, maybe swim with dolphins).

So, for the record: yes, New Zealand is still there.