Matthew’s Website

I was always going to give some awards at the end of my trip, but so they stay relevant I am going to do some as I go along. So I’m going to split my trip into thirds. The next logical third is the Pacific Islands including Easter Island, Tahiti, New Zealand and Japan (technically [...]

I arrived into Christchurch on Thursday Evening on the train. Unsurprisingly the train was 20 minutes late even though there didn’t appear to have been any reason or obvious sign of delay while on the journey.
After arrival I went to a local French named restaurant/bar called Dux de Lux, though the interior was a more [...]

So I got up at 8am on Thursday for the 9am bus which was later than everyone else in my dorm who had mostly only arrived the day before – I think people are trying to do the whole country in 2 weeks. I’ve spent 5 weeks here and could have spent more time in [...]

After a long coach journey I arrived into Franz Josef on Tuesday evening. That evening I went for a few drinks and learnt that the town is completely dependent on tourists. It’s population is only 100 but swells to approximately 3000/day in the summer which is absolutely massive. I also found that in appreciation the [...]

So I’m now making my way fairly quickly back to Auckland. At this stage I’m wishing I had decided to fly from Christchurch to Auckland but I’m taking the train instead from Wellington to Auckland which I booked at the start of my time in New Zealand so i’m only flying from Christchurch to Wellington.
First [...]

Continued from part 1
So at 4pm on Friday after quite a few viewing stops we arrived at Milford Sound, as it was cloudy we didn’t get much of a view however. Then we got on the boat and headed into the sound itself which was seriously stunning to see. Actually the sound itself is stunning [...]

The Mount Cook post has just appeared beneath this one, sorry its the Wordpress iPod Touch app getting the dates wrong again.
After quite a good bus “tour” with some commentry I arrived into Queenstown on Tuesday. On Tuesday night I went ou with people from the hostel and had the novel drink of a cocktail [...]

So I got up ungodly early (6.30) and skipped breakfast for my bus ride to Mount Cook and once I got on the bus (I was the last one on) we headed off to Mount Cook. Additionally for once the bus had some interesting commentry so I can’t complain about the lack of entertainment on [...]

I’ve just made it to Queenstown and that looks to be cool so far and I’ll add details of the Mt Cook stuff (which was good but I didn’t see the mountain) when I can get on some cheap/free WiFi.

As I didn’t want to go on the internet for an hour I haven’t been on Wifi for a while so I haven’t made any posts. So the post on Wellington is also new.
First thing on Saturday I headed across from Wellington to the port on the South Island known as Picton. The boat ride [...]