So I’ve safely arrived in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. It’s been an incredibly manic week and in the past week, I’ve spent the equivalent of one whole day on an Intercity bus and then there was the three hours on the ferry on the Interislander yesterday crossing over from Picton on the South Island to Wellington on the North Island. Needless to say, I slept in this morning despite my cold and I’m glad to be staying put here for a few days although I don’t think Wellington is going to be too kind on my finances nor my figure given that it boasts more cafes (per capita) than New York City. Oh well….

My hostel is centrally located, opposite a supermarket and although it’s probably a good twenty minute walk to the bus station, the bus only costs $1 so I don’t think I’ll bother struggling along with my backpack and the two carrier bags I seem to have acquired since leaving Dunedin. Cadbury’s world and my latest book being to blame.

Today, I strolled aroundthe city in the pouring rain. I’m now officially drenched. I’m not going to complain about the rain so much though because I definitely more suited to rain than the treacherous icy conditions I’ve faced during the course of the week in Te Anau and Dunedin where I managed to slip and bruise my entire foot. Amusing to me in the sense that I had walked for hours that day, up steep roads in the search of a lookout and slipped over a minute from my hostel.

Tomorrow I plan to explore Wellington and am hoping it stays dry so I can go on the cable car.

In my last few days on the South Island, I went to Milford Sound via Te Anau and then visited Dunedin, the second largest city on the South Island and home to not only Cadbury’s world but New Zealand’s first university and only dental school.

T e Anau, home to New Zealand’s second largest lake and the largest lake on the South Island is what I would call a tiny township but in New Zealand terms, it’s relatively large with a population over a thousand and the gateway to many walking tracks and the Milford Sound. Milford Sound is one of the country’s biggest tourist attractions and I’m glad that I didn’t cross it off my list of things to see after my first attempt to get here resulted in the bus getting turned back.

Although named a sound, it’s actually a fiord and I was very fortunate in that I had a clear, sunny day because Milford is very much associated with rain. The journey there in parts was breath-takin. We stopped off at Mirror Lakes where you can see the snow-capped mountains in the reflection of the water. When we arrived at the ferry terminal, I went on the scenic cruise and it was amazing. The views were just spectacular and I even got to see a brown fur seal.

It was a long day and the next morning, I had fears that my bus was going to get cancelled again becuase it was -5 outside and black ice was everywhere. The bus was so cold that I had to wear my hat and gloves although I probably didn’t have adequate layers on being the tough northerner that I am and the fact I’m only here for another two weeks so it seems fairly pointless to buy winter specific clothing when there’s no room in my bag either.

I went from Te Anau to Dunedin and we arrived on time but the road conditions improved significantly once we connected with the bus from Invercargill at Gore. My hostel in Dunedin was very nice, a former hospital and then hotel. The television room in which I watched Grey’s Anatomy was actually a former morgue and there were three ghosts too supposedly although I didn’t run into them.

Dunedin was a nice city to spend a few nights although a tad quiet for a student town. I met up with a really nice English girl I’d met at Franz Josef and we spent a fair bit of time together. I did all the cultural thing, visiting the harbour, taking an obligatory photo of Dunedin railway station (the third most photographed sight in New Zealand.) Then I went to the Botanic gardens, ate my lunch there and then walked up the world’s steepest street – Baldwin Street. I took a photo from the top but I wouldn’t like to live up there personally.

The next day, I went to Cadbury’s World for $16. I got some free chocolate including a free Curly Wurly which isn’t actually sold in New Zealand. I also bought loads because it was cheap, with 24 different flavours of Dairy Milk the decision was hard. I also bought the world’s largest crunchie, almost the size of my foot.

I also went seeing Paris, je t’aime at the cinema as is becoming my Tueday ritual. It’s funny how some ilms get released at the same time over here but others don’t, Starter for Ten was just released over here and I saw that back in November last year at home.

My final day in Dunedin was a short one, I got the afternoon bus back to Christchurch whilst I had the choice. Normally it was 7am or no bus at all on the South Island. The highlight of my brief stay in Christchurch would be that in my dorm room was at there was a girl with the exact same top in the same colour from Fat Face and some Just Jeans trousers I also own. How coincidental. I was out of the hostel the next morning at 6.25am to get my bus to Picton where we had a brief stop in Kaikoura which would have been on my list of destinations to visit had I more time..