Lake Mahinapua

After a very chilled out evening in Westport, Mangee told us that today would be action packed, and would finish off in a full fiesta! The next location was Lake Mahinapua. Mangee told us that there was small pub in the middle of nowhere that was family owned. Many years ago, the man that owned the pub saw the Kiwi Experiences buses going through, and made it his mission to make his pub a stop on their journey. After a while of trying, he finally succeeded, and it is now a stay over stop en route. Although you have to spend more to stay here (about $50 compared to $30 stops) your food is supplied and you are guaranteed a good time. Unfortunately the guy who made it all possible passed away a few years ago, but his family still live on the tradition of hosting parties at the pub EVERY night for kiwi experiences.

At each party, there is a dress up requirement, and Mangee told us that ours would be 'ABC'- Anything But Clothes. 

The group before us who had been the night before had the theme 'National Treasures', and they followed up with a hilarious picture of them dressed up as American Cow Boys, Vikings and the Spice Girls (complete with Sam black-facing as a VERY Scary Spice).

We knew we had to pull something good out of the bag now!

But before all of this, we had a busy day of stops ahead, the first one being a Cape Foulwind (lol) for a very blustery walk along the coast. We were feeling really sniffly from our jump at Nelson's Lake, but Mangee forced us off the bus, and told us it would be well worth it for the seal colony at the end! With this promise, we all got off and started the hour long walk. It was really windy, and very cold, but we all chatted and walked along.

Lo and behold at the end we were met with a large seal colony, and we stood and watched the pups fighting, the adults go diving into the sea, and some mothers trying to move away from their needy pups.

Once we had finished spying on the seals, we walked round the corner to find Mangee there waiting with the bus, along with a woman selling hot chocolates. After the walk, it was just what we needed!

We got on the bus, and the next stop was the Pancake rocks!

After another drive, we arrived at the pancake rocks and blow holes, where we saw how the sea had carved out some really interesting shapes into the landscape.

Pancake rocks

As you can guess, the pancake rocks are called this as the geology resemble huge stacks of Pancakes, which we had all suddenly got a real craving for. There were also natural blow holes that would spurt out water when the large waves came in, which was pretty frequent as it was quite rough that day!

After the rocks, we found a little shop selling New Zealand's famous Manuka honey. They were giving out free taster samples so we took the opportunity to try some so we could shake the colds in time for tonight's party!

After the coast, we started heading to a town for lunch. Mangee allowed for a costume stop, or more like a DIY stop so we could gather materials to make costumes. Amy, Iqra, Izzy, along with us and Mark found some different coloured party hats and decided to go as crayons. The others decided to go as unicorns but we were in competition amongst us to have better costumes, so we kept our ideas all top secret.

The next stop was to be an exciting one. On our way to Lake Mahinapua we passed the Monteiths beer and cider brewery, so we were able to stop and have a tour of the brewery. The tour cost $20, and at the end you were able to try three of their beers of your choice, as well as getting two beer vouchers that could be used at the hotel we were staying at that evening.

The actual tour was pretty rubbish as the brewery was very small, and the tour guide seemed to point out the obvious a lot of the time, however the beer testing at the end was great fun!
We tried the raspberry beer, which was a bit different, the cider which is a favourite of ours to this day, and also the radler beer which is delicious! A nice final touch from the brewery was that we got given the pale ale in a special Kiwi experience bottle, and it also had a lovely little sentiment and Mangee's name on the back so we could remember he was the one who took us there.

After a few beers at the brewery, we were finally feeling in a bit more of a party mood. We were finally on our way to the Lake Mahinapua.
As we pulled up to the pub, Mangee said that we should go down and actually have a look at the lake before it got dark. He also said he had a confession. He said he had withheld some vital information from us that he was about to reveal. We held our breaths as he he told us that the pub's pet pig had recently given birth to some tiny piglets, and they had just bought a new puppy, and kitten!
 The whole bus erupted with excitement, and Steph looked like she was going to cry after her heartbreak at not being able to cuddle the kittens at River Valley.

It's safe to say no one went to go and see the lake.

You have never seen so many adults/teenagers push past each other and fight over animals. Pretty much everyone made a bee line for the puppy, whilst Steph darted for that kitten.

Happiest girl. Ever.

We had a quick welcome talk from the owners who told us to make ourselves at home, find our little cabins in the garden, and to go and have a try at cutting the precious stone Jet in the workshop they had out back.

It was like watching children in a toy shop. There was too much to do. Archie had a go at cutting the Jade, and everyone else swapped pets. Tom and Steph made sure they went out and had a little laugh at the piglets too!

Puppy got too excited!

After the initial excitement wore off, and the animals became sleepy, we all sat and had a few drinks before our dinner.

Iqra and Mangee, our awesome driver!

Steph sat and drank her beers with the kitten firmly asleep in her coat for a good hour.

Next came the next perk to the pub stop. The full roast pork dinner, with all the trimmings, (there could have been more piglets the week before!!!) . After having to survive on cheap pasta and noodles, this was the perfect meal, and especially great for us feeling a bit under the weather. We were absolutely stuffed afterwards, which they probably do on purpose so no one gets too drunk later on in the evening!

Next we had to separate to prepare our costumes: Unicorns into one room, and crayons into the other. We also had Dan come to prepare in our room who covered himself completely in blue acrylic paint! He whacked on a red hat, and crafted a loin cloth out of a scarf to become papa smurf, and went on his merry way to the party.

Our costumes were going to take time though as we had to staple and tape ourselves into bin bags covered with our allocated colour. 

By the time we finished, the party was well underway, but we made our entrance, and we all agreed we looked pretty good altogether.

We met up with Archie, Annie, Charlotte and John to see their unicorn costumes.

We had knights in shining (foil) armour, bin bag penguins and Mangee came in a Winnie the Pooh onesie! We had a group picture before we partied which they put on the Facebook page which you should go and check out to see all the other great costumes they have had over the times!

We used our remaining drinks vouchers from the Monteith's brewery tour to get drinks, and then we danced the night away whilst trying to keep our costumes all in one piece! (toilet stops were fatal) The evening was another fairly messy one, but we all had a really good time.

You can see people took the "Anything but clothes" quite literally!

The next morning, we all felt a bit ropey. Our costumes were pretty much gone, and there were a few pieces of coloured paper all over the bathrooms. The only costume that was still very much in tact was Dan's, who, despite his best efforts, still had patches of blue skin on his back.

Once again the Hotel cooked up a storm and gave us an amazing pancake breakfast (perfect as the pancake craving from pancake rocks was still on our minds). We said our last goodbyes to the puppy and the kitten, and Steph's bag was searched again before we left to make sure the kitten was still very much at Mahinapua. We said our goodbyes to the lovely staff who made our stay so enjoyable, and got on the road again to Franz Josef.

And no, we never did see the actual lake.

Nelson Lakes and Westport

From Kaiteriteri, we made our way to Westport our next stop for the night. We got to know Mangee the driver over the intercom and we loved him more and more each time he spoke. He was so passionate about his job and his country and genuinely wanted us all to have the best trip. He took the time to pull over the bus and let everyone out to take pictures of silly things like kiwi crossing road signs, and actively encouraged creative posing.

sicky little iq-icky

The next stop he once again encouraged us to make the most out of, as it was an amazing photo opportunity, but this was one creative pose he wasn't going to convince everyone on. The Nelson Lakes were a beautiful isolated location that was the picture of tranquility and New Zealand.

 Although the lake itself was beautiful, Mangee said the best pictures were the ones of people jumping in.

As it was freezing cold WITH clothes on, he lost a majority of the buses support on this one.

Ourselves along with Amy decided that we would only have one opportunity for this legendary photo, that we should literally dive right in and do it. We wouldn't be in the Lake alone though, there were some scary and vicious looking eels on the side of the pier, along with a pretty duck that Archie claimed was the most majestic thing he'd ever seen.

Still undeterred though, we decided to take the leap of faith and jump in.

Feeling brave, we posed for some pictures before turning around and taking a run up. 

Steph slipped on some residual water from previous jumps so she was a split second behind the other two, but it is still safe to say we made a pretty cool picture.

The water. was. Freezing, and as you can tell from the expressions on our faces, we were quick to try and get out.

We got out and dried ourselves in the communal toilet block across the car park, and got warmed up for a group photo

Wise John, Dan, Charlotte, Annie, Archie Mark
Tom, Amy, Iqra, Steph and Izzy

That afternoon we got to Bazils hostel in Westport, and managed to wangle the 12 bed dorm for our group which was nice! Some people went to a boxercise class but we decided to go to the shops and buy the burrito supplies for dinner later. The hostel was really laid back, and had cool art work in and around the buildings.

Westport itself is a really cool surf location and a stop often favored by travelers, but due to the cold weather, it was a place we would have one fleeting night with. That evening we got the log fire in our room going, cooked a big mexican feast and finished off the evening watching ,Men in Black on VHS (old school)

Everyone was having a chilled evening, apart from Archie who decided to drink his body weight in wine, and as per usual things got silly and Archie cracked us up with bitchy comments and 

a slideshow of his cat, Mr Pickle.

The next morning we woke up feeling rough. Archie mainly from wine related illness, (but he swears it was the log burner dehydrating him in his sleep) but we had finally caught the bus cold that was going round, and jumping in the freezing lake the day before probably brought it along!

We had to shake off the illness and get going that morning, because that evening we were due to parrrrrrrttyyyy.

North to South and onto Kaiteriteri

Leaving Wellington, we would be heading south and experiencing a new island of New Zealand, and also a new driver on our bus. We won't say the name of our first and last female driver, but lets just say she was known among other Kiwi Drivers as 'Angrea' and her attitude was pretty stinky! Apparently this was her last drive on the Kiwi experience, so maybe she was just sick of us backpackers!

Despite this, she drove us to the ferry port and got us on board. It cost everyone about $50 each to cross over on the ferry. Angrea said even though it would be 10am when we got to the other side, the first stop of the day would be a wine tasting! We got onto the ferry and met Dan, an English guy who joined in on a few of our card games and also brought a very confusing one to the table!

Although the North Island was fun, it hadn't given us that wow factor scenery we were expecting from New Zealand. As we made our way over the water, we could see already that the South Island was going to be beautiful.

Amy Tom and John en joying some sun up top

We got to the otherside to a place called Picton, and it was a beautiful day to be able to see the South island in all it's glory. As promised, we got to the wine tasting location after about an 45 minute drive from Picton.

The Marlborough region is known for producing an amazing Sauvignon Blanc, and Amy who worked with wines was especially excited as it was a place she'd heard of.

We tried the delicious wines as well as sampling some fudge from the tiny shop next door. The wine tasting location was sat on a roadside in the middle of nowehere, so Steph and Amy went over to the vineyards to take in the breath taking 360 degree views around us.

The day was filled with mostly driving, and we wouldn't be reaching our location for the night - Kaiteriteri - until the evening. It was a chilled day, something we needed after the excitement of Wellington. 

As we reached Kaiteriteri, the sun was starting to set leaving the most amazing pink streaks over the sky.

When we finally got to Kaiteriteri lodge, we managed to run across the road to the beach to catch the end of the beautiful sunset. The South Island was already winning us over.

We got into our rooms, and Mark decided to have a break from us for a bit and go with some of the others from the group. Tom and Steph stayed in a six bed room along with Archie, Iqra and Amy, and also a girl who was on the Kiwi Experience but had stayed at Kaiteriteri a few days. We can't remember her name but she was a nurse and she appears in a few pictures later!

Kaiteriteri is a very remote location, so apart from the odd corner shop which was now closed, there wasn't much else to do. It is only a one night stop on the Kiwi Bus, but as we were arriving so late in the evening, our group decided two nights would be better in order to see what Kaiteriteri had to offer, a decision we would not regret. Luckily the lodge put on a pub quiz so we got into teams and had a go.

It was a pretty tough quiz, one round including Barbie dolls dressed as celebrities which you had to guess, which caused some real tensions amongst our strong friendship group.

Archie, Iqra, Amy, John, Annie and Mark did well and got second place.

However they weren't good enough to beat our team! And we were victorious once again winning a $30 bar tap at the bar (the second one we had won in New Zealand, just saying). We all got a beer in each, and spoke to Angrea who begrudgingly sorted out our chosen day trip for the following day; The Abel Tasman National Park.

After our drinks, Amy introduced to us a new game, as the same old rounds of cards were getting tedious. She had no name for this game, but it involved charades, mime and memory. We played this for hours, and it created some of the funniest and memorable moments from our trip, so we just called it 'fun'. Archie trying to mime "penis caught in a conveyer belt", and Mark trying to explain "the forbidden love between a black and white person" will be something we will never forget. That evening we also found out Archie's secret to such a pert behind, and he swore that yoga was the way forward, so we all had a wind down session before bed, some maybe relaxed too much, as the evening was quite flatulent and we still don't know who to blame, but Tom didn't sleep very well as he was laughing too much.

The next morning we woke up early, and cheerfully said goodbye to Angrea as she drove onto the next location. We got our walking gear on and waited at the beach for our water taxi to take us to Abel Tasman.

The beach. was. beautiful, and the sunny weather and crisp air made it a perfect day to do some walking. The location was postcard perfect, and we heard that Shania Twain also owned a large holiday batch nearby so she clearly loved the place as much as we did.

We waited in the sun looking out onto the clear waters and rocky coastline, when we saw our water taxi approaching. We had to take off our shoes to avoid wet feet, and the water was very fresh! Our water taxi driver was a really nice man, and told us some of the best walks to go on at Abel Tasman. The ride was quite a bumpy one, and he also took us past the 'Split Apple Rock' on the way.

He promised on the journey back, he would take us to his secret location where he knew we could spot some seals! We were very excited about this prospect!

He dropped us off on a beautiful isolated beach, and said he would come to pick us up on the other side of the national park in 4 hours time. If we weren't there, he would send a search party!

We started our long walk, and after about 10 minutes down the beach, we found a rope swing which we spent lots of time at! It had a beautiful back drop, and the child in us came out and we spent a while playing there.

After a bit of a nag and reminder that we had a time limit at Abel Tasman, we got off the swing and ascended the climb up a hill to the top of the National Park. From here we got a lovely view of the beach we had just been playing on.

Little Archie!!

The beautiful scenery was getting us all quite excited, but little Archie was excitable at the best of times, was bouncing and skipping all over the place. Ourselves and Mark were walking behind him when he did an especially bouncy skip, and he fell arse over tit, flipped completely over and ended up with his legs stuck up the side of the verge similar to a beetle on its back. We're pretty sure it registered on the Richter scale.

We were dying of laughter and had to take a break from the walk to collect ourselves. Thankfully Archie was ok, however the same couldn't be said for his poor Crunchie that he had brought along. His power food quickly turned into powdered food.

After this slight mishap, we ventured on our 3 hour hike and looked over the beautiful scenery, which went through forests and looked out over the clear blue coast.

Eventually, we got to a beach which we hoped was the decided pick up point with the taxi man. We sat down and enjoyed some snacks, and joined Archie for a spot of refreshing Yoga after our walk.

John, Izzy, Tom, Steph, Mark, Annie, Archie, Amy and our Nurse room mate

We waited patiently and started to worry if we had got to the right beach, when we saw our lovely taxi man coming to get us in the distance. 

We bundled on and he asked us about our walk and what we thought of beautiful Abel Tasman. As promised, he drove slightly out of the way to some large rocks in the ocean. Sure enough, we saw a few families of seals basking in the last bit of afternoon sun, and we all squealed with happiness!

We got back to the Kaiteriteri Lodge and cooked up a storm to keep us all from getting unwell, as poor Iqra had spent the whole day in bed with her cold!

The next morning we waited for our new Kiwi Experience driver to pick us up. We crossed the road to the corner shop to pick us some supplies and we spotted a little zip wire with another lovely back drop (these Kiwi kids are spoiled with there playgrounds) so we had a bit of a play on that before we saw the big green bus show up.

We were greeted by Mangee, the  BEST driver we would have, and he was so happy and clearly loved his job and his country. We bundled on the bus, and headed to our next location on another beautiful day.