Reiswerk

Day 1 (27th September)
- daylight saving begins: the clock turns one hour forward
- got up at 4.30am
- on the way to the airport at 5.20
- check-in,… at about 5.50
- boarding at 6.10
- departure at 6.50
- on the flight i talked a little bit with the man next to me
- we had beautiful views over the southern alps in the morning light
- arrival in christchurch at 8.05
- i had to wait 4 hours until the my group met, so i spent it with shopping in the airport shops, eating breakfast, playing sudoku and relaxing on the viewing platform
- met the group at the information desk at 12.00
- bus drive through city, picked up other people of the group
- brought things to youth hostel (room of 8 people)
- guided tour through christchurch
- botanic gardens
- dinner in restaurant (i had gnocci)
- evening in youth hostel

Day 2 (28th September)
- got up at 5.30
- breakfast at 7.00
- on the bus at 8
- bus ride (about 5 and a half hours) through canterbury, athur’s pass, westland
- stops in Springfield, Castle hill, viewing point
- many landscape photos
- learnd that cars and trains often share on way bridge on the south island
- stop in greymouth, driving along westcoast
- stop at the panecake rocks
- time in greymouth because of bus problems, jade shop
- ride to franz josef
- youth hostel (10 people in one room)
- dinner in restaurant: salad with deer meat, chocolate fudge cake
- walk after dinner (unfortunately the glow worm path was closed)

Day 3 (29th September)
- got up at 5.45
- breakfast at 6.30
- on the bus at 7.30
- ride to Fox Glacier
- glacier walk: amazing views, 700 steps in the rainforest, exhausting, uncomfortable shoes
- ride to lake matheson (mirrorlake)
- drive through westland national park
- stop at the beach (many sandflies)
- stop at waterfalls
- wanaka youth hostel: just waesome – 18 plug ins, 6 people in one room, beautiful bathrooms!!, electronic keys
- dinner: barbecue + apple crumble
- short walk to the lake in the dark

Day 4 (30th September)
- got up at 6
-breakfast at 7, bus at 8
- direction queenstown
- bungy jumping (i am so sad that i could not do it)
- queenstown: pick up from information center for the jet boat tour
- from 12 to 6 jet boat tour on dart river(first on a little bus to glenorchy), saw many film sets, short bush walk
- dinner at fergburger
- shopping in town
- youth hostel in queenstown (6 people in one room)

Day 5 (1st October)
- got up at 4.15
- breakfast at 5, on the bus at 6
- ride to milfor sound on one of the most dangerous roads in the world (avalanche area)
- milford sound cruise (saw seals)
- same way back
- bus problems (missed out some stops) – 1 hour in the middle of nowhere, finally a new bus
- youth hostel in te anau (8 people in room)
- rented a funny vehicle for half an hour:-D
- dinner at italian restaurant: vegetarian pizza, tiramisu

Day 6 (2nd October)
- got up at 6, breakfast at 7
- new bus at 8, ride through central otago
- train at 1.00 in middlemarch
- tairi gorge railway to dunedin
- arrival in dunedin at 3.45
- cadbury chocolate factory visit – for the right answers to questions you got chocolate, so i did not get much:-D, but all i got was still more worth than the entrance price
- youth hostel in dunedin (was a mental hospital before, 5 people in the room)
- dinner: buffet (tried everything, ate wih chopsticks)

Day 7 (3rd October)
-got up at 6.45, breakfast at 7.30, on the bus at 8.30
- ride to dunedin habour on peninsula
- habour cruise: bird watching, seals
- short time in town for lunch
- steepest street in the world: became 3rd in the race, won a chocolate
- moeraki boulders (water tide was very high)
- drive to oamaru
- youth hostel: nice painted bathroom, 5 people in the room
- dinner: chicken pasta, crumble
- viewing point
- blue penguin colony (very cute)

Day 8 (4th October)
- got up at 6, breakfast at 7, bus at 815, direction christchurch
- longest bridge of the country
- market in christchurch
- antarctic centre (i think it was not sooo cold): penguins, 4-seasons room, storm demonstration
-at the airport at 2
- waiting in restaurant
- check-in, …
- boarding at 6.20, seat next to emergency exit
- left christchurch at 6.40
- back in auckland at 8

marks:
1 awesome
2 very good
3 good
4 average
5 bad
6 awful

food: 2 (sometimes very tiny portions)

accommodation: 3, with one exception: the youth hostel in Wanaka was a 1 (we always stayed in youth hostels — not many showers, not many powerpoint plug-ins)

activities: 1 (take a look at extended version)

atmosphere: 1

fun: 2 (after watching the bungy jump i was very depressed because i wanted to do it so badly!!)

guides: 1 (lots of information)

weather: 2 (for the season)

other comments: many maori stories, lots of main roads :-D (1 car every 5 minutes), heaps of sandfly bites, spend too much money, took a lot of photos (especially landscape photos for my dad), youth hostels have cheap internet, tsunami warning was nothing special

group: 10 germans, 5 brazilians, 3 italians, 1 japanese, 1 portugese, 1 thai, 1 from finnland, 1 from chile, 1? = 24 students