Auckland

Auckland was my next stop and I arrived at domestic airport ridiculously early. However luckily there was free unlimited wifi which was amazing! Auckland and the North Island also marked the introduction of hostel life again.


Hello hostel entrance. But all in all the place was pretty good, minus the lack of windows. But it was a nice place. Would highly recommend Newton Lodge.











Auckland felt a lot like Sydney and so it became a little boring just because when you travel, you expect a place to be quite different to what you are used to. And Auckland just felt so familar.

I initially wanted to complete the Coast to Coast Walk however I became incredibly frustrated. I walked 9km to see this.


Yep. One Tree Hill.





Don't ask me why there were sheep in the middle of the park in the middle of a major city. Only in New Zealand.

Dunedin

This was my last day in the South Island before the return to Christchurch. But first, we explored a little bit of Dunedin. It was a very important city during the gold rush and it is still evident that it was once quite grand. However, it now has a feeling similar to New Orleans. There are a lot of historic buildings in the centre of the city however they are all abandoned or just empty, giving a very eerie feel to the entire city.




We also stopped by the Cadbury factory and walked away with chocolate that is made in Australia but isn't sold in Australia. We bought a sparkling chocolate drink (which isn't even made by Cadbury but sold there...) and it tasted like Dr Pepper which I am not a fan of so I ended up pouring my portion down the drain.









On the way up the coast, we stopped by the Moeraki Boulders which provided a perfect photo opportunity. They were actually really cool and fun, trying to climb onto the boulders without getting caught by the waves.











Lunch was amazing and I had the Stuart Island Salmon Steak.

Otago Peninsula

The next day we left Queenstown for Dunedin and it was just a day of travelling. We ate Jimmy's Pies which is apparently the best pie in New Zealand. It looked like someone had sat on my pie and it was so-so, on par with Mrs Macs.







Upon arrival in Dunedin, we went out to Otago Penisula for the Sandfly walk and it was super super windy! The penisula is said to reminiscent of Scotland and as I haven't been to Scotland, I cannot verify this. But I could understand why. The landscape was quite different with the rest of the South Island and with the stone walls and sheep, I could understand why there was Scottish fee to the place.





















The weirdest part of the walk was around the halfway mark where there were sheep everywhere. On the walk. Were we walking in private property? I think we actually were but it was part the signposted trail. There were so many lambs and they were just so cute next to their mothers! I found it interesting that each mother sheep had two little lambs. No more, no less.

Queenstown Again!

We headed back to Queenstown for the Ben Lommond walk. First stop was Fergburger and this time, the burgers were cold which was odd as it wasn't busy. For the Ben Lommond track, I really wanted to climb to the summit however everyone online said that it was incredibly challenging. It was a good decision to only reach the saddle as, like the Key Summit, I was incredibly irritated and bored of walking uphill for 3 hours. The view was gorgeous, however in the moment I was too irritated to truly appreciate it. Ah well, that's what photos are for.

Milford Sound

Milford Sound is often regarded as one of the top places to visit in New Zealand. It is also notorious for having terrible weather; apparently it rains 2/3 days and receives the same amount of rainfall in 12 hours as a year in London. However, luck was on our side and we had gorgeous weather!








I picked the Mitre Peak cruise since they claimed that it was a smaller boat and it went out further than the other companies. And they were right! The boat was tiny compared to all the other companies.






Seals



The coolest part of the cruise was when the captain put the boat's nose underneath the waterfall!





Afterwards, we completed the Key Summit walk. It was breathtaking views, however I was just incredibly frustrated with the walk since it was purely uphill which is both very tiring and also boring.