Kieran does Travel: Kaiteri, Westport, Lake Maninapua and Franz Josef

It's an early start as we head back on to the Kiwi Experience bus, which takes us all the way from one side of the city to the other, where the ferry terminal is. The ferry journey takes 3 hours, the last third of which goes through the very pretty Marlborough sounds.

Island in the Sun

We spend the rest of the day in transit, before finally reaching our hostel in Kaiteri in the evening. We do a quick walk up a short uphill track then return to cook dinner in a cramped kitchen. Our hotel in Wellington didn't have an oven, but the hostel here does so we cook a pasta bake which Heidi has long craved for. The next morning we are taking a water taxi up to a beech and track which is part of the massive Abel Tasman National Park. The walk takes over an hour but we have to kill a bit more time before our taxi picks us up and takes us back to the hostel, not before checking out a few seals chilling on the rocks.

The rest of the day we travel to Westport, with a few stops for walks and so on. It's getting colder the further south we go, so when we arrive at the very Bohemian, surfer themed hostel we're pleased to see a large lounge with a roaring fire. This is where we spend most of our evening.

The activities in Westport are surfing and paddle boarding, but given the low temperatures no one is keen. Shortly after leaving we go on a coastal walk which ends with a platform looking out at a whole community of seals on the rocks.

Poser

Our stop for lunch is at Pancake Rocks, named due to the unusual shape due to erosion. The waves here crash with such power it causes the water to shoot up several metres in the air, occasionally creating a cool rainbow effect.

We stay at a lodge in Lake Maninapua, where we're told we're to have a fancy dress party, the theme of which is 'bad taste'. Heidi and I don't partake in the dressing up, but we enjoy a bit of the party with the cross dressers, a giant condom, et al.

Dirty lens

Our next stop is something we've been waiting for with great anticipation - Franz Josef, home of the Franz Josef glacier. We've booked ourselves onto the 'heli hike' which involves getting a helicopter ride onto the glacier, then wondering about on it for a few hours. As neither of us have been in a helicopter before, or on a glacier before, we're very excited.

Shortly after arriving and checking in we and a large portion of our kiwi experience travellers head to the centre for a quick safety briefing. We're to come back here tomorrow morning for an early lift-off. Heidi and I spend the rest of the evening in a nearby bar (though, more of a restaurant) to watch the Super Rugby final. I make the wise decision not to have a few beers.

It's an early start as we return to the centre the following morning, get our gear on and meet our guide for the day. There's some final weather checks but we're given the all-clear. Heidi and I are put in separate choppers and we take off. The ride over to the glacier provides some amazing views of the glacier and the mountains that surrounds it. The glacier itself is situated in a valley in between two huge mountains.

We land on a tiny flat square of ice and wait for the other chopper. Heidi's follows shortly and we begin our walk. There's ice for miles around us. Other guides and people making paths look like ants in the distance. We begin climbing the glacier, and I begin dishing out my 'Mr Freeze from Batman & Robin' ice puns.

Ice to see you

The track, which is constantly being carved by the guides, takes us past deep crevasses in the ice, as well as through them. We stop every once in a while so our guide can ell us a little about the glacier, and this helps make the 3 hour walk less intense. The time does fly though and before we know it we're back on the helicopters returning to the little town. The heli hike will be one of the most expensive one-off costs of the whole trip, but we're certain it will be an experience we will never forget.