New Zealand hasn’t been any kinder to us in our second week than it was in our first. Probably even less so.

First, our ferry from the North to the South Island was delayed, which meant we missed our connection and had to wait four hours for the next bus to Nelson.

Birds & Seals in Abel Tasman

The day after that was easily the best day we’ve had on the entire trip so far. We took a tour out to Abel Tasman National Park where we spent three hours or so on a boat and another four hiking from one gorgeous beach to the next. If Zanzibar is Africa’s paradise, surely, Abel Tasman must be Oceania’s.

Abel Tasman National Park

After that perfect day, though, things went south, and not just in the literal sense.

We made our way further south on another InterCity bus, ten hours all the way down to Franz Josef, where we spent a stormy night and were supposed to hop on another bus down to Queenstown the day after, except… we ended up stuck in front of one of the Alp passes. The storm had apparently washed away 60m of road, and I doubt it’ll be fixed any time soon.

Franz Josef

Cue us taking a huge detour via Greymouth and Christchurch just to get to Queenstown two days late, only just in time for the Milford Sound tour we had booked. Except… The road to Milford is also closed! Apparently, there was too much snow these past few days and the only way to get there is by plane, which would set us back about $500 each. And since we just don’t have that kind of spare change, we’ll just be sitting in Queenstown until tomorrow morning when, hopefully, we’ll be able to get to Doubtful Sound.

Queenstown

We’re both pretty disappointed we’re missing out on Milford altogether, especially since we already missed out on seeing the glaciers because the weather was so nasty, but I guess there’s no changing any of that.

Hopefully, the next update will be a little more positive. Please be nice, New Zealand.