Well, i can tell you that i am on vacation and very relaxed about my travels, as today was a perfect example of it. I had really only glanced at my itinerary for my flight, but was sure that i had the time of departure out of Christchurch correct, but.... i must have looked at the arrival time, so needless to say when i arrived for my flight to Brisbane via Auckland at the airport, i was about 1 hour late.... well, how does it go here.. no worries, mate, we'll get you sorted... and sort they did, and with the [View Full Entry]

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Once again, i cannot say it often enough.. New Zealand is the best organized country when it comes to tourism. The public transport, the shuttles, the tours, etc, everything is top--notch and so again i am on a bus travelling to Akaroa . Akaroa is about 80 km south of Christchurch, and is one of the very few ocean side towns, where you can feel the french influence in New Zealand. Somtime between Captain Cook's landing in New Zeland and before the Bristish Crown took over, the French tried to colonize New Zealand, and Akaroa still has a bit of that [View Full Entry]

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So today is Sunday, and my last official day in New Zealand Since last night turned out to be a bit late, and i have nothing really planned for today, other then walking around Christchurch, i decided to sleep in a bit. (which is really not that easy anymore...so getting up at 9 felt super late), at any rate. Did you know that Christchurch is the most British city outside of England? Well, it is, and you can feel it everywhere, in the architecture, (Gothic) the fact that a very nice Cathedral is in the town square , the fact that [View Full Entry]

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Today was a pretty long day on the bus. 8 hours of driving between Queenstown and Christchurch (approx. 500km) and since i was pretty sore from my hike yesterday and am reading an exciting book, it was a very relaxing day, interupted by a view stops along the way. We stopped in Twizer, which is the gateway to Mt Cook National Park, enjoyed some great views of the Southern Alps from the East Coast, stopped at a Cheese and IceCream Factory for the needed sugar fix, and arrived in Christchurch around 4:30 in the afternoon. My last couple of days in [View Full Entry]

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Ok, so as i am trying to catch up with the last couple of days, please bare with me on these shorter blogs, since i am trying to get a few done in a short amount of time. So today was my last day in Queenstown, and after seeing Michelle off on her bus tour to Christchurch, i headed up into the mountains on my day trip to the summit of the Ben Lomond track. The walk started at the base of the Gondola in the center of Queenstown, and it was pretty much straight, steep uphill from there!!! My quads [View Full Entry]

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So this blog should really be all about the pictures, so i hope to be adding some later. But today we left TeAnau towards Fjordland National Park and Milford Sound. The drive took us straight through Lord Of the Rings country! We stopped several times for all the amazing picture opportunities and after we drove for about 2.5 hours on the one and only road that leads through mountains, glacier country, and terrain that has been shapped by several different ice ages, we arrived just in time to catch our cruise on the Milford Sound. We spend 2.5 hours on the [View Full Entry]

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After a bit of a sleep in, we left towards TeAnau today. Our first stop was at a Paua Shell Factory and jewlery store, where we had the chance to cut and polish our own jewlery, which was quite cool! After the stop we headed towards a working sheep farm, where we were introduced to the farmer, and after putting our "gear" on, i.e. work boots and raincoats, we hopped on some 4 wheelers to go out to watch the dogs bring in a herd of sheep. It was just amazing to watch these dogs at work. They are so well [View Full Entry]

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After a great night's rest, we took of this morning with a stiff wind blowing (the ominous southerly is blowing up from Antarctica) and we are headed for a day of wildlife viewing, lot's of stops for little hikes and the South of the South: 4800 km from the South Pole!!! We first travelled through the Catlins, which is an area known for it's ridges of native bush forest, beautiful beaches and rugged coastline. There are sheep everywhere!!! (more on that later). We stop at Nugget Point to walk up the lighthouse and watch the seals play in the water and [View Full Entry]

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We left early Monday morning, after a great night of celebrating the "survival" of our bungy jumps, and so the long bus ride to the very south of the south island was quite ok. We all could use a bit of sleep, right? Michelle, from Perth- Australia, and I are the only ones from our previous bus that are heading south on the Bottom Bus. Since the Bottom Bus is a lot smaller, we get to know everyone farely well, and this trip today is really all about getting to Dunedin, the 'scottish" college town of the first University in New [View Full Entry]

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Ok, so i did it! Yes, call me crazy, but i'll take it! It was AWESOME!!!!! . What an absolute swing of emotions. First absolutly scared, and within seconds on the highest of highs! I have actually caught myself smiling all day for no apparent reason, other than replaying the whole thing in my head! But back to the start. I am Queenstown, and on our way into town today, we stopped at AJ Hackett's original bungy jump www.ajhackett.com, the first ever commercial jump in the world (1988), the place where it all began, ...the Kawarau Bridge jump! 43 m above [View Full Entry]

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