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Firstly let us apologise in the delay in writing this blog. We only had 13 days in New Zealand so we had to make every second count!
We flew into Queenstown on 24th May through a medly of snow capped mountains and lakes before touching down and stepping out into the freezing cold of the South Island. After picking up our Jucy Camper van our first point of calll was the New Zealand equivelant of Primark to buy some much needed gloves and jumpers and an extra Duvet. We also bought a CSI New York box set to keep us entertained thanks to the DVD player provided, 12 episodes to last us 13 days.
After a good nights sleep (or as good a sleep as you can get in a cold van) we made our way down south to Milford Sound through the Mountains. The scenery was out of this world with Beautiful lakes and stunning peaks. We will keep our descriptions short and allow our photos to do the talking.
Milford sound was amazing, sheer cliffs and waterfalls flowing directly into the fjord. We were even entertained by a couple of wild Dolphins and fur Seals.
The next day we were back in Queenstown for a cable car up a mountain and a luge back down. The first race after a nice bit overtaking was won by James and the Second was won by Kayley after Taking the corners at breakneck speed and letting james crash behind somewhere.
After that spot of adrenaline fuelled excitement we made our way north to Fox and Franz Joseph Glaciers. This was really incredible to see, a huge block of ice making its way slowly down the mountain side. These two were the most famous Glaciers, but there were so many little ones as well which were spectacular.
We made a short trip down to lake matherson for some good photo opportunities before driving off to reach Arthurs pass. We found an amazing camp ground with log cabin and an open fire.
The next morning we travelled Arthurs pass through the mountains and lakes and rivers. This is apparently among the 10 best drives in the World.
We eventualy reached kaikoura on the east Coast. We booked ourselves onto a Whale Watching tour and were treated to seeing 5 Sperm Whales before sailing back and spotting
a pod of 300 Dusky Dolphins who gave us an impressive acrobatic display for about 20 minutes. This was one of the highlights of the trip.
Our next stop north was Blenhiem where we met up with Sajid, a friend of paul's (Kayley's Cousin) who kindly put us up in the house he was house sitting. It turned out to be a beautiful modern home on a Vineyard where they grew pinot noir grapes for Saint Clair wines (very tasty). We had a nice dinner that night and plenty of fine wine to keep us going before Sajid made us a fantastic scrambled egg breakfast (Gordon Ramsey recipe).
We caught the Ferry the next afternoon for Wellington and arrived just before sunset around 5ish. We had previously been told by a few people that with our time scale it was best to avoid the South of the North Island, so we decided that evening to try abnd get as far North as we could. We managed to get to Napier, a small town that was destroyed by an earthquake in the 1930's and rebuilt in the Art Deco Style which was popular in that era. We found a
nice spot in a carpark overlooking the beach and set up for the night.
The next morning, we made our way to Rotorua, famous for it's hot springs. Our first experience of a hot spring was in Taupo where there was lake with a small river flowing into it. Leading into the river was a small waterfall fed and heated by the volcanic activity further up stream. The waterfall had formed small areas where you could bathe in the warm/hot waters. Although this was amazing we decided to try a smaller spot we had heard about further north called Kerosine creek. This was incredible although busier than we had expected. We did however manage to bathe here in a nice warm spot under a waterfall. After an hour or so we decided to find somewhere to sleep. Awaking in the morning the place stank like Eggs and there was steam coming out of peoples lawns and drains. The place looked like it was all going to explode at any time.
Our next point of call was a small town called Warkworth which was about 2 hours North of Auckland. This is where we met Joan (and Kenny -
Friends of kayley's family) who cooked us a lovely meal and gave a warm comfy bed for the night. It was a welcome break from the cold campervan and lovely to see Joan.
The next morning we headed off to the Bay of Islands. The Sun came out for a brief moment, just enough time for us to go on a quick boat cruise to see the hole in the rock. We stayed around for the evening and returned back to joans for a well needed cup of tea before making our way through the Auckland traffic to stay as close to the airport as possible before dropping the van off the next morning and catching our flight to Fiji.
And that is where we are right now, although not as sunny as we would like it is beautiful and relaxing.
We shall leave you here and maybe do another blog in LA.
Hope you are all well. Enjoy the pictures and see you in a week.
kayley and James.
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Nikki Morgan!
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Wowee!!!
Ah!! New Zealand looks absolutely amazing!!!! And lovely to see so many pics of all the scenery and you both!!!!! Very very jealous right now, and even more so that you're off to figi and then LA now!!!! Matt and I have just come home from the new house! We've been over cleaning today and moved most of our bedroom stuff over...have hired a van for tomorrow for beds and all the rest of the furniture. Hard work, but it'll be worth it when it's all done and we're settled in! Please come home soon so I can tell you all of this in person!!! But have a suepr super time so you can tell me lots of exciting stories too!!! Lots and lots of love, Nikki Morgan xxxxx PS. Morganstock 08 is soooo on! xxxxx