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Published: December 10th 2004
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Breathe In
Ness contemplates whether she'll fit through the gap on the Franz Joseph glacier Howzitgoin, eh?
If you're feeling Christmassy then goodonya. Right, that's enough kiwi talk.
I know we've been slack and not updated this for a while but we've been too busy (and having too much fun) to spend a lot of time in net cafes. Anyway, on with the story of New Zealand...
After Rotorua, we headed for Waitomo. The lure? Obviously the Shearing Shed. In NZ you have to go to a shearing, so we went to see animals being shorn. A rabbit to be exact. By the end it was no longer a fluffy bunny, but still cute.
We also visited the caves which involved abseiling into the stream where we collected our tubes for the blackwater rafting through underground tunnels lit by thousands of glowworms. It looked like a clear night with blue stars.
Next stop was the Tongariro national park to do the best one-day walk in NZ - the Tongariro Crossing. It certainly lived up to its reputation with stunning barren volcanic scenery all around Mount Ngarahoe (Mt Doom in LOTR), with steam vents and mineral lakes, as well as patches of snow. Towards the end of the walk, there are fins
Lake Matheson
An early morning view of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman across the still waters of Lake Matheson views over the verdant Taupo region, quite a contrast from the beginning.
From Taupo we had a quick stop for Viv to jump out of a plane, then we headed for Wellington for a day of culture (ie we visited the museum, a wildlife sanctuary and watched a Chinese film).
After taking The Beast over to the south island on the ferry we headed for the Abel Tasman National Park for a spot of sea kayaking. Seals, jumping silver fish and stunning coastal scenery were occasionally spotted through the torrential downpour that lasted the whole day. Fun kayaking anyway.
Since the day was spent cold and wet, we remained in the same vein the following day with a fantastic white water rafting trip on the Buller river near Murchison. It was grade 3/4 rapids and good fun.
We drove down the stunning west coast road to take in the scenery including Pancake Rocks (rock which look like stacks of pancakes, made of hundreds of different thin layers) and Hokitika, the centre of the NZ greenstone industry, until we reached the Franz Joseph glacier. The weather finally turned out bright and sunny for our day was spent
Balls
The Moeraki Boulders in all their glory walking, sliding and climbing on the glacier assisted by crampons and ice axes, admiring the ice formations and blue crevices.
An early morning walk around Lake Matheson allowed for stunning views of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman, before driving on to Wanaka for a couple of days of rest. The first day was spent canyoning in the fantastic Niger canyon and the following day Ness fell out of a plane. Luckily she was attached to an instructor and a parachute at the time. Wanaka was a fantastic little town with great views across Lake Wanaka and the mountains. It also had a great cinema - we watched a film lying on a sofa eating great pasta and drinking beer.
We then spent a day in Alexandra (ugly town, rugged scenery) mountain biking on the old gold trails before reaching the east coast. The Moeraki Bolders were stunning, huge spherical rocks of hard stone that had fallen out of the eroding sandstone cliffs onto the beach.
Dunedin was a quiet little city with a couple of great museums. We also visited the Penguin Place where we watched from hides as some of the worlds rarest penguins (the yellow
Standing Up Straight
The world's steepest street eyed penguin) came home from the sea and waddled over the beach.
From Dunedin we headed back to the west coast to Fiordland. After driving through a snowstorm we took a boat trip round Milford Sound to see the huge mountains rising almost vertically 100's of meters straight up from the sea. A stop was made at the underwater observatory as an opportunity to see creatures of the deep at only 10m below the sea. (In Milford Sound there is a layer of fresh water stained with tannin of 2m to 10m deep that sits on top of the sea water. This creates conditions that are usually only found at about 80m deep.)
From Milford Sound we headed to Queenstown, NZ adventure capital and our busiest day so far - downhill mountain biking in the morning around Lord Of The Rings territory, the Shotover Jet at lunchtime, a jetboat ride through narrow canyons where the drivers aim for the walls and spin the boats through 360degree turns, and a quick dip under the Kuwara Bridge at the original bungy jump, just Viv.
After a day of rest and catching up with Ness's parents (including the Queenstown gondola
Milford Sound
The boat at the bottom can carry 400 people! and luge track) we headed for the Mount Cook National Park for some stunning views and a short walk.
Ever onwards we headed to Kaikoura for a whale watching boat trip (we saw 3!) and some swimming with seals.
Finally on to Christchurch to hand back The Beast and head for Oz but not before visiting the Antarctic Centre to endure an antarctic storm and ride the Haaglund (a go anywhere small tank), and the gondola for a short view across the bay (before the clouds rolled in and the gondola was suspended due to the wind with us still at the top).
All in all, NZ was a fantastic place. Go there. Now. You will not regret it!
Some language tips for when you get there:
Kiwi - English
Tramping - walking
Greenstone - Jade
Eh? - Innit
Cheerio and try not to work too hard.
Viv and Ness
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