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Published: February 7th 2009
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Playing mini golf.
A few campsites we stayed in had courses much to our delight. New Zealand - South Island 27th Nov - 22nd Dec
We caught a flight from Aukland to Christchurch on the South Island where we picked up another hire car. We first visited Banks Peninsula to the east of Christchurch. The peninsula was formed by two volcanoes and the scenery was spectacular with steep sided hills dropping into blue sea inlets. We then headed south and up into the hills of the Southern Alps. On the way we passed bright blue glacial lakes as we headed to the village of Mount Cook near the peak of the same name which is the highest in NZ. There we walked up a steep path to see the Tasman Glacier, which although currently receding is still the biggest in New Zealand. It was really impressive. Back on the east coast we stayed in Oamaru where we went to see some yellow eyed penguins nesting on the cliffs and then a blue eyed penguin sanctuary at night when the penguins were returning from the sea. We continued South to Dunedin stopping to see the Moreaki boulders and a fur seal colony.
Dunedin is the old Gaelic name for Edinburgh and all the street names here
are the same as in the original. The weather was pretty similar too, grey and cold. The upside was that the two main attractions were the beer factory and chocolate factory tours. What a great combination. We did both. Our next destination was Millford Sound which was quite a long drive away through some fantastic mountain scenery and through a long tunnel and finally down to the sound itself where we had booked on an overnight cruise. The weather was good as we headed out on the Millford Wanderer and we were delighted to see dolphins swimming alongside the boat. We weren't so pleased about the dead seal though that had apparently been killed by a shark. After a tour around the sound, we weighed anchor and went out kayaking for a while where we saw some crested penguins. Back on the boat, we had a fantastic roast dinner before heading to bed. We awoke early in the morning to the sound of heavy rain and were amazed at the difference in the place. All around us, new waterfalls had appeared flowing down the sides of the steep cliffs. The captain tried to take the boat back out into the
sound but the wind was too strong and we had to return to the bay we had moored in and wait for the wind to calm before heading back to the harbour. All in all, the experience was one of the highlights of our trip.
After we got back to land we had another long drive to Queenstown which is the adventure sports capital of New Zealand. We took a look at some people bungy jumping off a bridge but the most adventurous we got was doing some more luging. Our route then took us over the Southern Alps to the west coast. It rains a lot on the west coast (just like in Scotland) and it had actually rained so much that the road to one of the glaciers we wanted to vist had been washed away. We did however manage to get to the Franz Joseph Glacier but again, due to the rain could only get to a view point about 500 metres away. Further up the west coast, we stopped at the town of Greymouth where the weather was also grey. We treated ourslelves to a private room at a hostel as we didn't much fancy more
camping in the rain. It was one of Richard's favourite hostels, mainly due to the delivery of free pies and cakes from the local bakery each day.
We left the west coast and headed east through Arthur's pass where we stopped to go for a walk to see a waterfall. It was here we met the Kea's again. A dull green mountain parrot which has a really funny walk and can make a real racket. Down the other side of the pass we caried on back to Christchurch where stayed a night before swapping our hire car for a Spaceship. Unfortunately, this wasn't a real spaceship but actually a people carrier converted to have a double bed, cooker, fridge and DVD player in the back. This was our home for the next week as we drove around the northern end of the south island.
The region is famous for Sauvignon Blanc wine and we were lucky enough to meet a family who grew grapes in the region at the first campsite we stopped at as they invited us to their caravan to try some of the local produce. Our trip round the northern tip took us through some very pretty
The Tasman Glacier.
Icebergs floating in the glacier lake. towns and along beautiful coastal roads. We visited the jeweler who made the "One Ring" for the films although it turns out there were actually a few made to fit the different actors. Another highlight was a day spent making a knife in Barrytown. We forged the steal in hot coals before adding the handle and then sharpening and polishing the blade. Heading back towards Christchurch, we visited some beardy goldminers who advised us the bit of gold Richard thought he had found the previous day was actually just some silica, boo. We then stopped at Hanmer Springs where we managed to see the towns Christmas parade which strangly enough included a pipe band. We spent the last two nights relaxing in Christchurch before flying off to Australia.
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