Advertisement
Published: April 1st 2008
Edit Blog Post
We know this entry is out of order but since arriving in Thailand we have not been too keen on blogging but we thought we should have it.
After leaving Wanaka we headed to the adventure capital of the world, Queenstown. People flock here to bungy jump, skydive, swing across canyons, ride jet boats thought narrow gullies of whitewater, and see how high they can raise their heart beats. We had a pizza and a beer and got back on the road. I guess we aren't the adventure junkies we once were.
We continued our journey further south to Milford Sound. This is one of New Zealand top attractions and we booked a bus/boat tour for the day so that we could take a break from driving and see all the sights. We woke up pouring rain and howling winds. The radio said it was the worst weather they had had in months and that it was supposed to rain 7 inches over the course of the day. We were bummed but could not cancel our tour so made the best of it. The way to the boat it was totally socked in but the waterfalls were running like
crazy. At times we would see hundreds of streams of whitewater cascading out of the clouds down the steep cliff faces that lined the road. It was cool but after a while, you could only look at so many waterfalls. The boat ride proved to be more of the same and we thought the day was a bust. Right as the boat hit the halfway point, the clouds lifted and the sky cleared. We could see all the beauty of the cliffs and sea with the added excitement of so much water making its way to the sea. It was spectacular. The boat drove right under a waterfall and soaked some of the passengers. Luckily we made it inside for that part. We got back to shore and started our bus ride back to Te Anau. Twenty minutes into the ride the breaks went out on our bus but since we were going uphill, the driver kept going for another half hour to the top of a mountain pass. There we flagged down other passing buses asking for rides back. We got on a bus full of Argentinean tourists who didn't speak a word of english so we got to
practice our spanish for the rest of the tour. It was a really fun day full of unexpected surprises but we were ready to get back on the road.
The most southern town in New Zealand is Invercargil. It was cool to stand out by the sea and know that we were on the last developed land mass before the ice of the south pole. It is also where friends of Lizzie's Aunt, Timber Tina Scheer, (www.mainelumberjacks.com) live and we stopped in for a visit. Thank you Pete and Teri for opening your home to us for lovely evening, a hot shower, and a load of clean laundry.
We had a rugby game to catch in Christchurch a couple of days later so we got moving again but didn't forego the scenic route through the Catlins National Park. This was supposed to be our best chance at seeing the Yellow Eyed Penguin, the rarest of all penguins by the way, which is probably why we didn't see any. We did get an up close look at some fur seals further north on the Otago Penisula just outside of Dunedin.
Dunedin is a cool town where the free
college is located. The people in New Zealand who pay for college don't have much to say for Dunedin but we found it to be quite a cool city. We went to the art museam and saw some cool local exibits and went to see a show on Davinci's machines. It was a really cool exibit with reconstructions of many of his designs. Most of the objects were made so that visiors could play with his designs and see how they work.
The only real attraction between Dunedin and Christchurch is the Moeraki Boulders. They are perfectly round boulders sitting on a beach and no one is quite sure how they were formed or maintain there shape. It was a nice place to get out of the camper and take a walk because we had a ways to travel and a game to get to.
Finding parking for the Campervan in Christchurch was about as fun as the gastro problems we are having in Thailand because all of the parking lots are garages that we were too tall for. We parked illegally at the movie theater and walked to see the Christchurch Crusaders play the Cheetas from South
Africa. The opening of the game featured knights on horseback bradishing swords and flags, best dressed child crusader fan contests, and the singing of their team song by the family the wrote it (who sucked at singing). It was hilarious and got us in a much better mood after the parking fiasco. The Crusaders took an early lead and there was no looking back. They won the game 40 something to 7 and Lizzie got a big crush on star flanker, Dan Carter, who still makes her blush at the sound of his name.
We got out of town, heading for Christchurch's weekend retreat, the Akaroa Peninsula. It was one of the only places in NZ that was settled by the French and we were psyched for some good food in a cute bayside town to relax before the big flight to Bangkok. Being in New Zealand was a great experience and we loved being in the country's spectacular landscapes.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.033s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0141s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb