Blogs from Glaciers, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 2

Après avoir passé un journée entière dans notre bus à attendre que la pluie cesse, on a finalement atteind le Glacier de Franz Josef. Bien que la visibilité était réduite, on s'est lancé dans la marche qui mène à la face terminale du Glacier. Après une période de retraite, depuis 1985 le glacier avance en moyenne d'un mètre par jour. Parfois il avance jusqu'à cinq mètres par jour ce qui est dix fois plus rapides que la moyenne des glaciers des Alpes suisses. Quand la météo est favorable, les hélicoptères se ruent en haut des glaciers, attérissent sur le manteau neigeux et déposent les touristes qui se lancent des boules de neige pendant cinq minutes avant de redescendre dans la vallée. Le coût de la bataille se chiffre à CHF 200.- et dure 20 minutes. Les ... read more

We've been back in the states for about a month now and I figured I would wrap up the trip by sending out a final blog entry of our times in New Zealand, Fiji, and Hawaii. As you know, we fried our laptop and didn't have much access to computers after that. So here you are... New Zealand: Lord of the Rings was filmed here. Days 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 9o4, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108 etc Australia was pretty much by the hip. New Zealand was going to be much of the same. This was certainly the trip of the unexpected. We knew the islands were beautiful, and we needed to change our standard course. That meant no hotels…no dinners out…and ... read more

Hey all, sorry its been a while but I'm in New Zealand,. and it's action packed and full of adventure, so I haven't had a lot of time to update the blog. Since landing in Christchurch last week on Wednesday we have been doing a tour of the South Island. We started in Christchurch, NZ's third biggest city and after watching a thrilling game between Manchester United and Chelsea in the Champions League final we didn't really stick around because there's not a great deal to do. We then went up to Kaikoura which is beautiful scenery, it was just a pity about the weather not being to great, but me being my Father's son I went out for a walk in the rolling gren hills anyway. It was a pretty small place famed for its ... read more

Paasin liikkeelle vasta klo 10. Oli pilvipoutainen paiva. Pysahdyin ensin pikkukaupungissa ja sitten nettituokiolle Franz Josefissa. Kavin katsomassa ensin Franz Josefin jaatikkoa. Jaatikon naki hyvin, vaikka en mennytkaan erityisen lahelle. Foxin kylassa aloin soitella sitten majoitusta itselleni Haastiin. Tilaa oli vasta viidennessa paikassa, josta yhden hengen huone irtosi 85 dollarilla, eli noin 45 eurolla. Kallein majoitukseni tahan asti. Kun majoitus oli varattuna, kavin katsomassa viela Foxin jaatikkoa. Sita paasikin katsomaan aika lahelta. Siita oli viela kahden tunnin ajomatka Haastiin. Niin, tama lansirannikon metsa on sangen rehevaa: taallahan sataa paljon. Autoilua helpottaa kieltamatta automaattivaihteet. Muuten naissa maissa ja mutkissa saisi vatkata vinhaan vaihdekeppia vasemmalla kadella. Foxin jaatikon parkkipaikalla naapuriautosta pyydettin apua: heilta oli a... read more

We are trampers all right! We packed sooo much into the next two days, it was unbelievable!!! We woke up and headed right for another adventure, kayaking the Okarita lagoon! We got there mid-day, and rented two single kayaks and headed off to observe the wildlife! We should have had amazing mountain views, but that morning the clouds werent agreeing with us, so we basically just saw about 50 birds. Although the white heron is a very rare bird in NZ, there are only about 15 in the whole country and they nest in okarita, so we saw about 10 of them! I do love kayaking because you can get so up close and personal with the wildlife! THe tide was going out and it was very remarkable to see the change in the lagoon as ... read more