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Published: March 6th 2007
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Mount Iron
Self portrait after climbing Mt. Iron outside Wanaka We're currently in Wellington, New Zealand, and taking the opportunity to post an update on our week and a half touring the South Island of New Zealand. Let us preface this entry by saying if you ever have an opportunity to vacation here -- take it! There's great natural beauty, interesting small towns and a relaxed attitude amongst locals and travellers alike.
We started off in Christchurch, the 2nd largest city and most English place in this country. The center of activity is the Cathedral Square, where people hang out, entertainers perform, and Christchurch's very own wizard pontificates daily to the listening throngs. He occasionally encounters hecklers, which makes for an entertaining exchange. The city has a beautiful, peaceful river flowing through the center, on which tourists enjoy punt rides - very reminscent of Oxford - while historic tram cars circulate through the city center.
We're enjoying staying in backpackers hostels, with a sociable atmosphere focused around the kitchen. We were able to watch the NZ cricket team complete a 3-0 drubbing of their Aussie rivals, eat pizza for the first time on this trip and learn that a flat white is a cappucino without too much foam!
Cathedral Square, Christchurch
A juggler entertaining the crowds. In Christchurch, we picked up a hire car (with over 210,000 km on the clock), and set off for the Southern Alps. On the way, we drove through lush farmland, and past Lake Tekapo, a stunning blue colour due to mineral deposits, ringed by snow topped peaks. First stop was Wanaka, a small tourist town on the shores of its namesake lake. We took a hike up nearby Mount Iron for stunning views over the lake and surrounding hills.
From Wanaka, we travelled further south to the village of Manapouri for the highlight of our trip to date, a half-day cruise on Doubtful Sound, one of NZ's famous fjords on the west coast. The tour started at 7am, with a boat ride across the still waters of Lake Manapouri. After arriving at the western shore, we were entertained by keas, the only breed of parrots which lives in temperate mountain forests. They flew all around the visitors center. We then took a bus over a mountain pass to Doubtful Sound. It's difficult to describe quite how beautiful and serene this fjord is, and our photos struggle to do justice to the scenery. The cruise was 3 hours long, traveling
Cathedral Square, Christchurch
Chess players ponder their next move. all the way up the fjord to the Tasman Sea, where a colony of seals was basking on the rocks. At one stage of the journey, our boat was surrounded by playful bottle-nosed dolphins, and we also saw a yellow-crested penguin, a very rare (and small) breed. Towards the end of the cruise in a branch off the main fjord, the captain brought the boat to a halt and stopped all the engines. It was a magical moment of total silence on board, interrupted only by bird song at the water's edge. Amazing, and something we will remember for years to come.
After the cruise, we headed up to Queenstown, the activity center of the Southern Alps. There's lots of opportunity to bungee, sky dive, white-water raft and the like. We didn't partake, instead enjoying the beautiful sunset views over the lake.
The next morning, we drove back past Wanaka and over mountain passes to the west coast. Despite the number of tourists, we encountered few other vehicles for much of the time, and had the roads to ourselves, so much so that Sharon felt comfortable learning to drive n the left side of the road - good
The Wizard of Christchurch
He pontificates each day in the square. practice for England! The road over the mountains felt particularly remote at times, and there's a stretch of over 100 km without petrol (gas).
The area we visited is famous for 2 glaciers which descend from the mountains towards the sea, Fox and Franz Josef. They really are stunning, and again, our photos don't do them justice. We took hikes to the terminal faces of each glacier, enabling us to see just how huge and impressive they are, though people can (and do) hike onto the glaciers themselves for a different perspective.
We then continued up the mountainous coast, very reminscent of driving the Pacific Coast Highway in California, with waves crashing into the long sandy beaches. We spent the night at Punakaiki Beach, and saw the unique pancake rocks, formed from erosion of layers of limestone. We were lucky to be there at high tide and see the water spray through blow-holes.
We cut inland and across more passes to the older town of Nelson, noted for its seafood, where we we tried the NZ delicacy of "paua", a shellfish that lives in a beautiful metallic colored shell.
For our last day on the South
The Wizardmobile
Not an optical illusion, but the front of 2 Bugs welded together. Island, we took a tour of the wineries in the Marlborough Sound, famous for the sauvignon blancs, to which we've taken quite a fancy over the last couple of years. It was a relaxing way to end our visit to the Island.
This was not the end of the beautiful vistas, as the ferry across the straits to the capital Wellington (on the North Island) passes through Queen Charlotte Sound, another gorgeous location.
10 days is not enough to explore fully. We wish we had more time as there were many more places we wished to visit, such as the Abel Tasman Park, which everyone told us was a fantastic experience. Hopefully, we'll be back to rectify this one day!
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AliMac
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I told you
Let us preface this entry by saying if you ever have an opportunity to vacation here -- take it! Did you see the penguins of Doubtful Sound? Rarest in the world apparently, although we saw three standing in a row so I wasn't convinced - until we noticed that the nature guide was hyperventilating in excitement.