For our two week Easter holiday we decided to revisit New Zealand. Five years ago we spent 8 weeks touring the North and South Island in a campervan. Our favourite place was Queenstown in the South Island and that’s where we headed! First though we spent a few days in a small, coastal town called Akaroa.
The drive from Christchurch was fantastic - green, quiet and only just over an hour! Rather like the Lake District but without any caravans or queues!! Akaroa is a delightful French town full of waterfront cafes, sailing boats and boutiques. Why aren’t there any crowds? Easter Tuesday and the whole place seemed deserted!
We rented a lakefront apartment and went swimming with endangered, wild Hector Dolphins in the bay. These are the smallest type of dolphin and only found in this part of New Zealand. They were easy to find and eager to play, scaring Sam by pushing against his tummy - I think they could sense it was full of hot chocolate!
Then we flew to Queenstown - one of our favourite places in the world! This time all the children were old enough to sample the many adventures on offer!
James and Jake tried bungying off a bridge and "Fly by Wire" where you zoom through the air in a mini jet attached to a piece of wire! It's impossible to describe so have a look at the photos below!
Helena and I opted for parasailing and a heavenly horse ride - Helena rode a horse who had appeared in Lord of the Rings!
Samuel enjoyed the luges, kayaking, white-water rafting, jet boating and river- surfing!
Personally I found river surfing quite terrifying - (but then I hate going under water!) It involved those small polystyrene "body board"s (about 1/3 the size of a surf board.)
You simply enter the glacial river, place your upper body on the board and float 10km. The scenery is magnificent - its the rapids I dont like!!
They teach you to "duck dive" under the rapids so that the force of the wave doesn't hurl you from your board. This involves voluntarily immersing your head under the icy water just as you are about to crash into the rapid. This hardly felt natural to me - so I hurled from my board instead.
When I finally surfaced, I
was completely disorientated, I could hear my heart thumping madly and all I could think about was,
"Where's Sam? Where's Sam?!!" They assign a personal guide to all children under twelve, but even so I desperately wanted to see him. Suddenly there he was in the distance, his little shoulders shaking violently...Was he terrified? Was he shivering? No... he was laughing. Laughing uncontrollably.
" Fantastic! Fantastic!" he chuckled "When are the next rapids?"
"Oh, don't worry," reassured his guide, "There are more then 10 rapids. That one was a force 3 for 80 m - but at the end is a force 4 rapid which lasts for 800m!"
"Fantastic!" repeated Sam in glee. I started looking for an alternative path on shore.
But of course there is no path. Its a wild river canyon - the whole point of river surfing is to float rapidly down stream seemlessly immersed in watery Nature! Thankfully after a few more rapids, I started to get the hang of it, following closely behind Sam's guide. I even started to relax and enjoy the "floaty" bits. Not so the children - they liked the River Surfing Tricks best , where you try and
manouevre your board onto a circular type of rapid so you are suspended stationary above the gushing water....
Again you can't really describe it and sadly you couldn't take your camera!!
We took the camera everywhere else though!
See what you think to our photos below and if you've a spare minute, please leave us a message!
With love and best wishes from,
Rachel, James, Jake Helena and Sam X X X X X
3 Comments -
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I loved your photos and the scenery was wonderful. Been to North Island (our son lives in Wellington) next time the South Island is a must. Will take your advice and visit Akaoroa? I will write it down!
Best wishes for the rest of your holiday or if you are back home.
Pat in North Yorkshire.
You look as though you are having more fantastic holidays!!!! We did get bank holiday off this year but there wasn't any river rides or dolphins in Birmingham.
Have a great time on the rest of your trip and keep posting all the photo's. Like your hat Rachel!
Take care love Luke.
I cant believe I came across your travel blog just by chance!! Your children are so grown up. You all look fantastic, looks like you had a great time. Glad you are all so well. Like a lifetime ago I worked for you!! Fondest regards Lucia x
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