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Published: January 24th 2009
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Hooker Valley Trail - Mt. Cook
And the South Island circuit begins... Faulkner/Blunt visit - Part II - January 3-7
I realize if I don't get going on this I will have forgotten all the really fun things that we did during our South Island circuit tour. I knew I should have kept a journal!
The trip began early Saturday morning as we headed to Mt. Cook. We stopped for a shop and a bite to eat in Tekapo. Lake Tekapo is listed as one of the sunniest places in New Zealand, but nearly every time I have been there it has been raining. This time was no exception. We headed on to Mt. Cook - more rain, and it looked like it might be getting worse...ugh. Teenagers do not want to hike in the rain. Michele and I finally decided we had to make an executive decision and that even though you couldn't see Mt. Cook, the Hooker Valley Trail was still quite cool. So out in the rain we went...with lots of sour faces. I am pretty sure the kids will all admit it was an awesome hike - 2 swinging bridges, glacier views and a whole group of tourists from VA Tech! I even met a guy from
Tasman Glacier
Group Shot - Cheese! Topping, VA who lives on the Rappahannock! What a small world.
Wet, but still going, we drove to the Tasman Glacier for a quick 20 minute hike up to see the glacier. Again, we were met with grumpiness, but they still all managed to join us. It was an amazing view - not only of the glacier but of Mt. Cook as it was clear on this side of the mountain. Drove to Omarama that night and stayed in our first Top 10 Holiday Park. Bought fresh salmon along the way and grilled it for dinner - yum!
Sunday...on to Queenstown. Where to begin??? Okay, first off Michele and I set the kids free to explore. We gave Lindsey and Mikey Graham to keep track of and Sydney and Stephen Avery to watch. Michele and I went to the DOC to figure out a hike for Monday and to stock up on groceries. We also took in a quiet lunch sans children! Sunday night we all took the gondola up to The Ledge, the alpine luge and the Kiwi Hake show. We bought tickets for the luge and took a few runs. Graham was bumming about me not allowing
Tasman Glacier
Avery - notice the chunks of ice! him to join Lindsey and Mikey on Wed for the Nevis Bungy Jump - the longest and scariest at 130+ meters. I didnt' want him to go because it was double the price and they had to go via 4-wheel drive vehicle and I wouldn't get to watch! He was in a real funk until he, very unlike Graham, spontaneously decided to do The Ledge (47 meters) over Queenstown, right then and there! And, we found out that a Christmas special was being offered only at this location, 2 jumps for the price of one! This meant that he could bungy on Sunday and Alpine Swing on Monday. I must say he was quite brave! The photos say it all!
Monday...Michele woke up not feeling well so I left her at the Top 10 and I took everyone to Glenorchy. Without Michele, who really wanted to do the long hike, I couldn't convince everyone (or myself) to take a 4 hour hike. So, we headed to Glenorchy to see what we could find. We opted to take a water taxi across Lake Wakatipu to Kinloch. We did a small hike along a mountain road and back through the forest
Queenstown -
Gondola and Chairlift to Alpine Slide along the lake. The highlight was finding the rope swing while waiting for the taxi to pick us up to return to Glenorchy. We couldn't leave without first having a late lunch at the Glenorchy Cafe. Monday night Graham, Avery and I headed back up the gondola so that Graham could go for his Alpine Swing. Sydney and Stephen went to meet up with Timaru friend, Paula from Austria, for dinner. Later when we returned, Michele was feeling much better and we went for a long walk in Queenstown.
Tuesday...The Faulkners left early for their bus/boat trip to the Milford Sound. We headed to Wanaka to see the Ellis family around noon. It was fun to see their new house and to hang out with them for the afternoon. Annabel and Jono were playing in a tennis tournament so we got to watch them as well. The kids went for a swim in Lake Wanaka and Ken, Rachel and I went out for a beer😊
Got takeaway gourmet burgers for the kids and yummy Indian food for the adults. Headed back to Queenstown around 7pm via the Crown pass. The Faulkners had an enjoyable, but wet day at the
Queenstown -
Alpine Slide Milford Sound.
Wednesday... this final day in Queenstown was nothing but adventure. Lindsey and Mikey left early to bungy jump at Nevis. The rest of us headed to the AJ Hackett Kawaru River bridge for Sydney and Stephen to have their tandem bungy jump (43 meters above the Kawaru River). They had a great time, but asked not to be dunked into the river and they were anyway... They said they were stunned and soaked, but loved every minute of it. Back in Queenstown, Avery finally got to have a bit of jumping fun on a giant trampoline that he was harnessed into and hydraulically lifted. Avery was so disappointed that he wasn't old enough (must be 10 years) or heavy enough (must be 35 kilos and he weighs 30kilos). This afternoon proved to be one of our favorites of the whole trip. We chose to go on a 4 hour ( 2 hours on the water) white water rafting trip. It was advertised as "Family Adventures" so we were a bit worried that the older kids might not enjoy it. But no worries - everyone had a great day. It was a harrowing van ride up the Skipper
Pass (worse than most of the ski field roads!) to what had once been the start of the AJ Hackett Pipeline bungy jump. That spot closed in 1992 and has been home to the white water rafters. We were all given wetsuit bottoms, footwear, fleeces, spray jackets and helmuts. During the safety briefing there were snacks, drinks, and sunscreen for all. The rafting was great. It was a hot, sunny day so the water was very refreshing. We stopped a few times to learn about the old gold mines, to watch out for the jet boats coming up the Upper Shotover River where we were, and to swim and jump off rocks. It was such a blast for everyone. Afterwards, we all chose a big rock to put in the van to bring back to the Pipeline Bridge. After a yummy and well deserved BBQ (with beer and wine) we took our rocks to the bridge and tossed them over with a wish. It sounded like an explosion. I must say, the wine was needed to calm my nerves (and Michele's) for the rough ride back along those steep, narrow roads. Got back exhausted at about 8pm.
Still four
more days to go....Again, stay tuned for Part III. I hope I can remember all the details😊
There are two pages of photos...don't forget to look at the second page as well!
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Uncle Stevie
non-member comment
Wow
Looks like a lot of fun, super jealous!!