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Published: April 2nd 2006
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Hi all, hope everyone is ok!
Im currently in Queenstown-party place of new zealand and thank god as i think we were in need of some excitment. Its ony a few days until we leave for Oz and so i suppose time to reflect on New Zealand! Hmmm, what can i say. I suppose we're actually both a little disappointed. Dont get me wrong we've enjoyed ourselves here and i can think of worse places to be for a month but i think we've both found NZ to be a little tame. Lovely and spectacular as the scenery is i feel the whole place lacks atmosphere. We arrive each night in a different town and theres noone about. I dont know whether thats because we loved the vibrancy and diversity of South America but something was amiss. Maybe thats what you get when you visit a country that has a greater population of sheep than humans!!
I dont mean to offend anyone whose been to the country and loved it, but i suppose everyone is different. Maybe the mistake we have made was to come for too long, perhaps it would have been better to come for 2/3 weeks rather than
just over a month. If your going to come for longer then it would be worthwhile to do some work over here and stay that little bit longer. On a whole i would descrbe NZ as nice, but nothing more (that sounds really bad, but hey!) I hate being negative about stuff and think you should look for the positive but NZ has made ths a bit of a task!
Anyway back onto the fun stuff and regardless of what ive just said there has been some really good times over the past month. Since i last wrote we headed south from Abel Tasman region to Nelson lakes. The area itself is lovely and fab views of the lake at dusk (apart from those evil sandflys that seem to enjoy the view at that time of the day aswell). We had a bit of a wander around the lake and decided on which walk we would do the next day. Following day we abandoned our plan to do the 3 hour walk and aimed for the 5, however didnt realise how uphill it was. Set off through the forest and had a bizarre phone call from gnomey and nat back
Kaikora
Decided to get active and hired bikes. This wasnt the destination we planned for. Ooops home (hi girlies, good to hear from ya's!). Anyway it was all uphill and me and caz realised we've lost our inca trail fitness! Caroline had enough of the monotonous scenery, tree after tree for hours and headed back but i carried on as it became a challenge. Started to get really misty amongst the trees and realised i must be getting pretty high up, i think it was about 1400m in the end (so not quite the inca trail) Eventully got to the top and i got a fantastic view of.....bugger all as it was way too misty so headed back and joined caroline sunbathing by the lake (much better way to spend the day!)
From there it was off to Kaikora. Since 'Kai'=food and 'Kora'=crayfish, we decided to treat ourselves and went out for a lovely seafood meal. Next day we decided funds were a little too low for the dolphin and whale watching trips so decided to get active and hired bikes. However got lost and went on wrong road so rather than going to the seal colonies ended up having to bike up the steepest hill in kaikora, by which time the bikes were due back
The forest of arnauds range
I walked through hours of this view....... and decided to walk along the coast to seal colonies, which was a lovely little walk resulting in seeing a fair few seals out on the rocks basking in the sun.
I have to say the weather has actually been really good here in the south island and in total saw rain only once in christchurch. It was christchurch we went to after kaikora, and just passed through.
Next it was a drive westerly across to the southern alps. Lovely drive through Arthurs pass, through the mountains and a little bit scary with my driving over the massive downhill bridge with very steep drops below! We headed to a place called Franz jospeh as it was here we were to do our glacier walk. Decided we wanted to spend pretty much a full day up on the glacier so chose the full day hike rather than the helihike. The glacier a long long time ago reached out towards the ocean but over time it advances and gets smaller, leaving massive lakes in the area. The glacier is actually moving at a rate of 1meter pe day and up to 6meters at the top so is constantly changing shape and form
.....to get this view!!
Me at the top, its a bit misty!! which is pretty amazing. Once we'd walked for a little bit it was time to don the 'crampons' to allow you to grip onto the ice and not fall done any deep crevices! It was wicked on the actual glacier itself and were on it for about 4/5 hours, walking and exploring. Had our piccies taken in the ice caves and had a few tight squeezes to get through. The crevices are caused by folds in the ice which are constantly moving. All in all really good day and another highlight of NZ.
We had a day spare the next day so we drove round to Fox Glacier, just round the corner really, but not as big as franz joseph. Although we both thought that franz jospeh was smaller than we thought looking at it from a distance but once on it its like a winter wonderland.
Next stop Wanaka, where we visited a quirky little cinema which plays fairly recent films but has quirky seating including peoples old sofas, a lazy-boy chair and even an old car-though not much leg room in this. It also bakes homemade cookies and icecream for the interval-yum! We also visited 'puzzle world' which
Franz Jospeh
View from the town with the glacier in the background. kept us amused for an afternoon as we got lost in the giant maze!
Next stop, Queenstown, which definately has a livlier vibe to it. Theres only so many quite early nights we can handle so it was a night out on the town that evening. Queenstown is a lovely place. Apparently thriving in both the summer and winter as it is a ski town. Gorgeous settng by the lake and lots of cool cafes and bars on the waterfront. Since bordem had been setting in, i craved some excitment but didnt fancy the bungy jump and had done a skydive previously in OZ, i decided to go hang-gliding!! I was fab, really loved it. Think that could be my latest hobby though a bit expensive to get into i suppose! I'll put it onto my ever growing list of things to do!
We then left queenstown for a couple of days and headed south to do a cruise on milford sound. We stayed the night in te anu about 2 hr drive to the sound so headed there the next morning. Cruise was 'nice' with 'nice' scenery but not sure it was worth the 600km round trip down there,
Ready for work!
Me and Caroline with our pick axes and crampons on! as didnt get to see a great deal. Even in the underwater observatory, we were rushed round in 20minutes.
So, here we are back in Queenstown. Going to spend the weekend here before travelling back up to Christchurch via mt cook and get ready for our flight to oz on tuesday!
Sorry NZ its been great but its time to move on, hoorah!!!
Ta rah everyone,
Love Nads x x x x
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Claire
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I don't beliieeeve it!
As if you have done a handglide before me you jammy sod! If you take it up as a hobby I'm coming too! Enjoy Oz, say Hi to Becky from me.Xxxx