Kia Ora again!
Derek here to add some banter to the blog!
Following on from our nights stay in Wellington, it was ferry time. Legs still in pain from the 20km walk, did we mention we done a 20km walk up & down a mountain?!? Up early to catch the 9 am ferry and drop the car back. The three hour ferry went by in a flash, some stunning views along the way & a quick chat to talk Emma "off the ledge" when it comes to shared rooms in hostels!
Once off the ferry we picked up our new rented car for the South Island. Picture Dumb & Dumber when they downgrade from the Sheep Van to the Scooter. We went from a Holden Captiva to a Fiat 500! After squeezing our bags into the smallest boot in the history, we were on our way to Kaiteriteri for one night.
Kaiteriteri is a lovely seaside town about 3 hours from the ferry terminal. We'd recommend it to everyone. We were in the dreaded share room in our accommodation! Turns out staying with people isn't as bad as one of us thought, the
couple Holly & Matt(not sure of his name, looked like a Matt) from just outside London(everyone is from just outside London) were very nice & chatty. In fact I was the cause of most issues in the room, supposedly snoring all night but I don't believe them!Next day was the big drive to Franz Josef, 6 hours according to Google Maps. Some great views along the way one minute surrounded by ice covered mountains the next driving in green for miles & miles, windy roads 7 road works everywhere (they say they end but they never do!). Franz Josef is a 12 km Glacier and is accessed via Helicopter. We were staying in YHA Hostel. We had a private room so all was good.
We were booked on the Ice Explorer. Get in a chopper, get all the gear (jacket, boots etc.) & explore the glacier. On arrival to the base camp we were informed our tour had been cancelled due to bad weather, too much wind. We were disappointed but decided to do a Valley Walk with the same company. Not another walk I hear you say! This walk was very pleasant and we
had a great view of the glacier. After the walk we were given access to the Hot Pools which I took full advantage!The next day we set off to our final destination in New Zealand, Queenstown. The drive took longer than anticipated. I was blamed, Emma was blamed, Google Maps was blamed! We stopped for our lunch at Haast Beach, very nice remote beach then it was onto Queenstown. We were staying in Nomads Queenstown in a 6 bed dorm. Having talked Emma off the ledge earlier in the week we were almost back to square one with this shared accommodation. We walked into washing hanging everywhere! The girls explained the dryer was broken and they used some balloon string to make washing lines (quite inventive).
It was an early start for Milford Sound the next morning. The weather had finally turned on us, having had 10 days of sun we were getting the backlash today. Rained for the entire duration of the trip to & from Milford Sound. Again what a great scenic place. Temporary waterfalls from the amount of rain were just spectacular. The spray from Stirling Falls was insane as the boat
gets so close to the falls.| Joined | October 12th 2015 | Trips | 0 |
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paul
non-member comment
gerr up ou of it...
Well teds.. sounds super what yous are doing.. if I EVER won the oul lottery new Zealand would be the place I would go to and contemplate what I would do next.. on my own I might add... lol.. looking good forward to the next Instalment of Dereks trip... ? enjoy every minute of it... ✌?..