Advertisement
Published: April 26th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Hi All,
Onto more or less the final part of our travels - New Zealand! I love this place, it's so beautiful and unspoilt (unsurprising really with 4 million people inhabiting the same area as our 65 million). You don’t have to drive to find this beauty, it’s everywhere: Lord of the Rings style snow capped mountains, crystal lakes and great beaches.
We flew into Auckland in the North Island and picked up the little campervan that was to be our cramped but cosy home for the next two weeks. Headed south to Rotorua - famous for its geysers and bubbling volcanic mud. Apparently the earth’s crust is at its thinnest here, and what’s underneath just leaks out forming steaming fissures and random geysers wherever you go. Fascinating stuff, particularly the stinking bubbling mud, (like the Bog of Eternal Stench for those of you cool people who remember ‘Labyrinth’) While at Rotarua we also managed to see some traditional Maori dancing and learn a bit about their culture. We saw Maoris wherever we went (they seem more integrated than aboriginals - apparently there are no full blooded maori left.)
We then drove south through stunning mountains and
then flatter landscape more like England to Wellington. A great city with a massive harbour and steep hillsides. We took a cable car up to the top of the hill for a spectacular view of the city and spent our time exploring the botanical gardens, shopping and eating out (had been living off pasta so far so this was a nice change!) Food is very fresh and cheap here (about 6 pounds for a main course). Also went to the Te Papa museum for a quick injection of NZ and Maori history - very interesting (and short compared to our history). Speaking of history, we passed through the graveyard and I noticed a gravestone for 5 children of the same family who died within 2 weeks - a hard life for the original settlers.
From Wellington we caught the ferry to South Island and continued our journey south through windy mountain passes with great views on every side. We stopped at the Fox Glacier and joined a climbing group to explore the glacier. The ice formations were incredible - huge towering waves and deep crevasses. It was like another planet. All very slippery but luckily we were kitted out
with crampons and other hardcore mountaineer equipment. It was freezing cold which was actually quite surprising as it was surrounded on both sides by mild rainforest with no snow. I feared frostbite and gangrene but was pleased to find my fingers and toes intact when we got back down! We also visited nearby Lake Matheson - famous for its still waters and great reflections as you can see from the picture.
Next stop, onto Lake Wanaka - my favourite place! A huge lake surrounded by mountains and a great little ski town (though out of season when we were there). We are able to park our campervan right on the lake, the perfect view to wake up to! (Actually we parked in fantastic spots almost every night of the trip.) We mountain biked round the lake to the pub which was a great ride (pubs here seem more like English ones, a nice change!)
Then onto Queenstown, where we took the cable car up the cliff and skidded back down the mountainside on luges. Millsy was stunned by my speedy luge driving (he still beat me though). We also went on a jetboat which was fun for about
10 mins - stunning lake views accompanied by crazy speedboat stunts. Then I got seasick from all the turns and spins, making the rest of the trip not quite the exhilarating adventure I'd hoped. Luckily we were able to warm up with hot chocolate by an open fire in a cosy little pub.
And with only two days to go we started our drive up to Christchurch to catch our flight back to Oz. More scenic driving - Millsy, by this time a confident camper driver managed to do wheelspins - no easy achievement in our old friend. We spent a starfilled night completely in the middle of nowhere and then one night at a noisy, biker-filled campsite in Christchurch. A nice little city from what we saw. We managed to get a good pub feed and join in the pub quiz at a great pub called the Shakespeare on Avon (they seem to love England here - yey). We then said goodbye to our trusty camper and flew out in the morning.
Now we’re back in Australia until May 8th, then off to Hong Kong for a couple of days en route back to London. I’ll try
The Fox Glacier
Yes I am in shorts - it was warm further down! to get one more blog in, though I may be home by that time!
Anyway, hope you’re all keeping safe and well, will see u soon!
Aims xx
PS. Keep the comments coming....
Advertisement
Tot: 0.089s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0473s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Loz
non-member comment
Hey Baby!
Hey baby! Good to here all your news! Takes me back so much as I went to all those places too! Isn't it cool?! x