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Published: January 19th 2007
On Dec. 28th I headed back up to Christchurch to pick up Brittany from the airport. She came over for 10 days to travel around and celebrate New Years with me. We checked out downtown Christchurch and the botanical gardens after she arrived and then had a great pub meal at The Bog in the four avenues area.
The next day we got up early and headed out of town for the day to the Banks Peninsula. We drove over to the French-influenced town of Akaroa. The drive over was filled with scenic views of sheep filled hills overlooking Akaroa Harbour. Once we got to the town we booked a harbour cruise and headed out. The highlight of the cruise was the chance to see Hector’s dolphins that are found only in New Zealand and are the smallest dolphin species. As soon as we had headed out from the dock we had spotted a group of about 10-20 dolphins. They are very curious and spend a good bit of time swimming around the boat. We were able to get a ton of great pictures and see them throughout the cruise. Further out into the harbour we spotted a Blue
Penguin swimming in the water, New Zealand fur seals, and the rare Yellow-eyed Penguin. There were also some great views of volcanic sea caves and the green hills that that surround the area.
The rest of the day we spent walking around the town of Akaroa and then drove back to Christchurch via the Summit Road. The Summit Road was a small back road that took us along the top of ridgelines that overlooked the various bays on the peninsula and sometimes down into the bays. We stopped in an interesting museum at Okains Bay that had things from early settlers of the late 1800’s and some Maori things. From there we followed the road back up around the ridgeline above the rest of the bays. Along the way we where stopped by sheep being herded down the street. 500-750 sheep that had just been sheered came walking down the road that we were travelling up and blocked the road. We had to wait for them to pass us by before we could continue on. After our little sheep encounter we continued on back to Christchurch stopping at two historic building that were set up as walking huts in
the early 1900’s but are now restaurants.
The next day we picked up a friend, Christian, and drove over to Queenstown on a wet and rainy day. On the 31st Brittany and I walked around Queenstown and then did a great little hike along the lake just outside the town. We then started the celebration of for the New Year by going jet boating. We shuttled out to the Shotover River and jumped in a 3-ton 575hp powered jetboat. The boat sits just 3cm deep in the water and is powered by jets of water that it sucks up which allowed the driver to literally drive right over rocky banks and do 360’s at 70-80kph. The driver took us up and down the Shotover canyon coming literally inches from canyon walls, trees, rocky banks and anything else he could find to scare the hell out of you. It was a great way to start the countdown to 2006.
That evening we headed over to a nearby hostel where my UK friends were staying and joined them in celebrating the new years. We headed out around the town and enjoyed some fireworks on the lakefront at midnight.
On
new years day we decided to bring in the New Year with a bang. Brittany and I both signed up for a bungy jump at the Kawarau Bridge. By 10am we were both standing on the edge of a platform 43m above the river. Brittany went first and jumped off and down towards the river below leaving me to contemplate my fate in the next few minutes. Excited and nervous I got into my rig, shuffled to the end of the platform, and waited for my countdown: 5,4,3,2,1, bungy! and with that I jumped. The split second after I jumped I was scared out of my mind but as you fall and the bungy catches you it is such an amazing feeling. I missed a head dip in the water by a foot or so, but with the cold weather I wasn’t too disappointed. After being lowered to a waiting raft on the river I managed to get my shaky legs out of rig and up the steps.
For me this was only the start of the bungy excitement. From Kawarau Bridge we were both shuttled up to the Nevis Highwire Bungy that is a glass-bottomed gondola that sits
high above the Nevis River. We were set up with our gear and then shuttled out to the stationary gondola in a little cart that fits 4-6 people. Once out there I sat and watched as the heavier people jumped fist, again contemplating the jump. The Nevis jump is a 134m jump which is the second highest in the world. When my time came I was seated in a chair, harnessed up, and then shuffled out to the edge of the gondola. Looking out it is a long, long, long way down to the bottom of the valley and the Nevis River. Upon jumping the feeling was like nothing I had ever experienced. The jump was so much longer than the Kawarau and was like flying through the air. It was quite an experience I tell you.
I completed my bungy “Thrillogy” by going back to Queenstown and going up the town gondola and up to the Ledge Bungy. This jump was a 47m jump but is different from the others in that you are strapped in at the waist and not an the ankles. This allows you to get a running start and do more in the air.
So with this newfound freedom I decided to get a good running jump and do some front flips. I managed to get 3 good flips in before I reached the bottom of the bungy. The whole day was amazing and I would highly recommend that everybody try bungy jumping. Mom and Dad I expect you to book your flights down here soon and try it.
On our last day in Queenstown Brittany and I did another great hike just outside of town that took us up into the hills above the lake and gave us some great views. We also did some shopping, went out to dinner and saw a movie.
On the 3rd we headed down to city of Invercargill where we dropped Christian off and then headed up the east coast through an area called the Catlins Coast. We stopped at Waipapa Point to see the lighthouse and then headed up to Curio Bay, Porpoise Bay, and Waikawa. We booked ourselves into a hostel at Waikawa and then headed back to Curio Bay to see a fossilized forest that is imbedded in the reef. We also spotted some more Blue and Yellow-eyed Penguins.
The next
day started off a little rough with a flat tire. After putting the spare on we headed back to Tokanui to get the tire fixed. Once that was taken care of we headed over to the Catlins State Forest and stopped at McLean Falls. The falls were at the end of a great 20-minute bush walk and were great to see. The brown, tannin filled waterfall was a great multi-tiered falls. From here we headed further up north and quickly stopped at an overlook above Tautuku Bay and then on to the Purakaunui Falls. From here we headed along some back roads towards Jack’s Bay and Jack’s Blowhole. Along this road we were again stopped by a head of 2500 sheep on their way to sheering. We made it up to Jack’s Bay and made the 30-minute walk through sheep pastures to Jack’s Blowhole that wasn’t really doing much of anything. From here we made the drive up to Dunedin and stayed in a supposedly haunted hostel.
The next day and a half we stayed in Dunedin. I was feeling a bit under the weather and so we took it easy the first day and walked around the town
Doin' 360's
Don't try this at home folks.a little and worked on burning all my pictures to date on DVD. We saw some of the historic buildings around the Octagon which is the center of the city. On the 5th we drove out to the Otago Peninsula which is across the bay from Dunedin. We first stopped at Larnach Castle which was built by a wealthy banking in 1871. The grounds and building were interesting and offered some great views of the surrounding area. From there we headed to the little town of Portobellow and had lunch and then out to the Pilots Beach and the Royal Albatross Centre. By this time it had started to rain quite a bit and the wind had really picked up so we quickly stopped to see some sealions at Pilots Beach and then on the Albatross Centre. We were not able to see any of the Albatross due to the weather, but we did check out the center some.
From here we headed out of town and up the coast towards Christchurch. We made a stop at Moeraki to see the Moeraki Boulders. The boulders are almost spherical rock formations that sit in the surf on the beach and
can get up to 3-4’ wide. We got some great pictures and then headed the rest of the way up to Christchurch.
For Brittany’s last day in New Zealand we headed around downtown Christchurch some more. We made a mandatory stop at Starbucks and then did some shopping. After that we headed out to the International Antarctic Centre. Christchurch is the main hub for flights down to the different bases in Antarctica so they had some great exhibits including some captive blue penguins who were fun to watch. After that it was off to the airport to drop Brittany off and then a relaxing afternoon at the hostel.
Hope you all enjoyed the read. Look for more soon.
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Ellen Mae
non-member comment
Absolutely amazing! I'm going to Europe with my friends for 6 weeks this summer and it's definitely in our agenda to do some bungee jumping/sky diving or both in Switzerland..can't wait! Got a picture of "curio bay" of that fossilized forest? Post that if you can. Ohh and AWESOME blogs, i love reading about ur travels...gives me good notes/ideas on what to do when I make it out there someday..=) have a good weekend!