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Published: August 8th 2007
Paraglide Queenstown
It's a LONG way down!Its true what they say about New Zealand - it really is one of the most stunning places in the world. We seem to have unintentionally stumbled across this county at one of the prettiest times of year, autumn. All the trees are golden and red, and when the sun shines and the sky is blue it is literally breathtaking.
Its fair to say that we are loving it here, we just wish we had more time. Our only grumble is that it takes so long to get anywhere. Max is doing most of the driving, so by the time we get to our destination he is knackered, and understandably wants a rest. I think we have done about 1800km so far, of which I have probably driven sixty.. Yes a whole 60km! (don't laugh) I quite enjoyed it but Max is a much better driver than passenger and I am the opposite so we get on with it. Mind you its not so bad driving through the amazing backdrops of mountains, waterfalls, one lane bridges and rivers. Oh and not forgetting the millions and millions of sheep. They literally are EVERYWHERE!
Our trip started off on a bad
Middle of Nowhere
Somewhere near Te Anau footing when Max realised he had left his wallet on the plane. By this time we were in our hostel in Christchurch, but after a few thousand phone calls he finally got it back. Mind you some bugger had nabbed $150 out of it...probably thought they were owed a reward for finding it. Anyway, after all that we had just one day to enjoy Christchurch, and we spent it wandering around the Botanical Gardens and Cathedral Square which was very nice, although that was about all there was to do. To be honest our hostel was the best thing about Christchurch. It was set in an old jail. Our room was once a prison cell, with bars on the windows, genuine prison locks and everything. The bars were useful for hanging our butter and cheese from at night to keep it cool, like they used to! The cell next door has been left in its original state so guests can have a look at it. It was fascinating, if not a bit creepy, with all the scrawlings and pictures drawn on the walls. It kind of brought home that prisoners had once spent years living in our bedroom. But it
was an excellent place to stay - Max reckons its his favourite so far!
On our third day we picked up our hire car. There was a bit of mix up which involved us having to drive an automatic car to the airport to swap it for a manual - a drive containing a lot of swearing as Max had never driven an automatic car before! We got there just fine, he did a stirling job after the first 10 seconds! After collecting our rather lovely ancient, borderline decrepit Nissan Sunny (what a shock to find a tape deck and no CD player!) we headed down to Dunedin. The drive was pretty dull, but not half as dull as the weather when we arrived. It was horrible drizzly rain and the whole place was cloaked in mist. Still we were well prepared for it with our rain macs...and they certainly came into good use the next day. We first went to visit Baldwin Street, which is the steepest street in the world. For those of you that know me well you will understand that this was quite an ordeal for me. For those of you that dont know, I
Waterfall #3000...
Not a bad one - at Milford Sound have a real phobia of going up steep hills in cars, like we will roll backdown or something. I absolutely put my foot down about the suggestion of driving up it (it has a gradient of 1 in 3!) so we opted for the safer method of walking. Mind you....I still didn't enjoy that! But it really was amazing...and people live on it too. They must be mad! We did see one car try and hoon it up there and get stuck half way. I had to turn away, I just couldnt look! After that we drove to Otago peninsular, where you can see penguins and albatross'. Well you are supposed to. All we could see was drizzle. And even worse was the road that took us there. It wound around the side of the cliff and there was virtually nothing between the car and the water below, at times it seemed like there was no more than thin air! All this with no barriers along the side of the road, steep bends and very low visabilty...we didnt enjoy it. We got to the end, took some photo's of the drizzle and drove back home!
We seemed to have
Christchurch
The Botanical Gardens in Autumn earned some weather brownie points from that because the next day was gorgeous as we drove though some amazing scenery across to Queenstown. And when we arrived we thought we had found heaven. In a setting of mountains, golden trees, blue skies and lakes was this town buzzing with activity. You can pretty much do anything you want in Queenstown..skydiving, bungy jumping, canyon swings, jetboating etc. We spent our first day doing a jetboat through the river gorge and travelling up a cable car to the top of a mountain and luging down it on toboggans with three wheels and basic steering. This was so much fun we did it about ten times and went back on our last day for some more! Oh and Max flung himself off a cliff attached to a man with a paraglide on his back! My last sight of him was flying behind the trees on his way down to earth...he assures me it was great fun though I saw very little of it all...I was pelting my way back through the forest to try and catch a glimpse of him landing! When I got there I couldn't see anything in the skies or
on the ground apart from a cloud of dust somewhere below. After a good 20 minutes of worrying that Max was the cause of the dust he tapped me on the back with a big grin on his face, so it was smiles all round!
We spent the next day on a coach going to Milford Sound, which is a beautiful fjord on which we took a boat cruise. It was beautiful, although it was a very long day. Still worth the trip though. Our last day was spent on the toboggans again, then a game of fiercly contested mini golf was played (Max won..grr). In the evening we strolled along to Minus 5 bar, which is a bar where it is oddly enough -5 degrees and everything is made of ice, even the glasses! You get all togged up in warm coats and gloves and taken through to the big freezer where a very lovely bargirl made us up some delicious cocktails. There was only one other couple in there, so we spent the whole 30 minutes (all you are allowed) chatting to the bargirl about our travels. I particularly liked her because she thought I was 22!
It was a very sad farewell we bade to Queenstown, it truly is somewhere everyone should visit. Mum and Dad, you too! You dont have to do the bungee jumping, but the toboggan would be ok...I saw some old woman no less than 75 doing it! Oh, and there is an original steam cruiser called the Earnslaw that the old folk would enjoy too! Anyway, we drove off to Franz Josef...a LONG drive, but we made it. Our sole purpose for this stop was the Glacier Hike. The morning arrived and the rain had cleared and left clear blue skies, perfect conditions. We all got kitted up in boots and coats and jumped on the bus. After a 3km walk to the base of the glacier we attached our spikes and headed onto the ice. Our guide Sean took us up the ice steps, through cravases and past massive holes, some as much as 150 feet deep... It was absolutely brilliant fun and we would both do it again in a heatbeat. The blue skies against the white ice only made it better. We were very tired and weary that night, but still enjoyed a killer game of Monopoly.
Moreaki Boulders
Perfect round rocks. The Mauri's believe they are fishing baskets washed up from sea. I lost. Grr.
Still awake?!! Im not! We left Franz Josef and set off for Greymouth. All I can say about this place is that it lived up to its name. It was very grey. Rain again. And lots of it. Thankfully the hostel was very warm and cosy, and we enjoyed another game of Monopoly in the lounge. I lost again!
We then arrived in a small, but beautiful little town called Methven. We drove across Arthurs Pass to get there. This runs through the Southern Alps from the West to the East of New Zealand, and is thought to be one of the most spectacular drives in the world. It was dreary weather at the start and we were disappointed that we couldnt see any of the scenery we had heard so much about, but then it cleared to those gorgeous blue skies again and we were happy. It certainly lived up to its reputation.
The next day saw us drive up to Kaikoura, famed for its whale watching. We took a boat trip out onto the ocean, and were lucky enough to see two sperm whales, though all you can really see is the
top of their backs and their tails when they dive to the bottom. Thankfully the tour operatours were experts and knew exactly when they were going to dive so we had our cameras at the ready! To be honest the most exciting thing on the trip was seeing the pod of about fifty dolphins. They were amazing, chasing the boat, swimming along right beside it doing back flips and jumps and thoroughly entertaining the passengers. They really were brilliant to watch and it made the whole thing worthwhile.
And then for the long drive north, this time to Motueka, in the Abel Tasman region. We spent the day in a sea kayak exploring the coast line, with a guide and a few other intrepid explorers. Kayaking was great fun, once we got the hang of the steering and paddling! The only down side was getting bitten by sandflies, and I am now sporting ten very itchy bites on my legs...one little mite got inside my kayak seat and once the waterproof cover was in place he was trapped inside with my poor legs at his mercy! After the kayak we had a well deserved lunch break on a deserted
Thats Steep!
Steepest in the World you know! beach, and then set off on a three hour walk back along the coastline to where we started from. All in all a very good day, and although a little tiring we really enjoyed the exercise.
Sorry this has been so long, there has just been so much to say! For those of you that have been here you know what I am talking about. We are off to Wellington on the North Island by ferry next. Lets hope it's as good as the South Island has been....it has a lot to live up to! Max will update you from there but for now its goodbye,
love
Clare (and Max) xxxxxxxxxx
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