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Published: March 8th 2008
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We'd had a bit of an emotional time back at home the past week or so, and of course we were very sad to leave and having to say another emotional goodbye to family was hard enough for the second time, but poor Elaine's parents had now been through this 3 times. We restarted our trip right where we had left off, in New Zealand, and again arrived very late into Auckland airport. After 24 hours on a plane, with only an hours break in Singapore, we really weren't in the mood to queue up through customs again for ages and get our hiking boots checked!
Even though we knew we'd be suffering jet-lag from the 13 hour time difference, we still decided to get straight back into things and try and make the best of the time we had left in New Zealand. We had firm dates for our trip to Easter Island, so couldn't really extend our stay here, so we flew out of Auckland the next day into Christchurch to see as much as we could of the South Island. We aimed to do the 'loop' around the South, including the TranzAlpine train across the Alps, down
the west coast seeing the glaciers and of course Milford Sound, and then back up via Queenstown and Mount Cook to Christchurch again...
By the time we got the flight down to Christchurch and checked into our hostel, we only really had the afternoon and evening to look around before going on the train the next day. All the guide books say Christchurch is probably more English than England, and walking around the park and down the Avon river we can see why! It was like walking through the countryside back at home on a summers day, gorgeous, and a great remedy for jet-lag.
Early the next morning we left Christchurch on the TranzAlpine, supposedly one of the great train journeys in the world, and neither of us wanted to fall asleep on the train! The TranzAlpine goes from Christchurch on the east coast, across the Southern Alps to Greymouth on the west coast, first making its way across the Canterbury Plains, and then snakes it way up through the Alps, through Arthurs Pass and then down again to Greymouth. We travelled through stunning valleys with crystal clear rivers running through them, around mountain sides and passed over
high viaducts, all made the better by the gorgeous weather we were lucky to have.
The sun was still shining when we jumped on the coach making our way to Franz Josef... unfortunately it didn't last and in true New Zealand style it threw it down on the way! Apparently the west coast gets up to 7m (yes... that is metres!) of rainfall a year in places... and guess where one of those places was, Franz Josef! We were planning to go to both the Franz Josef Glacier and the Fox Glacier, but decided to trek the Franz Josef one as we arrived here first. We booked half a days trek on the glacier, and by far it was the toughest walk we have done so far! It took about 90 minutes just to get to the glacier, over rough terrain, up and down ladders and through small waterfalls, it felt like something out of an army assault course! When we got to the front of the glacier on went the crampons ready for our trek on the ice. We were greeted by carved steps up the front of the glacier, not quite what we expected but then again
we couldn't expect much else really for a tourist group! The weather just about held out for us while we were on the ice, but then the rain fell down as we were trekking back.
After we had seen the Fox Glacier the next day (although only a walk up to the front of it this time, no trekking), we headed off to a small town called Te Anau, the main jumping off point for trips to Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound. Unfortunately the Milford Track was already fully booked, so we couldn't do the world famous 3 day walk to Milford Sound, but we thought we had to see it so we organised a day tour and cruise. The track gets booked out months in advance so we will have make sure we book early next time!! The weather cleared for us and we had a beautiful day for our trip, which made it even better. Just the drive itself was spectacular, winding up mountain passes and along huge valleys, with fantastic waterfalls... trouble is, we were on a large coach, and kept meeting about 6 other coach loads doing exactly the same thing! The cruise was just
as packed, and while the scenery on the Sound lived up to everything it was meant to be, the huge numbers we shared the experience with did detract a little from it all. The next day we took a tour to Doubtful Sound, which is a lot more remote and the only way to get there for a day is on a tour. It took a bus, boat, then another bus on a private road just to get there... and it certainly was worth it, probably slightly more so than Milford Sound. Doubtful Sound is a lot bigger than Milford Sound, and subsequently we had more time on the boat to enjoy it, and less people!
After a fantastic couple of days visiting the famous Sounds, we headed back to Queenstown, surely the weather was going to turn on us again, especially as the skies were cloudy for our trip back to Queenstown. The next day we woke to glorious weather again, all be it freezing cold (1c!!!, what happened to the summer!?!) and headed off to ride the Shotover Jet Boat on the Shotover river. The river and canyon it wound itself through was amazing, all the more
so as we hurtled along at something like 50mph, inches away from the canyon walls, every now and again doing a 360 degree spin and getting soaked, full in the face, with freezing cold water... great fun!
After our fun on the Shotover Jet, we headed up to the top of a nearby mountain on a gondola for a birds eye view of Queenstown, which looked great against the clear blue sky and lake and mountain setting. Going up a mountain on a gondola, swinging in the wind, is enough for anybody that is scared of heights, so I was always onto a loosing thing when I tried to convince Elaine to para-sail back down! Next time maybe...
Our last stop on our loop of the South Island was Mount Cook, the highest peak in New Zealand. We were sure it would be under cloud for us, especially as the bus driver told us he hadn't seen it for a few days. Our luck was still holding out though as we entered the valley and we could see it in the distance, sun glinting of the snow at the top, fantastic, especially after our experience in Tongariro, where
we didn't even get to see the volcanoes! We hurriedly booked into our accommodation, and started a 3-4 hour walked along the valley to get a better view of the mountain and nearby glacier. Again, Elaine did brilliantly as we crossed two separate swing bridges, and with the wind blowing down the valley, swing is definitely the right word, but it was worth it! A lot of photos later, we were back in the Mountaineers Cafe for a celebratory drink and something well-deserved to eat.
We were only in Mount Cook for one night, so off to Christchurch we went in the morning to complete our loop of the South Island. That was the end of our adventures in New Zealand, and while it was shorter than we originally planned, we had a great time and saw most things we wanted to even though it was a bit rushed in places. Just another place we will have to come back to sometime though to finish off!!! It is a spectacular country, with the most amazing scenery, and some great little towns dotted around some of the sparsely populated land. There are only 4 million people in the whole country,
which is about the size of Great Britain!!
We are now making our way across the pacific to South America... and we can't wait!!! We first fly to Tahiti for a for days of relaxing before visiting Easter Island.
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