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Published: November 16th 2010
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We got the late night ferry across to the south island and found somewhere to park up in Picton for the night. First impressions of South Island were good as it was sunny!!
We spent the next day driving around a bit of Marlborough Sounds and doing some walks along part of the Queen Charlotte Track. There's some amazing scenery up there. After that, we drove west towards Abel Tasman National Park. We had a really nice evening celebrating Colette's birthday in a small town on the beach called Kaiteriteri which is the gateway to the national park. Weather was fab!
The next day we did a really good full-day trip in Abel Tasman Park. It started off with a short cruise to the northern part of the park. From there, we had a half day kayaking around an island full of fur seals and in and out of a few different bays with beautiful golden sand beaches and turquoise water. For the afternoon, we did a few of the treks back south and then caught the ferry back to Kaiteriteri. It really is a beautiful national park and well worth the trip there.
After that, we spent
a day or 2 driving down the west coast towards the glaciers. We stopped in a few nice towns along the way including Murchison and Greymouth. We did a brewery tour in Greymouth which is the home of Monteiths beer. They have a great selection of beer and we got to sample them all. The tour wasn't great though because they weren't making any beer that day!
Then we drove on down to Franz Josef where we did a half day hike on the glacier and it was really good. Going in and out the ice caves is a bit daunting but 'cool'! That was the first day we had rain on the south island and we were expecting more as we headed further south. But we got very lucky and had really good weather for the rest of our trip.
We drove south from Franz Josef with a brief stop at Fox Galcier and then on down through Haast Pass which has some really cool waterfalls, rivers, lakes & mountains. Our next stop was in a town called Wanaka. We spent Labour Day here just chilling in the sun along the lakeshore looking out on the snow capped
mountains. Nice!
Then we drove a bit further south to a small village called Arrowtown which is a little quaint spot with little shops and cafes. We parked up for the night and headed to Arrowtown brewery where we worked our way through the majority of their beer menu. Well impressed with some of these beers!
The next day, we made the short trip to Queenstown where we were based for about 3 days. We found a really nice campsite and set off down the town to see what activities we were gonna go for since this is the adventure capital of the world!! We decided to go straight for the craziest one and did the 134m Nevis bungy jump. I think we both agree it was our scariest experience ever. Jumping off that platform with shaky legs is so tough but its such an amzing feeling on the way down. So glad we did it!
We celebrated with a few beers that night although the town was quite dead!
The next day, I felt another bit of a 'need for speed'! So I went and did the Nevis Arc which is the world's biggest swing. I
couldn't convince Colette this time! Basically, its like a swing where you start off being suspended in a harness 160m above the canyon floor. Then the swing is released and you accelerate through the canyon at ridiculous speed in a 300m arc! Savage adrenalin rush again! Not quite as intense as the bungy as I didn't have to jump off myself!
Oh yea, have to mention the "Fergburger" we had that evening which is probably the nicest burger ever!!
The next day we drove south towards Fiordland. We stopped for the night just outside Te Anau and the next day we did the drive from there to Milford. It's one of those drives with numerous stops for photos of amazing scenery. It really was spectacular scenery. When we got to Milford we boarded our overnight cruise of Milford Sounds. It was an excellent trip and definitely one of our favourite parts of New Zealand. As well as the fabulous surroundings, we saw lots of wildlife including one of the best dolphin displays we have ever seen. There was literally 6 or 7 dolphins lined up alongside the boat putting on a show for us! We saw some penguins
too!
When we got back to Milford the following day, we drove back to Te Anau. We just relaxed here for a while and rented a tandem bike to cycle around the lake and town. Still getting fab weather!
Then we drove further south towards the Catlins where we spent a couple of days. We had a brief stop in Invercargill before driving onto Fortrose which is the entrance to the Catlins. We set off early the next morning and tried as many walks as we could during the day. There are some really nice forest and beach walks with cool waterfalls too. Cathedral Cave was probably our favourite stop in the Catlins.
After our time in the Catlins, we drove up to Dunedin. Feeling a bit hungry when we arrived, so we did the tour of Cadbury World! Way too much free chocolate! Their easter egg production was in full swing when we were there. They make 40million easter eggs each year for New Zealand only....that's 10 easter eggs per person!!
We drove out to Otago Penninsula for the evening and camped up for the night. Nice enough penninsula but nothing spectacular about it. Before leaving
Dunedin the next day, we walked up Baldwin Street...the steepest street in the world!
That evening, we drove about half way to Christchurch that with a stop for a few hours in Omarau (Penguintown). The penguin colony was on view later in the evening but we didnt hang around for it. Anyway, we had already seen penguins!
Our last stop in New Zealand was in Christchurch. We got a really nice campsite in the city which was a good base for our couple of days. It's a fairly easy city to explore on foot which was made all the nicer by the good weather we were still having. The massive earthquake in September had a huge impact on Christchurch and there were repair works going on everywhere. It's still a really nice city though. Christchurch cathedral is right in the centre and there are some really nice parks and gardens for walking around.
Time to say goodbye to New Zealand. Definitely preferred the South Island but that is probably partly due to the weather!
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