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Published: January 21st 2008
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Manapouri
View across Lake Manapouri Australia obviously did not want to let us go, us being bringers of well needed rain, so after another monumental delay at Sydney airport (note - it wasn't showing a delay, its' departure time was just 6 hours later than shown on the tickets) we made it to Queenstown and the South Island of New Zealand just in time (the airport shuts when it gets dark).
Now we thought that customs in Australia were strict but as we had declared that we had a tent and walking boots we got to spend some quality time with the New Zealand customs officers cleaning the tent.
The following day we took a wander around Queenstown, and ventured up in the cable car to the top of the hill that looks down over the town.
The next day we journeyed through amazing snow capped mountains and lakes making our way to the glaciers on the west of the island. Pitching our tent we arrived back to a sea of Germans who instead of pitching their tents in the vast open space available on the camp site had decided that it would be far more comfortable to pitch their tents almost on
Franz Josef Glacier
One big chunk of ice top of ours.
We walked up to view the glaciers, making note of the local rivalry. One company sold their tour by stating that it was longer/flatter/quicker from the car park than "the other local glacier" (there are only 2!). We ended our day by the lake watching the reflection of the mountains while the sun set.
On the way up the coast to Greymouth we stopped in Okarito to do some kayaking. After a very quick tutorial on how not to get wet, we paddled off across the lagoon and up a couple of rivers into the rainforest. Stopping briefly to dry off and consume our professional athletes lunch of coke and chocolate we enjoyed the very peaceful rainforest with a few herons.
After a very wet and windy night in the tent we set off in misty weather. We arrived in Motueka and set up our damp tent in the rain and decided that we would treat ourselves to a meal from a restaurant! We went to a steak house recommended by our friends Pete and Angela who had travelled through NZ last year. What they didn't tell us was that the steak arrived raw
Fox Glacier
Mount Cook and Mount Tasman at sunset. and we had to cook it ourselves on a hot stone. After nearly accidentally macing the restaurant (don't use finely ground pepper!), and sweating a little bit too much we decided that it was probably the best steak we had ever eaten.
Unfortunately the next day, Laura came down with a cold (we knew she was ill as the bar of chocolate we had lasted three days rather than three minutes), and the clouds stayed very low so we didn't see much of the north coast. Instead we headed down the eastern coast to Kaikoura, the wildlife capital of NZ. We booked ourselves onto a whale watching tour, but when we arrived they were forecasting a 'strong sea sickness warning' so we deferred our trip to later that day and thankfully (otherwise Andy was going on his own) the warning had been downgraded to a plain old 'sea sickness warning'. Once on the boat we started tracking the Sperm Whales off shore using what looked like a comedy ear trumpet. One came to the surface just ahead of the boat after he had been below for a staggering 55 minutes, marking his presence with a few bursts from his
Lake Okarito
The weight distribution in the kayak meant Laura was levitating much of the way round. blowhole. He stayed up for about 15 minutes before diving back down , flicking his tail up superbly for the waiting cameras. The next whale came very close to the boat but had clearly not been to whale school as his tail flick was rubbish, apparently getting distracted by some tasty fishies just below. We then headed off to find a large pod of Dusky Dolphins who seemed to be having a whale of a time (no pun intended) splooshing around and flipping in the air for us. We even had a wandering albatross (largest bird in the world with upto 4m wingspan) accompany the boat for a while flying alongside.
The next day we decided that we would try and go Seal Swimming. Having squeezed our way into some seriously heavy wetsuits, and trudging down to the waters edge, we were surprisingly grateful of the cold water. We followed our guide around the rocks where the seals hang out but unfortunately the seals didn't want to come and play that day. The only person to spot/scare seals on the tour was Andy who got separated from the group while cleaning his mask. After bobbing about in our now
Kaikoura
If your name's not down you're not coming on my rock! (NZ Fur Seal) ridiculously buoyant wetsuits and listening to our guide jibber on about starfish for a while we got out and made our way down the coast again. Andy did manage to try a type of fresh sea urchin, evidently a highly sort after and expensive Japanese delicacy (about 500 quid for the urchin our guide found). We were told it would taste a bit like marmite but Andy claims it was just like eating sea flavoured snot.
We then headed south again across to the Canterbury Plains where the roads were dead straight and there were no cops. This was where we discovered all the sheep were hiding, together with the herds of deer, and even llamas.
Back on the coast again we went to try and spot the evidently very shy and timid Yellow Eyed Penguins at Oamaru. As we arrived we saw a couple on the beach far below. Thinking this was as close as we were going to get to them, there was quite a gasp as all of a sudden there was one, who having apparently scaled a near vertical cliff, strolled right past the railings (and all the tourists) and into his burrow which
Kaikoura
Thar he blows (at a 45 degree angle out of a hole you can stick your head in - Sperm Whale) he'd made underneath the viewing hide! He emerged a bit later with his chick in tow, apparently taking him for a walk across the cliff. Watching the little fellas put their flippers out for balance as they surfed their way down the cliff was brilliant. That evening we paid to go and see the Blue Penguins. Here we were outfoxed by the kiwis who had rather cunningly renamed the same Little Penguins that we had already seen in Melbourne, so we saw a much scaled down version of the Penguin Parade.
Having made our way through the very blustery Dunedin and Invercargill we arrived back on the far more picturesque West Coast in Te Anau. Here we explored Milford Sound, pleasantly surprised by our b.o.g.o.f. cruise, as we coasted through the fjord with sheer cliffs rising dramatically from the water. We even managed to catch up with a pod of bottlenose dolphins before being dunked under a waterfall by the captain.
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Pete
non-member comment
Grey clouds, puddles, work and surprisingly no eggs...
It is 8am on a dark Monday morning. My wife told me this morning that today is statistically the most depressing day off the year. I had a bad nights sleep, the chickens didn't lay me an egg this morning.......... even before I turned on my computer I knew there would be a new blog from you guys! It must be time for my next holiday soon. Photos are stunning, glad you enjoyed the steaks - looks like you are having better weather now too. Keep up the great blogging.