SpeegHamAdventures

So were lost a day in here somehow. Hopefully I will remember what it was and then be able to tell you later. Also we were really out of Geraldine for this rafting on the Rangitata, the highlight of this trip maybe, around the Peel Forest. Somehow this was not an option so I randomly selected Fairlie. The Rangitata!!! Super!! Class V rapids, which we scouted out with our guide. I feel like we really had to learn something because if we didn't paddle correctly we were all going to flip. Had an excellent guide named Duncan. 20 seconds left. We will seeyou all soon!!!!... read more

I was rudely cut off by the computer. Anyways while we were on the Otago checking things out we first went to see a special albatross center. It is theonly area in the world where you can see albatross on the main land and they were pretty amazing. We stood outside the fortified nesting area (I'm not kidding. They had electric fences specifically placed to zap humans or anything else that got funny ideas. We also didn't want to pay $50 dollars to bypass this small problem) and got lucky and had them fly over our heads. They were pretty spectacular. Then we drove over to the Lanarch Castle. A very wealthy gentleman built himself a rediculous house in the early 1900s. The house was beautiful (he brought in specialists and supplies from all over the ... read more

We left Queenstown since it was raining and drove down to the Catlins a day early. Wonderful coastline and waterfalls galore. We got our own personal audience with seal lions basking by a lighthouse. They were all males and the largest male (with the lion mane) was teaching the other males how you court the ladies. It was rather hilarious. Then we went to see a fossil forest with Yellow Eyed Penguins walking around in it. One pattered right by us!! It was fantastic. We also had a nice camp spot perched on a cliff over the ocean. The next day we went and visited some more waterfalls and went to another lighthouse where we could see elephant seals (we think). More things happened but I only have two minutes left so on to the next ... read more

Driving through Haast Pass we stopped to check out waterfalls (they are everywhere). Entering Wanaka we were amazed. I mean, when we both think of places we want to live we basically list everything that Wanaka has. Green grass, huge turquoise blue lake, mountains galore, and lots of pasture land with lambs running around. We didn't think such a place could exist, but we were wrong. We hiked up Roy's Peak through sheep and lamb country to see the views and they were stunning. We love Wanaka. Maybe we'll start a sheep station here. The next day we drove into Mt. Aspiring Park (the ride itself made would have made the whole thing worthwhile) and hiked to see the Rob Roy glacier. We even got to see a Kea, which is the only alpine parrot in ... read more

Well then, we arrived in Fox in fine form to go and see the Fox Glacier. We drove first to the lookout point, which seemed to be lacking a real lookout, oh, and wait, yeah, a bathroom. Unfortunately I had been counting on this and despite running around for 20 minutes deeper into the woods looking for it, I couldn't find it. The unfortunate Kiwi or tourist will find a terrible surprise if they wander off the beaten bath. We did eventually find a bathroom after I waddled around for another 20 minutes up the road to a different car park (it was a huge relief). We saw the Fox glacier with the sun shining, but when we reached the car the clouds had become thick so we drove back to the beach. After eating dinner ... read more