South Island New Zealand

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I was sitting here at the Youth Hostel having lunch with fellow travellers and we felt the earthquake that was centered in Christchurch, many miles away. It wasn"t until supper that the news spread throughout the hostel
It is only because yesterday was sunny that we decided to come through Arthur's Pass National Park instead of doing a city trip. We are grateful for that sunny day as the hostel we would have been at is devastated.

We have been traveling almost a month now with our tent visiting north and south island.
We have stayed at Doc sites,( department of conservation), family campgrounds and the occasional YHA when the weather has been inclement
We have visited volcanic sites, parks with great redwoods, fought wild winds with the tent. We have visited Napier, the art deco capital and Wellington for the 7"s rugby match. We have swum in turquoise Pacific water at Golden Bay with truly golden sand, been in deep caves complete with stalagtites and stalagmites . We have camped in high plains where the water was frozen in the morning but we were hot by 10 am. We have climbed up to 2 glaciers Franz Joseph and Rob Roy. The Rob Roy glacier was the best , with the highest waterfall in NZ flowing out beside it and to get there a road through a valley with at least 100 waterfalls.
Driving through the countryside with incredible rock formations tussock grasses. plains and mountains and of course hairpin turns to keep us alert. And the birdman beside me is now filling up his bird list with incredible new species. To his delight. And then a stop for a great coffee and pick up some groceries and wine for our delicious one pot suppers on the camp stove.
So we haven't been keeping up with the detailed blog as we have really been having too much fun and at the end of the day we dive into our tent and watch the southern skies.
We are heading north now via more mountain passes and the sea side drive and hot springs with a volcano stp in the north island before we leave this great place
Detailed blog will follow as we near Coromandel and we have wireless at our base
Love to all J and B

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