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Published: October 29th 2006
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9/24-10/3
The South Island is the more scarcely populated of the two and allows for even more natural beauty to be viewed. Many travelers advised us that the South was where its at, and to budget our time to spend twice as long on the southern island as we did on the northern. We followed this basic plan, and it turned out to be very good advice.
Our ferry dropped us and our car off on the northern tip, Picton, a few kms above the most famous wine region in New Zealand, Marlborough. Jaime and I wanted to take a few slow days at a Bed and Breakfast, and enjoy some tastings of the local wines. We found accommodation on a beautiful vineyard, the Tramminer Inn, which leases out its grapes to Huia, an upscale boutique winery. Jaime really loved the many amenities of the guest house, most notably Monty, the mature yet energetic Black Lab. We were a short drive from Blenheim, which was a cute country town, with clothing and crafts shops, and some good restaurants as well. We had several tastings (all of which were free unlike California wineries), and enjoyed a few indulgent lunches. All in
all our stay in Marlborough was quite fun, relaxing, and drunk.
From Blenheim we made our way down the West Coast of New Zealand, which is the least populated region, and offers the most natural beauty (the natural beauty is certainly compounded when I am there). We spent a day driving there, stopping at a national park for a few hour hike, and sporadic stops at coastal towns to take a few obligatory photos, and enjoyed a beach side sunset. We finally made it to Greymouth, the largest city along the west coast of southern NZ.
We found an awesome hostel (the global village) offering clean inexpensive rooms, and delicious free muffins. Would definitely recommend. We spent a couple of days exploring Greymouth and around. We did the Victoria hike in a forest bordering the ocean, which was definitely worthwhile and made for excellent early morning exercise (early morning meaning 8:30am- going back to work is gonna be tough). After our hike Jaime was flipping through a tourism brochure, and stopped on a page with two advertisements. The top one was for "On Yer Bike" and depicted a couple of smiling faces on ATV's splashing some mud on
Hanging out
...just before I broke the hammock on the next tree. a forest track. I couldn't believe she was calling my attention to this ad. Of course I would be interested. Only to discover she didn't even notice the awesome 4wd rain forest experience. She was asking me if the bottom ad looked interesting. The one for "Shantytown" the restored replica of an 1860's gold mining town. It couldn't have sounded more boring. We debated for a bit about how to spend the afternoon, and even though we agreed that she would go to Shantytown while I was "On my bike"- somehow she wound up skipping boring town, and riding with me on a go-kart for two. I think it was the woman in the Visitors Center who sold us. "I have done on yer Bike at least 5 times, and it is truly different from other ATV courses. It is the sheer amount of mud that makes it so fun." And Mud there was. The course was loaded with puddles, sometimes in 2 feet of mud, for us to plow through in our karts. Even covered in full rain jacket and overalls, my clothes beneath it all still got muddy. I vividly recall boasting a sinister grin while splashing up
Too much wine
...must get some lunch, but while waiting perhaps we should have some more wine. mud onto Jaime's face, and screaming "On Yer Bike!". Most fun I have had in a while.
We headed further south down the coast, on our way to the Franz Josef Glacier. The scenery for the drive was outstanding, and we stopped several times for pictures, a couple of hikes, and even a tour of "Eco World" so Jaime might enjoy seeing a captive Kiwi bird and some other endangered creatures. We also took the "Obligatory Photos" of the pancake rocks, some natural phenomenon, but I don't think either of us were too impressed.
Franz Josef Glacier is a very unusual geological occurrence, where a glacier that is so low in altitude, opens up into a rain forest. There are only three of these type glaciers in the world, another in NZ and one in Chile. Anyways, Franz Josef is a two street town, with the only show in town being tours of the Glacier. Jaime was a bit exhausted from hiking, and on the rainy morning, left me to take the tour of the ice glacier by my lonesome. Well, at least there were 12 others in my group. We suited up with cramp-ons, gortex jackets and
pants, and headed out for 6 hours of ice touring. The weather cleared up by mid-day, and it was a good time tramping all over this huge glacier. The glacier itself was quite beautiful, with lots of "blue ice" and several natural tunnels we got to crawl through. There was one small pond of water within the glacier, and a few daring hikers and guides stripped down and went for a dip. My mother always told me to keep my clothes on when glacier climbing, so I listened.
Next stop further down the west coast was our favorite town in New Zealand, Wanaka. Advertised as the less commercialized Queenstown, we were quite excited to see several main streets of shopping and food establishments, all independently owned (unlike the KFCs and McDonalds that lined most other New Zealand town streets). With a gorgeous huge lake, several mountains and National parks surrounding, Wanaka offered a fantastic mix of natural beauty, recreational activities, and adventure sports. Jaime and I took a couple of days and went to Treble Cone Ski field, and had great fun snowboarding on really nice spring conditions. The mountain was fairly tall (and steep), and the views from
the top of nearby lakes and mountains have been the best scenery I have enjoyed while snowboarding yet. Several tourists were taking the lift up to the top without ski equipment, just to enjoy the view.
While in Wanaka, we also decided to go for a little adrenalin rush, and take on a Sky Dive. The nearby lakes and mountains made for a fantastic background, and we were enjoying nice clear skies and thus gave it a try. Jaime was barely holding it together as we approached the sky dive office, coming close to backing out as we got out of the car. She kept insisting that we should do the lowest jump (you could choose to jump from 9,000, 12,000 or 15,000 ft). I kept trying to explain that if there were any kind of accident, falling from 9,000 ft or 15,000 ft wouldn't really matter, but finally the flight instructors were able to convince her to take the big plunge with me from 15,000ft. It did not set in until we were in the airplane. The professional diver that I was strapped to, explained that we would be in a free fall for 60 seconds, from 15,000
The "after" picture
...post mud cover from "on yer bike!" til 4,000, which is where the chute opens. I have fallen 4 feet and hurt my knees, and now I was going to be falling for 11,000 ft. before the guy clutches for the parachute. Oh boy. The experience was incredible, definitely glad we both had the took the plunge. We got suckered into buying the overpriced DVD, recording each of our falls, and anyone who is interested in hearing me shout obscenities for 60 seconds while falling out of an airplane, stop by any time.
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