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Published: December 17th 2006
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Franz Josef
Meee in front of the glacier Hello All!!
Firstly, I have to apologise for the delay in writting this blog. I have been really busy, and have not always had access to a computer.
I am now in the lovely Australia!! Sydney to be precise. I arrived on Wednesday. It is really amazing here and am glad I chose to come here for Christmas and New Year. Mainly because I have friends here... Karen and Hannah - who I met in Fiji (and Hannah's boyfriend Paul - who arrived from Scotland last week) And have made some quality friends too.
What I am going to do is this: This blog will be about the last 7 days I had in New Zealand and then I will do another blog tomorrow for Australia (I have some great pics for you to see...taken in Aus) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So...
New Zealand. Let me try and remember.
I last wrote to you in Christchurch. The day I wrote the last blog, I met up with Karen and Hannah (from Fiji) and we spent the evening in a Irish pub...then spent the next day with Karen... which was cool. (Will be spending
alot more time with them in Sydney over Xmas and New Year)
After Christchurch, I got the train (bearing in mind there are basically no trains in NZ...) from Christchurch to Greymouth. It is said to be in the top 5 of best train journeys in the world. And after going on the 4 and half hour journey...I could barely imagine that there could be a better one. It was brilliant. Saw some amazing scenery... went over Viaducts.... through tunnels in the mountains.... it was amazing! I have included only a few pics from the journey (they are the ones after the pic of the train). For those that don't know: Christchurch is on the East of the South Island...and Greymouth is on the West Coast. So I basically travelled through the Alps, and through the National Park called 'Arthurs Pass'.
Once I arrived in Greymouth I jumped on another bus and travelled down to Franz Josef.
Franz Josef is a very small town....with one food shop, one ATM, a couple of restaurants and a few houses. The reason tourists go there is because of the glacier that is in the mountains above the town. Most people
pay to go on a Glacier hike...which looks amazing...and the guides even have to cut the pathway in the ice sometimes as the glacier moves about 6metres a day! However... my Debit Card was blocked by Abbey so I had no money! (I eventually got hold of them to sort it out.... they said that because I had been using my card abroad apparently they think that is dodgy - despite me telling them before I went away that I was going to be away in NZ and Aus etc. Typical) So I couldn't pay for the hike...I luckily had enough to pay for accommodation and food. So I was a little disappointed about the hike. But I hiked quite close to the Glacier for free (took about 1 and half hours.) and that is where I took the pics of the Glacier.
I left Franz Josef on Saturday and headed for Queenstown.
I might have said it before, but the coach drivers are really good. Basically, I have been getting coaches to places with a company called 'Inter City'... which is just like 'National Express' in England. However it really surpasses anything like it in England. And
this is because the coach driver talks during the journey and shows us points of interests.... and sometimes even stops the coach for 5 minutes for people to take photographs. And all the coach drivers have done this... which I think is great, and makes the journey alot more interesting. Especially on a 8 hour journey like the Franz Josef to Queenstown. I bet the locals who regularly get these buses must get a bit fed up with it though! The buses are normally not even half full... so I can spread myself out on the air-conditioned coach.
So after the 8 hour trip to Queenstown... I finally arrived. I met up with Paul (Paulo)... (the guy who I made friends with in Fiji...and bumped into him in Rotorua... where we went luging). We basically got some food (yes I am talking about food again!) from this place called 'Fergburger'. Which has legendary status within NZ... And I could see why. Their burgers were the biggest I had ever seen or tasted....and were the nicest tasting too. We also ordered fries too....but we struggled to finish them as the burgers were so big! Oh and I had another coincedence
(I have had loads this trip!) - I bumped into 3 Irish girls who I had met on the small island in Fiji - Wayalailai. We then went to the pub for a few drinks...with a couple of guys Paul had made friends with.... Gerry from Austria and Andy from Germany.
The next day (Sunday), Paul had gone to another place for a few days, so I will probably see him next in Australia in Jan. So I met up with Gerry (a 37 year old Austrian - Legend!) and went on a hike up Queenstown Mountain (which is 900m tall). I am not usually a hiker (well too be honest, I never am) and baring in mind in Austria...there are loads of mountains to climb. Gerry alone had climbed over 100 mountains! But I kept up and it was enjoyable. We reached the summit after about 1 and half hours. And took some amazing pics. Then we hiked back down, and headed straight to the pub for a well deserved pint (or maybe 2).
Then that night, I went out with a few people from my room (Maggie, Vicky, Simon and Tom) and got rather drunk. But
it was a really good night (from what I remember!)
Then I left for Christchurch again on the Tuesday. I had to go back to Christchurch as I was due to fly out from there to Sydney on Wednesday. When I arrived (after another 8hr bus journey) I went to my hostel. And it was strange to see who was also sleeping in my room.... Vicky, Simon and Tom from my room in Queenstown!! Weird. So we went out to an Irish pub which played live music and played pool all night.
The next day (after paying a trip to my street - 'Deans Avenue' - see pics) I headed off to the Airport to catch my flight to Sydney!
I really enjoyed New Zealand, and despite only being there for 4 weeks, I felt as if I had seen nearly all the main attractions... but I did have to miss a few things out in order to be in Sydney for Christmas and New Year. New Zealand has to be the most beautiful place I have ever been! Without a doubt.
Well guys... I will post my next blog tomorrow... with all the Sydney
pics I have taken so far. (Including some drunk photos from the hostel Christmas party last night!)
Sorry once again for some of the pics... the Travel Blog website shrinks them... and some turn out crap on here - especially the ones with me under 'Deans Avenue'. Take care,
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Grandpa
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Australia
Make sure you avoid the bush Fires.Have just seen pictures of the drought in Australia on TV. Told you NZ was a great country. Love