Happy New Year Wishes

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Hi Everybody
A Happy New Year to you all, we have been a bit delayed in updating our blogs recently, this is due to us being on the road quite a lot trying to fit in as much as we can before we leave for Thailand next week. For Christmas we were in Queenstown - we stayed for 4 nights in a lovely hotel with a view from our room right across the lake and to the mountains beyond. On Christmas Eve we visited the old mining village called Arrowtown - a really quaint place with so much interesting history of the pioneers. We had a quiet Christmas Day -it seemed like a summer sunday morning when we walked to mass, but by the afternoon the weather had changed dramatically into a winter's one, they do say over here that you can get 4 seasons in one day and they are so right! Anyway Boxing Day was another matter altogether as the day was bright & sunny and yes folks - WE DID IT! We did our tandem sky jump from 12,000 ft above Queenstown and it was brilliant- scary and fun at the same time and we have the photos and DVD to bore you all with on our return. We can't send photos on blog as obviously we were too busy at the time! We decided that it was a great way to spend Boxing Day tied up to two great looking chaps and falling out of the clouds!

Queenstown is certainly a sporty place to be - we went on the Shotover Jet - a thrill ride on the Shotover River rapids, but decided against the Bungee Jump, we left that family claim to fame to Stephen. The next day we headed to the Glaciers - what a day - we spent 7 hours on a coach in the teeming rain to get there, only to find the next day that the booked Helicopter/Hike onto the Glacier was cancelled, we were naturally peeved, as we had hoped to take a walk into the crevaces - alas it was not to be. All was not lost though as we were staying B&B with a couple who ran scenic flights in his helicopter and the next morning early he took us up over the Glaciers to land on a snowfield amongst the mountain peaks - a real "Wow".

We stayed for 2 nights over the New Year in Dunedin and saw the New Year in at their town centre called the Octagon where there was live music and fireworks. For those who don't know Dunedin was built by the scottish pioneers and the town streets are named after Edinburgh placenames - Dunedin being also the old name for Edinburgh.

We have also had another fabulous train journey - the Tranz Alpine from Greymouth on the west Coast to Christchurch on the east - a 6 hour scenic ride through some of the most amazing sights we have ever seen. We have now hired a car again and on New Years Day we headed off to do another "must do" which is a cruise on one of the "Fjords/ Sounds" - we chose Doubtful Sound - a very remote place we had to go by bus, then a boat across a lake for an hour, then another bus for an hour before boarding the boat that took us on a 3hour cruise and guess what it teemed with rain as soon as we boarded the final boat for the actual cruise - however the beauty and mystery of the place could still be appreciated despite the conditions (says Anne but Margaret is not so sure!!)

Today we drove to Mount Cook and it was glorious - we found it hard to believe that we ate our lunch alfesco on the 4th January in the shadow of the mountain - for us the views at Mt Cook rate as one of the best seen throughout the whole trip - We think however that the photos we have taken will not do it justice. We are now in Christchurch - our last day in NZ as we fly out on Sunday back to Sydney to get the connecting flight to Bangkok on Monday.
We send you all our best for the New Year and thank you for tuning in once again to our adventures - more to come next time from Bangkok.
love A&M

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Photos

Shotover Jet Queenstown
What fun on this

The Minus 5 Bar
This pub is made of ice - only allowed 30mins in it - they supply the coats & gloves - even the cocktail glass is made of ice.

Minus 5 Bar Queenstown
One of the ice sculptures - photo not great but it was a reindeer

Queenstown
View from our balcony

The Mountain Range
as seen from the helicopter

Anne & Our Helicopter Pilot
Taken on a snowfield high up in the alps

Lake Tekapo
The Church of the Good Shepherd

Mount Cook
Taken from across Lake Pukaki

Marg & Mt Cook
I'm the one in the foreground

Doubtful Sound
taken from the boat